Free Spirit Tshirt Design [Break Down]

(This is a HUGE post..get ready xD)

HEY GUYS.

So...recently I designed a tshirt for a new apparel website called ' Mäul.' I offered up my time to help contribute to their website, and am now listed as one of their official artists! The public release and announcement of the company was made this past Friday, so as a result, I can finally share with you the design and the WIPs leading up to the final design. 

I first need to give SUCH a big shout out to the artists and the founder of the company for being SO incredibly supportive and helpful throughout the process. It feels like I joined a little family, and I honestly couldn't be happier <3 

Anyway, so to start, lets do a run down of the very first steps I took in creating this design.

The goal for this was to create a design that describes who I am as an artist, visually. The companies goal is to cater to everyone, and to allow the artists to express themselves as how they want. No restrictions, no strict guidelines. At first, it was pretty difficult trying to break down my work and figure out what sticks out in terms of style. So I went ahead and made a journal on FurAffinity asking if people could describe to me what makes them know my art is mine when submissions appear in their inboxes. The most common words that came up were 'lynx', 'lineart', 'expressions', 'cats'. So..at that moment I definitely knew I had to go with SOME of what was being said xD Ideally lynx, for sure. I knew right away my design needed a lynx in it. But it couldn't be my character, cause the goal for this design was to also make a shirt catering to both regular people and furries. The next thing I knew I wanted, was to base my design around my favourite style of clothing, which is 'boho' or otherwise known as a 'hippy, chill vibes' kind of style. I looked up references for already existing tshirt designs..graphics..symbols..anything surrounding the style. What stood out to me most was arrows and feathers, so I took those elements, and played around with some ideas via quick, rough doodles!  

The design in favor, by both me, and the rest of the crew, was definitely C, but we liked A as well, especially the tagline underneath.

(The next part I'll describe, since it doesn't involve my artwork, and I'd feel wrong posting it.)

A member of the group took C and decided to do a redline over top with their own take on the design. The outcome...I absolutely fell in love with. Basically they took C's design, made the arrows appear snapped in half in the middle, with the words 'Wild Spirit' appearing as if they're bursting out from the inside of the diamond shape the arrows formed. He also drew the lynx with a mouth wide open, fangs exposed, as if it's screaming to break the arrows and free itself. We all LOVED that idea! 

So next comes the next batch of WIPs! 

So in this stage, I stuck to my initial idea here, but I also tried out the one person's suggestion via redline. I felt I lost 'me' with the open mouth pose. It's just not a look I draw...my artwork, I feel, gives off calm, happy vibes, where B just didn't speak to me that much. As I was drawing, I was beginning to like it bit by bit, but in the end I still definitely preferred my original idea. So what was left was A and C..the group preferred A the most, but they were all still curious to see what it'd look like with the broken arrows. So! I gave it a shot.

And in that moment, this design was declared the winner! :D 

But that wasn't over yet! The group felt it'd be a nice touch to the 'boho' style by adding a bit of worn looking texture over the design! I downloaded a pack of 'grunge' brushes and lowered the opacity on the eraser tool. I then chose one of the brushes and went over it delicately with the brush, adding in that texture we were looking for.

And TA DA! Added the texture and went in on the design, cleaning it up a little bit before declaring it finished. 

So that was that! The shirt design was then taken and put on a mock up shirt, used for ads, etc. and now lies on the website waiting for people to purchase it! We also decided to name it 'Free Spirit' since it fit more with the visual (:

I honestly can't WAIT to see how the shirts look! I'll likely be getting my copy around the time those that have already ordered one on Friday will..but yeah! I'm really hoping the quality is super nice, and I honestly can't WAIT to see everyone wearing my shirt design ;A; It's still so surreal!

For my first time creating a shirt, I feel like it was a huge success! I think going with what YOU think looks nice as a shirt is the best way to go. I feel like if I tried to cater to what I think people would like..it'd flop. So that's my little tip to those that want to start selling merch! Make what YOU would want to buy! Not to mention it makes the process more enjoyable for sure <3 

So yeah! Advertising time! The shirt is up for order HERE  . It is print on demand, and I believe the first batch of orders are planned to ship out June 1st! So if you want your shirt super soon, go order one now! 

If you can't right now, no worries! The design will be up for a few months, guaranteed, and they also plan on making woman's cuts and tank tops available towards the middle of the summer! For accurate updates, definitely follow their Twitter account or send them an email if you are curious!

Annnnd if you don't like my design, haha, no worries! I don't expect everyone too, but there are other options available by other artists! Thankfully we all have very unique and different styles, so go check it out!

https://www.maulapparel.com/