Refrains from The Deep

I'll update with an explanation later. I'm tight for time right now.

Template:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

Freakshow

Again, this is out of sequence. I really should update the blog more often (I've got about 3 or 4 pictures backlogged).

This one was for the Threadless Loves 'Your Favorite Tee' competition: a contest in which the objective is to design a t-shirt you'd wear 7 days in a row...with a grand prize, if deemed the winner, of $10,000. That's a loddadough, people.

So...for this one, I tried to fit everything I like in a tee...onto a tee. I like tees that have a large print/good joke/design that makes people look at it for more than a fleeting glance. I tried to capture that with this one. Not sure if I succeeded, and I doubt this will win the contest, but...you never know. It was fun to do anyway.

Hope you like it.

Template:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

The Gift of Knowledge

Again, this is out of sequence in the order I've been putting out work, but I had to get this one in before the others. It's for a Threadless challenge called 'The Perfect Gift': the challenge is to design something around that phrase. I kinda went outside the box a bit with this one, but I guess that's good, right?

I had this idea sketched out a while ago (before this contest was announced). It had been floating around in my sketch folder for a few weeks, not going anywhere. There were many different versions (lots of erasing and reworks) and nothing seemed to work right. It didn't have any direction until I read the words 'The Perfect Gift'. What is the greatest gift you can give to anyone, something that your child or your friends or even a stranger could all enjoy and benefit from?
That's when it hit me: knowledge. It might be a little bit out of the box (in terms of a gift), but I believe the best gift you can give to someone is information that will help them in the long run. Whether it's educating your child about the Facts of Life, or comparing notes you took in a college course with your study group, or telling a stranger on the bus what time it is, knowledge of information is what we all need and can use in everyday application.

I'm going to try to keep updates as frequent as I can. Thanks for bearing with me.

Templates:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Vote for it soon here!

Cheers,

~J

Neither Can Live While the Other Survives

Sorry for the huge gap in between posts. I've kinda fallen out of touch with posting work. I've had quite a few new ones I've finished but that I haven't posted here. I promise to post them soon.

I've been working on this one for a couple months now, and it's finally ready to be released. This is a collaboration between myself and Victor Maury (aka Moulin Bleu). You can check out his Threadless work here. He came to me with this idea and the initial linework and asked me to do the color work for it.

I'm really happy with the result. It took a while to get the finished product (probably longer than any other piece I've ever worked one.

Vic and I are trying to get some promotion tools rolling, so this won't go up for scoring on Threadless for another week or so. I'll post a link here to where you can score it once it's approved.

Hope this was worth the wait. I'll have more updates soon.

Harry (front print):

Voldemort (back print):

Templates:

© 2011 Victory Maury/Jeremy Owen

Vote for it here:

Expecto Patronum.

~J

Daily Sketch #1

I've decided to do 1 pen sketch per day (for as long a period of time as I can). I've found I need to challenge myself in my art more: I'm getting stuck drawing the same sorts of things, so...I'll be trying to draw different things: different angles, different subject matter, etc.

Most of these will probably be work sketches (on my break), and will therefore be pretty rudimentary (and not very touched up). With this first one, I've decided to 'doll-up' a little bit, as a starting-point treat (I guess). I'm going to try to post these as often as I can, along with other works that I finish (either personal or for Threadless). I've got a few backed up that I haven't posted yet, so expect some more in the near, near future (hopefully).

This one doesn't really have any origin. It's partially based off of a friend, and, as I said before, was done on a 10-minute break at work.

Stay tuned!

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

There's Always a Siren...

This is one that I've had 'finished' for awhile but hadn't yet posted. I worked quite a bit on it, messing around with colors, lighting, and composition. It's pretty self explanatory, but it was different subject matter than what I usually do (aside from them being 'people'), and it was challenging (but fun) to work on it.

Can you guess the reference in the title?

Shirt/Hoodie Templates:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Vote for it here!

Blub, blub, blub.

~J

Wherever the Road May Take Me

This was an idea I had at the beginning of the Travel III contest when Threadless first announced it. I didn't know how it would look, I didn't know how I would color it, and I most certainly didn't know if it'd ever come to fruition. The only part of the idea I had was to draw the world's most hardcore backpacker...and all the equipment that he takes with him. This one definitely went through a lot of changes in the couple of days I took to draw it, but I'm pleased with the end result, and, luckily, I was able to finish it in time (with a week before deadline).

I haven't been drawing as frequently. I'm going to try to change that. Hope this one was worth the wait.

Details:

Shirt template:

Artwork © 2011 Jeremy Owen

Come back soon to give it your score!

Cheers,

~J

Cold Air Balloon

This is a collaboration between myself and fellow artist Jonah Block (a.k.a. biotwist on Threadless). It was a great experience to work with someone else's idea: it gave me a bit of a break from my mind...which can be a bit of a ball and chain sometimes. We'll see how it does. I initially started out with 8 colors (more of less), but, with Johan's help, knocked it down to 3-5, depending on what you define as an 'individual' color.

I'm not sure which I prefer better: I liked using more colors, but the simpler version seems to work better on a shirt. I'll let you be the judge.

Less Color:

More Color:

Shirt templates:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Brrr...I'm ready for summer.

~J

Original Design Submission:

Big, Big News

So, I don't know if all of you who follow this blog have heard, but one of my designs was chosen on Threadless.com and is now avaliable for sale! You can get the shirt, of 'Been There...', right here.

