Apparel Design

Lynagh’s Irish Pub

Lexington, KY

The staff at Lynagh’s Irish Pub have been great to me over the past few years. They have hired me for some of my favorite apparel and concert poster projects. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic reducing all of our local gathering places to carry-out only in 2020, the owner Jeb was still looking ahead to next year. He contracted me for an anniversary shirt design to commemorate Lynagh’s 40th year of service.

Anniversary shirt design diary

As usual, Jeb gave me one bullet point and let me run with it. He requested that I recreate the Lynagh’s storefront from a few photos he sent. Other than that, he gave me complete creative freedom. I rubbed my hands together and started sketching out the perfect apparel design for this special occasion.

Initially, I intended on featuring the storefront front and center, with all of the other elements situated behind it. However, the building is not exactly very distinct, apart from the signs on top of the roof. I decided it would be more effective it were “contained” within a shield shaped frame. I made a very detailed drawing of the store, including the West Sixth Brewing neon sign in the window. The glass door opens to invite everyone in the friendly confines of the pub. I took some liberties with the illustration for artistic effect. Specifically, I enlarged the signs on the roof so they would stand out more within the shield. I needed to maximize the space on the art board. I also added a black “night sky” with stylized stars to help the sign pop more.

Finally, I laid out the shield and the heraldry. Outside the frame, I added a civic crown wrapping around either side in order to add a touch of class. I typed “40th Anniversary” in the Copperplate font, and then placed it into a double stacked banner in the center. To balance all of the elements out, I added a three leafed shamrock at the bottom, as well as a regal crown on top. The years 1981 and 2001 proudly display on either side of the crown.

Contact me today for your own anniversary shirt design

Does your business have an important milestone coming up? Let’s celebrate! Contact me today.

Misty Mountain String Band

Louisville, KY

I created this Kentucky shirt design for The Misty Mountain String Band, who are long time clients and friends of mine. They are surely the hardest working bluegrass and roots music quartet in the USA. I may be biased in this assumption, though. The Louisville foursome showcase traditional Kentucky instrumental and vocal sounds. Four voices create soaring harmonies over banjo, mandolin, stand up bass, and the six stringed acoustic guitar. Their distinct blend of folk and old time music styles creates a crowd pleasing live show.

As with their previous records, the group called upon their fanbase to help crowd fund their 2018 LP “Kentucky Bound”. The Kickstarter online fundraiser service was a perfect platform to do that. Since a new record always calls for new merchandise, they needed a distinctly Kentucky shirt design as a reward for their donors. As the details unfolded, it looked like I was about to become a Kentucky tourism shirt designer!

Kentucky shirt design story – choosing the right images

Their stand up bassist contacted me with a concept that was based on a vintage postcard designed to attract tourists to the Bluegrass State. Like the retro postcard, the shirt would feature a variety of Kentucky landmarks and attractions. We worked together to flesh out a variety of examples for their Kentucky shirt design. Finally, we all settled together on an iconic group of eleven notable ones. We decided that the shirt’s title letters should feature the following inside:

• The Natural Bridge at Red River Gorge
• Louisville Slugger Museum
• National Corvette Museum (Bowling Green)
• Dinosaur World theme park
• My Old Kentucky Home (Cave City)
• Belle of Louisville steamboat
• The Twin Spires at Churchill Downs (Louisville)
• The Kentucky state flag
• Peabody Coal Company’s “World’s Largest Shovel” (Muhlenberg County)
• An “F” style mandolin
• A Monarch butterfly

First, I started by hunting down the most appropriate royalty free images that I could find for each of the attractions. I then assembled the lettering for the main title from a tall sans serif font. After outlining the text, I reshaped each letter to make them stand out like those on the original design. Using the Adobe Illustrator application, I stroked the letters with thick black strokes and added a thinner white stroke inside. Then, I manipulated the text. I added both warp and 3D effects in order to mimic the text style featured on the original postcard.

