3D street art is absolutely incredible! If you’ve never seen it before, it consists of two-dimensional paintings on pavement that appear to be three-dimensional when viewed from the proper angle. One of my favorite artists in the scene is Edgar Mueller. I recently saw the making-of video for Mueller’s piece titled “The Crevasse” and thought that I would share it with you all! Here’s an image of the piece followed by the video. Enjoy!
I’ve been getting into vinyl toys lately, especially little blind box toys. Today, Kidrobot posted about its latest Dunny series, Dunny Fatale. These toys are looking pretty sweet! There’s no exact date for the release, but they should be dropping sometime in late January. Check out Kidrobot’s post about these new toys by clicking the image below.
I was surfing the web when I found this sweet stop motion video. Kristofer Ström put together this video for a musical group in Sweden called Minilogue. All of the images were drawn on a whiteboard and there’s a neat interactive component to the illustrations. One of my favorite things to watch for is when he drags and repositions some lines with his fingers. It’s great to see the artist physically interacting with what’s drawn on the board. I also love how the drawings are continuously evolving from one thing to another. It’s absolutely fascinating to watch!
I can’t remember where I learned about this, but I think that it’s the coolest idea! Artist Jason Polan is working on a project to draw as many people in New York as he can. For his daily drawings, he goes to public places, such as museums, subway stations, and street corners. Since Polan doesn’t make his drawing too obvious, you probably won’t even know if he’s capturing you on paper. Check out the Every Person In New York blog, where you will find all of his uploaded drawings. You might even see yourself there!
If you haven’t seen it yet, Doodlers Anonymous has released a beautiful 32-page coloring book that features 29 different artists from around the world. To make this book even better, a portion of the sales will be donated to the International Child Art Foundation. Who says that grownups can’t also enjoy coloring books? Click the image below to see larger pictures of what’s inside!
This one goes out to all the ladies (and possibly some fellas) who love design and dangly earrings. These Pantone earrings by Miss Wax give you a little piece of the world of Pantone colors to flaunt as an accessory. They’re available at Karmaloop for $22.40 right now with free shipping (since it’s a Kasbah store item). You can also take 40% off this weekend with the coupon code provided on the site. Sweet!
My name is Justin. I have pondered starting a clothing line. I’ve been doing extensive research because, well, if I do start one I’ll be running off a shoestring budget. Anyhow, I’ll cut to the chase and ask the questions I’ve been wondering about.
Do you make your own shirts, or do you outsource this?
If you do outsource it (I understand the process of outsourcing) does the company making the shirts put the label and hang tag on for you, or do you do this?
If you do not outsource, do you print them up yourself with a DTG printer or screen printer, and then sew on your label, and put your hang tag on yourself? And where do you get your products from? I have researched many, and a lot of smaller operations recommend American Apparel.
I have many more questions, but I’ll leave just one more. I imagine you are a busy person, just as I am.
What kind of numbers do you have rolling in, and are you making a big enough profit to expand your line?
My start up costs would be different from yours, but it helps to have some general ideas, that way I can figure out my break even point.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks,
Justin
Answers:
Hey Justin, thanks for the questions.
I’m assuming you’re asking if I print my own shirts rather than make them, but no, I don’t print my own shirts. I wish I could, but I’m still a student, and it would be too much labor for it to be worth it.
The company I outsource puts in the labels for me, but I put on the hang tags myself, because that’s pretty simple.
I can’t share my numbers, because that’s personal, but I make enough to be able to run Lowdtown only off of the money it makes. Mind you, I don’t really use any of the money I make from Lowdtown for personal things, so I pretty much put 100% of the profit back into Lowdtown.
And I don’t think knowing my numbers will help you figure out your point for breaking even. You figure out how to break even, by figuring the cost of your blanks plus the print and any additional embellishments (labels, hang tags, etc). That would be your raw cost of the t-shirt. Then you figure out your retail price, and subtract your raw price per t-shirt. By figuring out how much money you’d be making off each shirt, you can see how many shirts it would take to break even. Of course there would be a lot of other factors, but that’s the barebones way I use to figure it out.
As a fan of The Simpsons, I was quite entertained when I saw these images by David Barton. Barton did four illustrations in the styles of Van Gogh, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Halsman, and used Simpsons characters in place of the original portraits’ subjects. My favorite is either Groundskeeper Willie in Van Gogh’s style or Marge in the style of Vermeer. Which is your favorite?
