Rejection Hurts: Pt. 1 - Broken Heart-ed

One thing I pride myself on 'round woot is my non-rejected streak. I was rejected once, during my first derby, and proceeded to last 17 derbies without having the hammer come down on me. I'm sure there are many others who have had records that beat this soundly, but I know there are plenty of designers, even regulars, even the top-tier designers, who have had rejects happen often. We can't always prevent them. Still, even if you've only been designing a short time, and haven't been too serious, there's still a feeling of rejection when woot says it prefers the company of other designs to your exclusive company. Or something like that. Anyway, the point is, I broke the streak last week.

The design was "Home is Where the Heart Is," and while it hadn't caught on and blazed the hotness as I'd hoped, it was gathering some good reviews and with a day or so to go, it was just on the cusp of 50, that elusive number to warrant being featured over at "best losers," when it was unceremoniously rejected for being seven colors. Which it wasn't. The seventh color was the shirt itself. It was a bit frustrating, especially as I had discussed the fact that the extra color was the shirt in the entry thread. Especially as I'd discussed that I WISHED I could have used an extra color. Especially since woot had a file which was conveniently transparent in the exact questionable areas, which they could have pulled up and checked out if they'd wanted to. Rejection hurts most when you know the reason isn't true. As such, I was duly peeved.

In an ideal print world, the shirt you're about to see will have a slightly changed palate. I'd love to print it on a Sand or similar, to give the effect of wood a little better, and to hold up the back-print better than creme does. I would also like to improve the perspective on the couch (which might need to be "reupholstered" if the shirt color changes) and the lamp. As I said before, a seventh color would be amazing in general, just to give me a shred more flexibility. Finally, I think I'd probably clean up the "moulding" around the cross of the window frame... it's a bit less wooden and a bit more sloppy than I'd like. But all in all, and as it is, I am very happy with the outcome... if I wasn't, I wouldn't bother trying to fix it up so dramatically. I'm especially happy with how the Heart came out, and feel that while the perspective isn't perfect, the "window inside" concept does create a shred of an illusion. You can weigh in one way or another. How do you feel about it now? Do my changes make sense or not? Other opinions? The floor is yours. Use it wisely.

***Disclaimer: All images in this post are for display only. No design herein is currently for sale. Any changes to this status will be noted in a separate post.***

Leapfrog Up For Sale!

Well, here it goes... my first official for-sale shirt. I've decided to try out Bountee for this one, because they seem to have one of the most reliable printshops of the DTG options. They are, ergo, a bit more expensive at around $20 a pop, but learning experiences are better happening now than later.

Almost 12 derbies old, Leapfrog was my first non-seasonal success. If even a fraction of the people who were interested the first time end up buying it this time 'round, I will be ever grateful. The link is below. Tell your friends.

http://www.bountee.com/productview.action?id=175311

Quit the Pack

Ah, the theme of "Quitter"... such a ridiculous theme, yet so many high-quality answers to what was presumed to be a terrible derby. Mine were not necessarily presumed to be as such, but they did get a bit more movement than I'd been used to lately, not to mention being rather happy with both entries.

This, in a twist to my normal posting schedule, is the lower scoring of the two. It's called "Quit the Pack." There was no shortage of Quit-Smoking entries, but this goes a little deeper conceptually... here, we see a cigarette which has decided to quit smoking, or at least to be less smelly and unhealthy. His old friends are shocked and angry at his carefree air-sanitizing. One can presume that, were you to smoke this care-free ciggy, your teeth would brighten, your breath would freshen, and your hair and clothes would smell newly cleaned. I hope that all gets across.

I had originally wanted to surround Smokey with some small animals... rabbits, squirrels, birds running and flying along with him, but at the time it seemed too much effort for the timeframe, and questionably too many colors, so it wasn't worth the risk. I may try to add them if anyone thinks it's worth the effort. Those and other opinions should find themselves here.

***Disclaimer: All images in this post are for display only. No design herein is currently for sale. Any changes to this status will be noted in a separate post.***

Curl + Crossbrooms

Winter is on the downswing, but not without a couple last gusts of freezing, it appears. Today was frigid, this morning was snowy, and it was a reminder after a few relatively mild days that we weren't through yet. However, before we ARE through, I'd better finish up my winter entries.

This was a bit of a joke entry, and it broke 50. So it seems to go with joke entries. I'm happy with it, despite being a double-anomaly. It's not only one of the few designs I've done digitally, but it also holds the dubious distinction of being the most memetic entry I've ever submit. It's a celebration of the noble sport of curling. A sport of grace, precision, plunder, high adventure, plank-walking... perhaps the most perfect of sports. It'll be perfect for the curling enthusiast in your household (and lord knows we all have AT LEAST one) and there's no better way to hint to your pirate obsessed teen to go out and exercise. Have other ideas on who to give this to? Want to explain curling to me? Does the angle on the brooms bother you too? Weigh in here!

***Disclaimer: All images in this post are for display only. No design herein is currently for sale. Any changes to this status will be noted in a separate post.***

...he dreams up a new self for himself...

Last week's theme was Dreams, which actually gave me two designs I was quite happy with. I figure, so long as I'm happy with something, that's better than winning anything. It's a good thing, too, because the public just wasn't feeling these designs.

The one I'd like to discuss is based off a design I'd sketched out long prior, which I titled "I'm Open." It had a nice, dreamy atmosphere, and indeed is similar to dreams I'd had when I was a child. I feel it's one of those designs that just fits as a shirt. 25 other people agreed. A bit less than I'd expected, admittedly. If you're one of those 25, what did you love? If not, what am I missing? This should be a learning experience, and I'm willing to learn if you have anything to suggest.

***Disclaimer: All images in this post are for display only. No design herein is currently for sale. Any changes to this status will be noted in a separate post.***

Tiger-Powered Flashlight

Today, I logged in to find my entire front page spammed. To apparelism.com, I thank you for the kind words and the offer, but posting the same thing in an entire page worth of posts is beyond a nuisance. Practice restraint. In response to this, I have re-enabled comment moderation, something I rather didn't like the concept of to start with, and feel is a bit frivolous given the limited readership of this blog, but something which will make this far easier to counteract if there is a next time.

In honor of apparelism's failure to use tact and professionalism in their contact scheme, I've decided the time was ripe for another true failure. Tiger-Powered Flashlight was, admittedly, an exercise in absurdity. It was created on a concept, and the execution shows it. It's not to say I don't find it to have a bit of charm, and it helped cement that I'm not designing for an absurdist crowd, but by and large I knew it'd be little more than a test piece once I saw its final form. But hey, this isn't about my thoughts, it's about yours. Anything you'd like to add?

***Disclaimer: All images in this post are for display only. No design herein is currently for sale. Any changes to this status will be noted in a separate post.***