Main title and photo retouching by Kentucky tourism shirt designer

Next, I cropped each of the photos so that they would fit exactly inside of the letters. As with the original design, some of the items also needed to take up the space of two letters. Peabody’s coal shovel was so enormous that it warranted taking up the “B” and “O” to get the full length effect. The patterns on the monarch butterfly’s beautiful wings deserved the extra space provided inside the letters “N” and “D”. After I laid out and cropped the images, I color corrected each of them. I did this adjusting their brightness and saturation factors so that each picture would balance the others out. Last of all, I blended some filtered copies together with the original photos in order to give them a painterly feel. I was ready at last to add the finishing touches.

Finishing touches on the Kentucky shirt design

In front of the faded and pale sunset background, I then set the band’s name. I employed a mix of italicized tall sans serif and script fonts. A majestic cardinal, which is the Kentucky state bird, rests its sturdy talons on the letter “I”. The red bird looks straight ahead to a bright future for our commonwealth. The goldenrod is the official state flower of Kentucky. The yellow flower also appears floating in the bottom left corner of the postcard. You might even choose to say that it appears as a garnish to balance all of the elements out.

Finally, this Kentucky shirt design features the historic Bill Monroe Homeplace in the bottom right corner of the postcard. This is a call back that is reminiscent of the Kentucky state capitol building, which is featured in the original postcard. As with the main title, I blended the original photograph with a copy of it that I stylized with a painterly dry brush Photoshop filter. I added an inside stroke to the rectangle shape in order to complete the postcard feel. To top off the shirt design’s composition, I later added a grunge texture overlay. This gives the whole piece a feel that looks both worn and weathered. A few minor revisions later, and we had a finished product.

Kentucky shirt design – fan reception

This design was roundly praised. When the teaser images were posted on the band’s social media channels, fans remarked that they couldn’t wait to get their hands on the new MMSB swag. That being said, this shirt graphic design turned out to be one of my favorite projects to date. The colorful postcard image really pops off of the mid grey colored shirt. It is always a pleasure to work together with The Misty Mountain String Band.

Contact me for your own Kentucky shirt design

Are you part of a Bluegrass band, a record label, or a small business which is based in Kentucky? Does your group need an original shirt design that pays tribute to your old Kentucky home? You can put full confidence in this Kentucky tourism shirt designer to get the job done. Contact me today!

The Rough Customers

Lexington, KY

My friends in Lexington’s favorite (only) ska band The Rough Customers approached me for a new band shirt graphic design. They requested a parody of the famous Ale-8-One soft drink logo. Ale-8-One (“A Late One”) bottles their ginger based soda near here in Winchester, KY. Since it is a symbol of Kentucky culture, the band chose it to represent them at both local shows and tour dates. Also, the band had just added a new singer, so new merchandise would be a great way to celebrate the new era of the band.

Band shirt graphic design story

Many of my projects involve brainstorming ideas with clients. However, we did not need much back and forth discussion for this shirt design. The band simply requested a parody logo replacing the product name with their own. The design would go on a kelly green shirt, reminiscent of the brand’s bottles. I suggested replacing the stars in the original design with trumpets, in order to give it a subtle nod to the band’s genre.

The shirt makes its debut at the band’s merch table.

I began the design by tracing the outline of the soft drink’s signature red and white badge. The brand name actually uses a hand drawn mark, instead of a conventional font. As such, I studied the original. I wondered what other characters would look like if they were written in this style. Then, I started working in Adobe Illustrator. I started with the conventional sans serif font Myriad Pro, spelling out each letter. After that, I outlined them, and warped them using envelope filters, as well as the pen tool. I spent the bulk of my time getting the sizes and weights of each new character just right in order to mimic the original logo’s feel.

Finally, I substituted the aforementioned trumpets in place of the original’s stars. The end result? The Rough Customers‘ fans loved donning the bright green, red, and white shirts while skanking at the band’s shows.

