Custom T-shirt Design For Your Business?

Not a real business, but a cool retro design just the same.

If you’re a small business owner you may have toyed with the idea of an official T-shirt for your company, but in these tough economic times perhaps you’ve found it hard to justify the expense. Granted, that could be a valid point; you certainly don’t want to just toss money around willy-nilly, simply because it’s something that would be cool. On the flip side, however, there is a hidden value in having a T-shirt designed for your business, because it isn’t just a cool T-shirt, but it’s a walking (and sometimes talking) advertisement for your company—every time someone wears it in public, and this is a benefit that will last for, in some cases, many years to come. For example, a good friend of mine brought me a T-shirt from Tommy’s Joynt in San Francisco many years ago, and I literally wore that shirt to rags before I finally retired it. Even though I’ve never actually been to Tommy’s Joynt (but I hope to go someday, I hear they’ve got a killer buffalo chili), thousands of people saw me wearing it around town over the years, and while I’m sure it didn’t even register with quite a few of them, there were many others who did notice, and some would even ask me about it. You just never know which potential customer might see that T-shirt, and when you think about it, that’s a pretty long lasting value.

A nifty retro pinup girl design for Vintage 66 Graphics.

Having a custom T-shirts designed is a great way to help you increase your company’s brand recognition by having your employees wear them, and maybe giving them out as souvenirs to some of your best customers. It’s probably cheaper than you think especially if you already have a high quality vector version of your logo. In fact, in most cases your biggest cost will be having your shirts printed up, but even that can be controlled with good design. For screen printed T-shirts, I believe that in most cases three colors or less in your design is the best way to go, anything more is just a waste of money. Of course, to help get some of your investment back, or even to make a profit, you can always sell the shirts in your shop or on your website. Think about that, people are paying you to let them advertise your business for you. How cool is that?

Parking Lot Characters: The Crazy Manure Lady

The Parking Lot Characters Series is a collection of semi-finished drawings of people I observe while sketching and drinking coffee in a local parking lot, which is shared by super market, a liquor store, a big corporate coffee shop and a handful of other small businesses. I then take the rough sketches back to the studio and rework them in ink and color before posting them here.

Here's a special weekend edition of Parking Lot Characters, although the original sketch was done about the middle of last week. I had barely turned my car off when I spied this charming lady angrily yammering to herself while she humped what appeared to be a heavy bag of some type of farm animal poop across the parking lot. I had the windows rolled up and she was on the other end of the parking lot, so couldn't hear what she was screeching about. In fact, she was actually so far away that I couldn't even tell for sure if  it was a bag of manure or not, but the idea amused me so I put it in. Truth be told, I strongly suspect she had one of those newfangled Bluetooth deals on the far side of her head, which is a perfect example of why you should not indulge in that particular technology—because you look like a raving nut-bar to the rest of us.

Crazy Manure Lady.

Parking Lot Characters: The Angry Bamboo Man

The Parking Lot Characters Series is a collection of semi-finished drawings of people I observe while sketching and drinking coffee in a local parking lot, which is shared by super market, a liquor store, a big corporate coffee shop and a handful of other small businesses. I then take the rough sketches back to the studio and rework them in ink and color before posting them here.

I was going to do a new Parking Lot Character on Wednesday, but when I got to the coffee shop I realized that I had forgotten my sketch pad (which resulted in a swearing festival). I finally remembered the pad the next time I went, but then with the long weekend . . . well, lets skip the long explanation and just say that I'm a little behind in my Parking Lot Character series and this one is from sometime last week, or maybe from the weekend. Anyway, there is a certain type of older guy who always seems to look angry no matter what he is doing. Today's offering was just such a fellow. He had that irritated look about him when he went in to Fred Meyers (Krogers  for you non-Northwesterners), but when he came back with an unruly gaggle of bamboo under his arm, he really looked pissed! I don't know if the cashier wouldn't give him a sack for his bamboo, or if  he just hated the stuff, but whatever the case, he was not happy, and I'm glad I was there to document it.
Cheers!

Budget Business Card Design: Two Toned Automobile

The sporty retro look of this double-sided retro business card design was inspired by the two tone automobiles of the Mid-century era, such as: the Clipper, the Fairlane, the Roadmaster, and the Metropolitan et al. Since you only buy the electronic file one time, and can have as many or as few printed as you need, it’s an economical choice, too. It’s a little something I like to call affordable elegance. You can see more details here.

Automobile themed "budget" business card.

Bowling Themed Business Card Design

I've recently started a line of "budget" business card designs for my Etsy shop, and this is the first one. This striking double-sided retro business card design was inspired by the bowling alley culture of Mid-century America. It's an eye-catching design at an affordable price, and is perfect for the retro loving small business owner, or even as just a profile card. Visit here for details.

Now available in the Vintage 66 shop on Etsy.

The Birthday Chicken

My dad had a birthday last week and I made this card for him. I didn't have any particular bird in mind, just a nondescript blue bird with red tail-feathers in a party hat. Well, when Dad saw it, he decided it should be a chicken, and I'm just fine with that. One of my favorite children's books is The Birthday Bird, by Dr. Seuss, which Dad read to me no less than a million times, even when it wasn't my birthday. So now I proudly present The Birthday Chicken. This one was done in ink and markers for those of you keeping score at home. Thanks for stopping by.

-Cheers!

Inking Practice

This is just a couple of doodles I did while practicing my inking. I think I did these a while back in preparation for a project that fell through. I had forgotten about it until I stumbled across it tonight while searching through one of my infamous piles for something else. Oh, if you're wondering, I used a brush pen on tracing paper.
Cheers!