Just wanted to take the time to say Happy New Year to everyone and I hope everyone gets to start off with a fresh new year and new things!
I have been keeping myself busy with a few projects I will be updating soon!
Thanks to everyone that supports my work or anything else I do!
-James
So I’ve been working on these 2 designs since the last blog update. The first shirt is another anchor design that I did. It’s different then the previous anchor designs I’ve done. On the anchor shirt I used the pen tool to create the anchor in Adobe Illustrator I also created the main font in Illustrator as well. Overall I tried something new completely designing this t-shirt in Illustrator instead of importing to Photoshop. I managed to keep it down to 3 colors which is surprising that I Was able to get it that low. I wanted to go with 4 – 6 colors!
The Second Shirt was created in Photoshop. Once I created the text, it was all pretty much rasterized so I could manipulate it to fit the design. The bottom features a city amongst the shapes that were rasterized to and then added a grunge to make it fit the style I was reaching. I thought the lines added a nice touch as well. This shirt was limited to 2 colors as well but I still feel those 2 colors worked out well!
I will have more to post soon enough! 
-James
The Quiet City Screams Anchor Shirt
The Quiet City Screams City Shirt
Today and yesterday I’ve managed to get the blog updated and had to work on the layout a bit to get it back and running completely how it was. I’m still updating and adding things and will be throughout the day. I will also have a new post tomorrow with a new shirt design that I recently finished.
Happy Holidays!
-James
So I haven’t updated in a while. I’ve been busy with school. I finished this semester of classes this week! So now, it’s back to working hard on design. Since I haven’t posted anything in a few I’ll start with everything going on right now. I am currently in the process of a blog update, So I’m currently backing up the database tonight and preparing the blog for the update.
On the other hand, I’ve got a few projects I’ve been working on.
Toronto Ink has had the website re-designed to a lighter fit.
You can always check it out at http://www.torontoink.com. I’ve also posted it on the main page of my portfolio.
Here is screen:
Toronto Ink Website Screen Shot
After the blog is updated I will be including another blog update about the blog update and another project that is currently in progress.
-James
It’s been a REALLY long time since I’ve designed a drum head. But! I had a order come in for it in the past couple weeks. I’ve mentioned several times about the launch of the entire Final Thought Project including the Website and CD Packaging. Well they wanted to go even further as to making the drummers bass drum head the CD cover. So, my task was to make that happen. Not sure if he will have his porthole lined up like this but this is a mockup only. I think this is personally one of the coolest bass drum heads I’ve ever seen. Anyways, Check it out.
Final Thought Bass Drum Head
After completing the website to http://www.torontoink.com I set sail on a journey for some new T-Shirts for these guys. First if you live in Toronto, Canada or surrounding areas…. Check them out! They have done some amazing work!
I had fun designing these shirts. The sky was pretty limitless as to what I could design. So I started out working on one shirt at a time… The first design came to me as I put it together. We already had a general idea for the second shirt. Our idea was a Jersey Shore Workout Shirt that guys could wear to the gym at the same time with a flare! I think we pinned it perfect. So with all that said below are the 2 T-Shirt concepts that will soon be displayed inside Toronto Ink Tattoo Shop and eventually in an Online Store.
In the first shirt I used a halftone for the upper “Toronto” text. As for the Splatter’s I actually went outside and used a can of spray paint and sprayed paper and let the paper dry up and scanned it into illustrator.
The second design I used the pen tool and created the bird. After I created the bird I created everything else around it and used a college font. Afterwards I gave it the washed out look using Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Grunge Patterns That are actually grunge’s that I made myself and are available for download in the Photoshop Brushes section or on Brusheezy.
Toronto Ink - Inked Up - Heather black
Toronto Ink - Bird T-Shirt - Forest
I’ve been so busy with school and design I haven’t been able to post to any website. I have been working on a lot of designs. I guess it would be appropriate to post them separately.
First, after finishing the Final Thought Project I have been working on a couple shirts.
I finished two new T-Shirts with LA Trash. The clothing line is finally in the process of finalizing shirt design ideas and getting them printed off and ready. I’ve posted all the previous designs all over the web, however here is the newest designs.
The First is a T-Shirt I’ve previously displayed, however the colors have been altered to a more fitting pattern. I first started this design randomly making text paths in Adobe Illustrator CS5. As the design started coming together I start using only text to create the entire shirt. I really like this design it is probably one of my favorites.
The Second is a Zip-Up Hoodie. When I went into this design I had no idea where I was going. After a while I started creating the text in Adobe Illustrator CS5 with the idea of some how incorporating “This is my hood” into the shirt. After I came up with the text I liked the idea of an abstract city in the background of the text and then once it was all finished I topped it off with the LA Trash trademarks of the Garbage Can in the background as well as LA Trash Apparel embedded throughout the large text. Overall This is my favorite design I have ever done. I can’t wait for it to get printed off.
LA Trash Text T-Shirt
LA Trash This is my hood
The past week or so has been so stressful preparing for the release of the new Final Thought Website. I’ve been working really hard on this project and I think it is one of the best project’s I have done to date. I always love working with these guys! They are open to just about anything and with the combination of that and the music style they hold my possibilities go pretty out there. I originally started designing with their CD Album “What We Need” That is to be released November 8th 2011. I recently made a post about completing the CD Album which you can find here and here showing the artwork to the entire album.
After I finished working with the album I went on to design the Website, New blog, MySpace, Youtube and the Merchandise store. I really wanted to get these guys going on a website that had alot more interaction thus why I brought the blog into the equation. I wanted to drive a bit more traffic to the website as well as give a nice visual presence and as I said, more interaction. This time around I put a Adobe Flash Music player incorporated into the website so users could listen to music while they browse the blog posts and other content on the website.
With all that said Check out the website @ http://www.finalthoughtband.com, Also don’t forget to look at the blog and other social media sites.
Here is a screenshot of the Website:
Final Thought Website Design
-James
This is a Illustration I have been working on for the band “The High Note”.
I always like working with these guys!
I used the pen tool alot more working with this design in illustrator and I’m beginning to really discover a liking for it. I have more projects I’m always working on so hopefully I can post more really soon!
Infact I will be doing an Illustration for a band 10 past 6 as well as Final Thought Website. I look forward to the release.
The High Note Anchor Illustration T-Shirt
I have been working on the main page of www.1987clothing.com. Currently adding things such as a new photo gallery, updated coding and the new header. I will eventually be adding them over to the blog and Tumblr layouts as well.
More projects will also be released soon as well and I really can not wait until those are brought out for people to see. I just finished the Final Thought CD Album “What We Need” You can read more about it in my last post. I will also be building a website for them based on the album design which I will be posting about as soon as it is finished!
You can also see the album displayed on Behance Network.
Contact Me and lets talk about something.
OH! Also.. Check out my photoshop brushes! I am not finished adding all of my new brushes either. I still have about 12 new brushes at the least to bring out.
-James