Contact me for your band shirt graphic design

Do you play ska, punk, metal, rock, or even Mongolian throat singing? I’ve got you covered. I love designing shirts for bands and music artists. Contact me today to get started.

Sempervivi

Lexington, KY

Just as with the T-shirt design for my previous band Analog Apostles, the first Sempervivi shirt design has been a big seller out of the gate. Releasing and promoting an album is a lot of work, but I never slack off when it comes to the accompanying merch. Therefore, I put in some serious time on the minutia of this apparel project. Since I was spending my own money to print these, and I wanted fans to actually buy them, every detail counted.

Lexington, KY Band T-Shirt Design Story

My buddy Jeremiah modeling the design.

Shirt art was not originally in the plans or budget after finishing the record. However, my wife liked the idea and encouraged me to splurge, within reason. I felt like there were enough black and heather grey band shirts in the world. I needed my shirt art to stand out. My music is, generally speaking, positive and upbeat, so bright yellow seemed like a good choice. You can’t go wrong pairing it with red ink. The primary colors pop sitting on the merch table! Keeping the art at one ink color offset the cost of springing for super soft, vintage tees.

I wanted to go for a sports feel with the layout, similar to designs by Roots of Fight. The arching “SEMPERVIVI”, as well as “LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY” are set in the tall title font Moonshiner. I mixed it with the bold, trendy script Thirsty, which spells “Always Alive”.

Since this is a promotional item tying in with the new record, I reused some hand drawn elements from the CD art. Specifically, I made the succulent the focal point of the art. The much smaller cicada at the bottom punctuates the composition. Finally, I used a grunge brush to create a distressed feel throughout the artwork.

Music T-Shirt Design for Bands in Kentucky

If you have a band or other music project, I’ve got your hookup for apparel design. I will work with you on a budget friendly design that will still stand out. Contact me to get started!

Analog Apostles

Lexington, KY

Ahoy, ye scurvy sea dogs! This band shirt design for my former rock band Analog Apostles is one of my favorites. I created this two color screen printed art before we loaded up our van and left for our Summer 2014 tour of the USA. These eery shirts were instantly hot sellers. Several years after they were pressed, I still see them around town here in Lexington on occasion. I love being a band merch artist and creating musician shirt art! We’re going to plunge 20,000 leagues into the sea and talk about the thought and work that went into this band apparel design.

Band Shirt Design – limited inks for apparel printing on a budget

Everybody loves to wear a good black band shirt. I know I do, at least. Seriously, I have probably filled half of my t-shirt drawer with black apparel featuring musician shirt art. Mostly for my clients’ budgetary reasons, my shirt designs usually feature only one or two screen printed ink colors. Also, black is the most popular shirt color. Many shirt printing businesses offer special discounts on them. I can still make a big impact, even though I am not drawing from a large color palette.

This design definitely provided a lot of bang for our indie band’s very limited bucks! I chose a color combination that consisted of cool turquoise blue and a light green shade. They come together to create an aura that is both mysterious and soothing. This makes the two distinctly bright ink colors really stand out against the stark black background of the shirt itself.

Deep sea themed band shirt design for a Kentucky indie rock group

The chilling deep sea diver bust is up front wearing a vintage style diving helmet. I feel that this element adds to the mystery of the overall design. Who or what could be lurking behind the mask? The unknown figure in the foreground makes for an unsettling and potentially dangerous focal point. How spooky is that?

It turns out that the uncanny valley has a body of water running through it. A pattern of waves comes together in order to create the green background behind the diver. I actually took the cool water shapes from a photograph of the ocean. I simplified the aquatic image down to just two colors using Adobe Photoshop. This way, it would work on the screen printed art. Then, I finished cleaning it up for the vector art application using the Adobe Illustrator application. This way, I removed the shadows so that it would only display the highlights in green.

