451

This one is for Threadwars IV: Round II: Classic Literature (as I was fortunate enough to make it to the next round). This piece is based on one of my favorite books, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's sci-fi classic about a dystopic future where books are outlawed and the ones who harbor them (and the knowledge they hold) are hunted as fugitives.

Artwork © 2013 Jeremy Owen

“Do you understand now

why books are hated and feared?

Because they reveal the pores

on the face of life.

The comfortable people want only

the faces of the full moon,

wax, faces without pores,

hairless, expressionless.” 

- Ray Bradbury

~J

Love First Yourself

I have been body conscious my whole life, and have suffered with the resulting repercussions. It's never fun being uncomfortable in your own skin, so I wanted to highlight the issue of body-love with this one. It takes a lot of courage to love yourself, despite what everyone considers 'normal' or 'acceptable', and I admit: I'm not quite there yet. But I'm learning (thanks to some amazing people in my life), and for me, that's a huge step. I know this design won't solve the problem of body-image consciousness, but if it can change at least one person's outlook of themselves, I'll be overjoyed, because, whether you think so or not, you are beautiful.

VOTE FOR IT HERE

© 2013 Jeremy Owen

Love you.

~J

Rethink Violence

This is for the first round of Threadwars VI. The theme for Round 1 was Violence, but, after an extended period of time trying to come up with a concept, I realized that I don't dwell on subjects like violence often, at least not as a theme for something I'm working on. In accordance, I chose to highlight anti-violence instead (which the administrators of the contest said would work just as well). It's not as refined as I'd like (it was completed in a week (and in an even shorter period of time since I didn't have ample opportunity to work on it throughout said week)), but sometimes it's nice to crunch for a deadline. It puts emphasis not only on focus but also on the importance of subject matter (the difference between what is necessary and what is icing). Essentially, this one doesn't have an over-abundance of icing, but I think the cake, although partially faked, isn't half bad.

© 2013 Jeremy Owen

I love you all.

~ J

Writer's Block

This is a collaboration with soloyo on Threadless. He came to me with this idea at the 2011 Threadless Meetup after a keynote presentation highlighting 'creative block'. We tried to go for a broader range of subject matter (as is apparent from the process blog here). Nothing worked until we decided to settle on writer's block, which is something that Nestor (soloyo) struggles with often, being a writer and all. Once we had a firm direction, everything fell into place, minus my drive to finally finish it (again, 2011). Subject matter in mind, I think this of all pieces was not one to rush. Still...sorry for the wait, Nestor.

VOTE FOR IT HERE

Concept © 2011 Nestor Gomez

Artwork © 2013 Jeremy Owen

Sky Castle

This is a remake of another artist's design. It's part of the Remake Community Challenge, which is exactly what it sounds like. This is one that I wanted to do a few years ago, but I'm glad I held off. My style is constantly maturing/changing, and I feel that, if I had decided to try to accomplish this piece, I may not have been able to do it justice. I'm still not sure if I did, but, personally, I'm happy with how it turned out. The original, a piece conceived by the immensely talented Julia Sonmi Heglund, can be found below. Happy new year. Here's to a much more regular posting schedule.

VOTE FOR IT HERE

Concept © Julia Sonmi Heglund

Artwork © 2013 Jeremy Owen

Original:

~J

There's a Spider in the Bathroom

Barely coming in under the submission-deadline wire, here is my entry for the Threadless + Spider-Man  design contest. I haven't really been inspired to do anything for Threadless in a while: they've redesigned their site (and it still needs A LOT of ironing out), the submission forms have changed, etc. I'm not sure why those events put me off submitting (and it's not all that: I just haven't come up with any worthwhile tee ideas lately), but I'm going to try to start subbing again.
The focus of the contest was to create a design inspired by Spidey doing battle with his foes. And, since I was fairly certain that 90% of the submissions would be battle-scenes, I tried to go in a smarter direction. For, as any seasoned general will tell you, going into battle without having observed the enemy (their strengths, weaknesses, and motive) is a grave mistake.
I wanted to utilize the prominence of photography in the Spider-Man universe, and a makeshift darkroom set up in the bathroom seemed like a worth starting point. The rest evolved from there. Mind you the inspiration and execution behind this one all took place in a little over a week, so there are certain things I would prefer to perfect or redo if I had more time, but, as I seem to do often, I put it off until the last minute. Still, my Spider-Sense is quite content with the final product.

Final Product:

Close-up of Villians:

Characters © Marvel Comics

Artwork © 2012 Jeremy Owen

~J

Hip Princess

Another Adventure Time fan-art piece: this one is of Bubblegum as a hipster waiting to get into a show (probably for some bands you've probably never heard of...probably). Funnily enough, I spent more time on this piece than I did on the other AT pieces I've done, and it received less of a response on Tumblr. Either I strayed too far from the actual look and feel of the show...or it proves that less really is more (although, if you think about it, those two reasons are essentially one in the same).

There were many different color schemes/lighting effects I tried for this one, and I settled on this look for a particular reason. I went to see Beach House with a good friend recently, and, while waiting outside for the show, in the chill, October weather, there was this warm light cast by the last rays of sun, illuminating us and everything around with a yellowish sheen. It was a beautiful way for the day to end and a wonderful opening for what, truly, was the best show I've been to in my life so far. So, even though the performance of this piece wasn't as awesome as I wanted it to be for the effort I put into it, it does hold that sense of accomplishment at recreating part of an endearing life experience, for whatever it's worth to you folks.

Character © Pendelton Ward

Artwork © 2012 Jeremy Owen

~J