Original design submission:

Also, if you'd like, I just enabled my work for sale on Society 6, an awesome place to find one-of-a-kind art prints and more.

You can get an art print of 'Been There...' here.

Have a great day.

~J

The Wilson's Antique Vase

I tried putting this one on a shirt, but I don't think it looked quite right. Maybe sometime in the future...maybe. It was supposed to be for a "Characters" challenge, but I didn't know how many people would get what was going on by just looking at it.

It's supposed to embody this upper-class, rich, mind-mannered family who purchase an antique vase, not knowing that it is actually cursed to devour anyone who tries to claim ownership of it. This is just the scene were they all get (vigorously) eaten.

A bit of a silly concept, I know, but...oh, well.

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

The Big Picture

This one came out of just doodling around. I wanted to do something with picture frames, so I started on that. I thought there should be some people admiring the art, so in they went. Then...I got stuck. I couldn't think of what to put in the frames. What would captivate people of all ages? What would be of valuable importance to everyone?

And then it came to me: everyone is interested in the grand scheme of things, how their life began, what will come about, and how it will end. We are all interested in 'The Big Picture' of our lives: the learning, the yearning, the heartbreak, the triumphs. Thus, I decided to connect all of the pictures together, because, in some bizarre way or another, we are all connected.

It was great fun trying to artistically portray a galaxy/supernova/heavenly body. I had great fun with this one. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Details:

Templates:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

Original Design Submission:

Just Another Fantasy Story

No story...just a 'fantasy-type' picture. Enjoy.

Details:

Shirt Template:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

Rare Collector's Item

I wasn't sure what to call this one, so the title (of both the picture and the post) may be subject to change. This one was for a challenge on Threadless to come up with a design inspired by 'Noir'. I've loved Noir for as long as I can remember, and wanted to pay tribute to it in my own unique way. A friend got me a Christmas present last yeah that got me in the mood for this one: a hard to find copy of Frank Miller's masterpiece, "Batman: Year One". It is truly a work of art. Together with David Mazzucchelli's perfect visual style and Frank Miller's perfect writing tone, it's a great human story that fits perfectly into the Batman universe. I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to The Caped Crusader, so pardon my obvious biased praise.

With the design, I figured a 'retro, collector's-dream-find' comic feel would fit nicely. It didn't turn out too bad, I think. Enjoy.

Details:

Shirt template:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Happy Findings.

~J

Minstrels Get All the Fair Maidens

This is just a play on the old phrase "Musicians Get All the Girls". I don't know: I thought it'd make a good picture if set back in medieval times. I think it turned out okay.

Details:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

The Night Crooner

I've seen this done before. I know it's not new...but it was fun to do it anyway. It didn't turn out exactly how I saw it in my head, but that's okay. Maybe you'll enjoy it nonetheless.

Some details:

Shirt template:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

Group of Friends

This was one that someone commissioned me to do back at the beginning of December 2010 and that I only recently finished. It's interesting to look back and see how my style has changed in the space of only a few months. I think submitting designs to Threadless (with the boundary of only 8 colors max) has taught me a lot.

© 2010-11 Jeremy Owen

Select (shirt) patterns found through Google Images

(I did not create indicated patterns).

Cheers,

~J

Been There...

I had this idea one day (way back in December), and thought "Hey, that might make a good picture." I'm not sure if I succeeded, but I'm thoroughly proud with how it turned out.

The idea had to do with an archeologist uncovering a most peculiar find in an ancient cave, left there as an homage to gods that had been so gracious as to visit the civilization personally: a mural, half painting, half carving, depicting the gods and their most magnificent chariot. Can you guess who they are? Granted, this particular history doesn't fit with the actual Back to the Future universe, but, say, if they made an animated TV show, this is likely somewhere the writers would take the characters.

Maybe you'll get it, maybe you won't, but I greatly enjoyed doing this one, and hey, I got to pay homage to two of my favorite icons from the 80's: Back to the Future and Indiana Jones (the archeologist morphed into him (as I thought he would while drawing it)).

Enjoy.

Details:

Templates:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

Strawberry's Swing

This will probably be my last iteration of this concept (for a while anyway), so I thought I'd do it up right. This one is, again, inspired by Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing", as you may have guessed just looking at it. A bit of a strange concept, but I enjoyed doing it. Maybe you'll enjoy looking at it. Who knows?

Details:

Templates:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J

The Chrome Colossus and The Fiery Fox

Now you too can bear witness to the epic (and those of you who know me know that I use the word "epic" sparingly) struggle between "The Chrome Colossus" and "The Fiery Fox".

If you didn't get the wordplay, here's what's up: I wanted to do a picture to embody the ever petty argument between whether Firefox of Google Chrome is better. It's been like this ever since Chrome came out, and I'd like to settle the score (at least from my viewpoint). I, as do many of my friends, prefer Google Chrome. I've had some bad experiences with Firefox not doing what I wanted it to, and Chrome hasn't (months after it's implementation) let me down once. Another thing I like about it is the openness of the taskbar. There's much more room to surf: I don't like a lot of options hovering at the top of the screen. I'm a simple guy, so maybe that's why I like Chrome: it's easy to understand and isn't cluttered up. Is that a good enough explanation?

Whichever side of the fence you sit on, I hope you enjoy the picture. Pick whichever side you want to win in the pic: I don't care in the slightest.

Details:

Shirt Template:

© 2011 Jeremy Owen

Cheers,

~J