Band merch artist details fonts and styles

Finally, I added the band’s name at the top of the design in a tall serif style type. Because of the deep sea theme, I used a vintage font that I felt could easily be found on a pirate ship flag. Perhaps one might even find it emblazoned on a buried treasure map. In fact, it is the very same font that has been used by Major League Baseball team the Pittsburgh Pirates in the past, MLB Tuscan.

I began by first setting the word “ANALOG” at the top in the turquoise hue. Then, I continued by reversing out the word “APOSTLES” so that it would read in black over the green water background. Therefore, it makes the best use possible of the negative space of the shirt itself. It creates the illusion of a three color design. This way, it still remains legible as part of the name of the band, while adding some depth to the overall design. Do you get the dad joke that I was making there? Depth? Water? I am a father who has a young son, so silly puns are my forte’.

Not sure what the world’s coolest guy Fred is doing here, but the shirt looks good on him.

You need a professional band shirt design of your own

Way back in 1999, I was a student at Murray State University studying Art, with an emphasis on Graphic Design. During that time, I started up my own freelance graphic design business right from my dorm room. I have been playing the guitar and singing in independent bands all around Kentucky since 1997. Over the years, I have combined my two passions many times.

I have made designing music merchandise for bands one of my specialties. In fact, it’s one of my favorite things to do. Networking with other musicians has taught me a lot about this print graphic design genre. This art was a callback to our most recent independent EP “The Other Side of the Sea”, which I also designed the layout for. Some players prefer more literal, music based interpretations in their merch designs instead.

Every band or artist needs to sell physical merchandise at their shows. If you want to successfully grow your fanbase, you must have some quality merch items on your table. Buttons, stickers, CDs, refrigerator magnets, and can koozies are great ideas.

One of the most effective ways for music fans to support their favorite local artists is wearing their shirts wherever they go. An eye catching apparel design can start up conversations with both friends and strangers alike. Subsequently, this investment would make a great way to help spread the word about your own brand.

Contact me for your own band shirt design or musician shirt art

Do you need a band merch artist? Let’s work together to find your perfect fit. Contact me today if your indie band or record label needs a rad shirt design of your very own!

Christopher Sprankle

Sprankle also used the design on a drink koozie.

Franklin, TN

I made this parody shirt design for the Tennessee based country music singer Christopher Sprankle. When Chris moved to Lexington, KY, his manager contacted me for a two color shirt art. She sent me a favorite photo of Chris’s dog Grizzly, since he is popular with Chris’s rabid Instagram followers. Then she sent a photo of a rusty can of Grizzly brand smokeless tobacco to incorporate.

First of all, I mocked up the word “Sprankle” in place of the Grizzly logo. Since the logo is a hand drawn design, rather than a commercial font, I had to draw up the grunge text manually.

After that, I simplified the photo of Grizzly in Photoshop into a black and white image, then I further contrasted it in Adobe Illustrator to finish the effect.

Topping off the parody shirt design

Photo of Grizzly the dog used for the parody shirt design.

Because I had a few more elements left to work with, I made a few suggestions. The client loved every one of my ideas, so we ran with them. First, I reworded “Long Cut Wintergreen” to Sprankle’s hometown Franklin, TN. I also improvised “American Country Music” instead of “American Snuff Co”.

Finally, I wanted to use “Est. 1903” from the original oval text, so I decided to change it to to Sprankle’s birth year of 1994. I added in some grunge around the edges since the design needed a weathered feel. In the end, Sprankle’s fans loved it, so I guess you could call it a smash hit.

See the photo I started with on the right, then follow Chris’s music on Instagram here.

Contact me for your parody shirt design

Whether you are a country musician or a Christian bookstore, parody shirt designs can be big sellers. Contact me today for the right fit.

Girls Who Code

Murray, KY

I created this retro shirt design for a Murray, Kentucky based programming club. Since the organizer loved my shirt design for her previous group “Women in Computing”, she reached out to me once again. Since she asked for housewives from vintage ads on pink shirts, that design was decidedly more “girly”. This time around, she wanted something less feminine, since there were also males helping with her new group “Girls Who Code”.

