Creating Tee-Shirt Illustrations, Part 1

I am currently developing Tee-Shirt illustrations for the son of a dear friend of mine for his fashion brand. (More details coming soon!) Here’s a sneak-peek:Over the years, I’ve produced many Tee-shirt designs.I received a phone call once, from a very persuasive representative of the World Wildlife Federation. Being a lover of wildlife and an environmental supporter, I was open to his pitch: “Kevin, I’m offering you Prizes and Money!” I thought that was funny. The actual offer was $500. and 50 Tee-shirts. It was a pittance for my services, but I accepted the proposal because, all around, it sounded like fun for a good cause.Here is the resulting illustration — it worked out well, I thought…(I still have some of those T’s hanging around in a box somewhere!)After the 2008 Presidential Election, I was contacted by a client who was wanting to get shirts prepared for the Inauguration of Barrack Obama. He commissioned this hedcut style portrait of the new president:Speaking of the hedcut, while I was officiating over illustration ceremonies at the Wall Street Journal Art Department, years ago, it came to me to illustrate this trio of (dubious) cultural renown:This illustration has a ‘tee-shirt connection’, too: One of the camera guys at WSJ alerted me to the fact that some bootlegger was advertising shirts emblazoned with my art around New York! The issue was sent up to the Legal Dept.Wrapping up, here is a simple ‘How-to” for you, to help you in the Tee-shirt folding department —  an illustration I did for Martha Stewart Living magazine.