She still wanted to continue our previous kitsch art theme, while keeping the “nerd” vibe going. Her only other requirements were for the design to be two ink colors screen printed on navy shirts.  I was happy to comply. I excel at this format because many of my apparel clients stick with only one or two colors. My specs were on paper, so I got to work right away.

Retro shirt design empowers females in technology fields

First, I searched through my vast stock photography catalog. I quickly found a retro photograph of a wind-up robot that would obviously be a perfect fit. The robot’s colors were then simplified down to only cyan blue.

Next, I overlaid it partially on both the white strips and the negative space. Thus, I added just the right amount of contrast.

I then laid out the text in mixed “Chicago” and “MT Script” fonts to add to the fun. I tilted both the robot and text section at opposite angles, so I could give the art a little more movement. Therefore, it really jumps out at the viewer instead of a more conventional design.

Finally, no coding related design would be complete without incorporating some ones and zeros. Thus, I had to top it off with a few.

Contact me for your own retro shirt design

If you’re in a technology club looking for a shirt design that stands out? Then contact me today!

Ronald Jenkees

Louisville, KY

This Ronald Jenkees shirt design is one of my biggest hits! RJ is a friend of my old band from Kentucky. If you’ve never heard of him, he is an electronic music prodigy, as well as a YouTube phenom.

RJ is instantly recognizable, squinting in his Coke bottle glasses while wearing an assortment of fedoras and other hats. In his live performance videos, he always encourages viewers to have fun with their music, no matter what their skill level may be. This makes him a kindred soul to me, so I was happy to work up some apparel art for him.

He commissioned a simple shirt design in 2013, which he would release along with a new album. His only request was that I keep the shirt to a simple two to three colors. Since I have a background in screen printing, simple designs are a specialty of mine. He encouraged me to get creative with shirt colors and depictions of him.

Ronald Jenkees shirt design story

First, I used Boris Black Bloxx for the text, which a thick, wacky font. I decreased the spacing of it in order to add to the fun. Then, I simplified a screen capture from one of Ronald’s Youtube jam videos to create a one color image. Finally, the product displays his vibrant personality while promoting his jaw dropping musical prowess.

This version is the men’s style, which is displayed on an Ice Grey T-shirt with orange and dark grey inks. The design is also available in a grey ladies cut with pink and dark grey ink colors. Order one for yourself here! Then go see him in action on “the YouTubes” here!

Shirt design for musicians and Youtube stars alike

Are you crowdfunding your next album and in need of a shirt design for one of the perks? Do you need merchandise to capitalize on your viral videos that are blowing up on Youtube? Contact me today for the perfect shirt design!

Main Street Costumes

Greenville, KY

The living dead returned, roaming the streets of Western Kentucky for the sequel to 2011’s Zombie Walk event! The previous year’s undead themed charity walk was a huge success. Therefore, Main Street Costumes once again called me for event promotion design. The small town costume shop printed variations of this artwork as eight feet long banners, postcards, and t-shirts.

Since this was the second annual event, I multiplied the featured zombies by two. I felt that the stock image of the purple female zombie was a tad too immodest for a family event, so I photoshopped more clothing to cover her. I also adjusted some proportions of the characters to better fit the space.

Then, I drew the red “2” so that the second event artwork would call back to 1980s slasher film sequels. The brightly colored characters and titles pop off of the stark background. I used the heavyweight Gotham font for the copy. See my work on display in this Youtube commercial for the event:

Screen printed shirt for event promotion design

I rose to the challenge of simplifying the full color poster and card designs to create a three color screen printed shirt. Since my background includes over five years of working in the screen printing industry, it was second nature to me.

My client agreed that we should reduce the art to pink and purple with white highlights. We stuck with the black background for the shirt. Black therefore functions as a de facto fourth color, outlining the words and images, and coloring hair and grunge elements.

Contact me for your own event promotion design

Are you planning a community event such as a costume party, fundraiser, or fun run 5K race? Contact me today! I will bring your vision to life.

This (Bryan Danielson) Daniel Bryan shirt design was one of my favorite projects to work on. I cheered on the legendary AEW and  WWE Superstar since his days wrestling for independent promotions like Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate USA. WWE briefly let him go in 2010 after a controversial incident on television. He was scripted to choke out an announcer with a tie during an on-screen attack with his Nexus cohorts. Sponsors objected to the violent image, and WWE officials decided he went too far.

While he was banished, he resumed wrestling on the independent wrestling scene. Bryan decided to capitalize on the publicity the angle earned him and had a contest for his fans.

Daniel Bryan shirt design story

The premise was to design a shirt, four colors or less, depicting Bryan as an angry teddy bear. Preferably, he would be brandishing the infamous pink tie from the firing incident.

After reading this news, I sprung to action. First, I hand drew the anthropomorphic, scowling fur ball, posing in Bryan’s signature satin ring robe. Next, I scanned in the sketch and cleaned it up using Adobe Photoshop. Then, I transitioned the art to Illustrator, where I redrew it to create a vector file.

I colored in the bear’s ring gear with his signature deep red hues. He is holding up a finger signaling #1, a signature taunt that eventually evolved into his double fingers up YES! gesture.

Before he could declare a winner of the contest, WWE hired Bryan back. He then returned as a surprise partner at that year’s SummerSlam facing his former partners in the Nexus. I believe I would have won, since several fans emailed me wanting to buy their own copy of the shirt.

Shirt design for wrestlers, athletes, and other sports brands

Are you an independent pro wrestler looking for new merch designs? Do you manage a sports team or another entertainment brand? Contact me today for a shirt design that will have your fans shouting “YES! YES! YES!”

Clash City Rockers

N/A

I made this basketball shirt design comp in order to demonstrate my skills to a custom sports apparel company.  The team name is an homage to punk rock legends The Clash. It also commemorates a district tournament win for the fictional high school sports team.

Basketball shirt design story

First, I chose a red and yellow color scheme reminiscent of my high school alma mater, the Muhlenberg South Suns. Also, the main titles are set in black, which contrasts the white shirt. I made the most of a four color screen print to demonstrate my versatility. I blended many of the colors together in percentages, thus creating gradient effects.

My suggested basketball shirt design lays out on a white shirt along with bright red ringers for a vintage sports feel. I framed the requisite basketball shape with a bold red circle filled with bright yellow stars. Additional black and white strokes give weight to the frame. A burst of sun rays in the background completes the shape.

The word “CHAMPIONS” shines in a yellow to orange gradient, which pops off the shirt with a black shadow. It then adorns a stitched red ribbon in the foreground. I chose to set it in the bold serif Memphis font to give it a traditional athletic feel. “10TH DISTRICT BASKETBALL” at the top features a white to black gradient with a heavy black shadow. “2009” and “CLASH CITY” display in a heavyweight sans serif font, which is similar to Britannic Bold.

Finally, the word “Rockers” splashes across the front of the design in a thick, painterly script. This gives the apparel design an edge.

Do you need a basketball shirt design?

When your school needs a slam dunk basketball shirt design, contact me to get started. Together, we would make a great team!

One-Inch Buttons

Various Clients

When I started playing in the independent music scene, every band I knew had one-inch button designs. They are cheap to make for a band who may not have the money saved up to record an album yet.

Fans of independent music love to wear these little collectible pins as fashion accessories. I have collected so many over the years that I couldn’t realistically wear them all. When I came home one day, I found that my wife had pinned them all up on my curtains in my office. It looked really rad!

Some of the designs above were made for bands, such as Stellar Kin. I also have designed pins for labels like Bad Apple Records. Other button designs were just for fun to commemorate an inside joke (“The Crazy Locksmith”). I made a few as inexpensive, personalized birthday gift idea for my friends (“April L Rocks!”).

I love that this format has both freedoms and limitations. Basically, I can design anything in Photoshop without having to worry about high printing costs due to the size or number of colors used, such as with screen printing. It is also challenging in the sense that I have a small canvas to work with, and if I make the text too small, for instance, it will be hard to read.

Button designs for everyone!

Whenever I take part in a new music venture, I always design buttons to get started with merchandise. As I mentioned, they are easy to afford for both buyers and sellers. My friend Matt has manufactured buttons with his company Think Twice Buttons with 2001. He does great work and has a ton of sizes and options to choose from.

Hire me for your button designs

Why not hire me to create some button designs for your band or business? Then get Matt to make them! You can’t go wrong with these tiny accessories when it comes to bang for your buck.

Stellar Kin

Bowling Green, KY

I toured with the band Stellar Kin for six years. In addition to writing and performing, I created all of our band merch design. It is a special feeling to know that there are hundreds of these floating around out there with my former band’s name emblazoned on them.

Band merch design story

This shirt design is one of my favorites. I sought out to use an alternative placement from the beginning. Why not wrap the art around the side? The story of how the artwork came together for this jade green shirt is a unique one.

When I lived in Bowling Green, Kentucky, I came home from work one day to find that a neighbor’s home had burned down. Some of the debris had blown into my yard. I picked up a burnt piece of the Bible. It instantly inspired me to create a unique band merch design. Not only did it contain scriptures about how we are called by God to love one another, it was distinctly shaped like one half of a heart. I scanned both sides of the page and simplified it to a simple high contrast solid black.

After I mirrored the two sides of the page to form the focal heart image, the phrase “Love never fails, even when we do.” came to mind. It sums up the main idea of the scriptures, as well as a personal mantra for myself. I set this text in a distressed typewriter font across a grungy faux papyrus scroll. I distressed the band name “Stellar Kin” is as well, featuring it in a pirate style script. Finally, I colored in the background of the art with some hot pink paint swaths to add extra chaos, while still tying the art together.

Contact me for your own band merch design

I love working with independent musicians when they need merchandise designs. Bonus points for an unusual concept or a random twist on a conventional idea. Contact me today to get started!

Main Street Costumes

Greenville, KY

Main Street Costumes needed a mascot shirt design that captured the essence of their local, year round costume shop. The design features a photo of a six foot tall, one-eyed skull. This gross, yet lovable, creature greeted those who drove by the shop, and was a fixture downtown for years. For the design, I surrounded the skull with a familiar cast of characters who were simultaneously both creepy and festive.

Mascot shirt design story

First, the owners Clint and Lori Cobb provided me with a high resolution photo of their familiar skull mascot. Also, they sent vector images of other famous characters that they had commissioned drawings of. These included Santa Claus, Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, a wicked witch, Uncle Sam, the Grim Reaper, and the Easter Bunny. I accepted the challenge to feature these colorful images in front of the shop’s “road sign” logo in a simplified four color screen print.

I reduced the surrounding characters to shades of grey, and simplified the skull to a black and white image. However, I recolored the bloodshot white of the eye, and the blue pupil. This is a great solution to the characters, since they originally needed too many solid colors to screen print at a reasonable cost. This also allows these elements to still stand out, framed in turquoise and surrounded by the colorful text, road sign logo, and hypnotic red circles.

I used a vintage style specialty font for the main text “Home of Giant Skull!”, styled with a red to white gradient. “Mainstreetcostumes.com” is set in light green using the familiar font used for TV’s The Simpsons.

Hire me today for your mascot shirt design

Does your business have a unique mascot that is popular both online and with brick and mortar visitors? You should make the most of it and print some merchandise! Contact me today so we can put our heads together!