Although totally unintentional, I’m starting (again) from the ground up as the year starts. It feels like the game Chutes and Ladders, got a huge Chute back to square one and now I’m crossing fingers I find a ladder eventually, and thus I’m starting to make some artwork for submissions and projects that I hope I can eventually use for some exhibitions.
On a better note, starting in January I’m participating in a group exhibition made by a friend and fellow artist Shirley Huang, where art is made on “Red Envelopes” from the south East Asian tradition of gift giving, and thus some of the proceeds go to non profit organizations. I always wanted to participate in this “Red Envelop” kind of event, and also is happening on the year of the Dragon, which is on its own a really cool symbol, design wise. My piece was a self made envelope (As I couldn’t find the red ones) and the gift is a bookmark, both original illustrations along a couple of stickers. Is now available here or in person at Rosebud Coffee in Pasadena CA.
A couple of months ago I made a limited edition Shirt print, (only 20 available to the public out of the 24 printed, available here) meant to sell withing the US, since I realized that shipping outside the country is extremely expensive besides dealing with customs forms and possible extra fees. To have some shirts available outside the US I had to use a direct to print company, after looking a few options, I decided to test Printful, main reason is because is integrated into my Bigcartel store, keeping things tidy in a single website.
Using the image from my “Mango Lush” original artwork I created this design, ‘AGENT96 - The Mango Protocol’, the title is just a fun spin from the original, keeping the theme in the “secret agent” genre. I also like the fact that you can add graphics to the sleeves. I’m going to be creating more designs and possible adding more products like sweaters, but I really want to keep it to t-shirts, and always in black (favorite color). There is two versions of it, one with the print on the front/chest and one with the print on the back. You can get them on the following links
‘AGENT96 - The Mango Protocol’ (front print)
‘AGENT96 - The Mango Protocol’ (back print)
Edit: Printful wasn’t as transparent with the shipping and tax once I tried for real, thus I removed those items, for now I have a T-public design available here and I’m in the process of opening a Redbubble account, in the hope that those work internationally better.
Last week I did for the first time a custom paint on shoes, something I’ve meaning to do for years, but just didn’t happen until now, I had a pair of new sneakers in my shelf for almost two years, and was holding them because I wanted to paint on them, and also didn’t need them till now. I like them because they only have the stripes on the soles, allowing me to play a bit more with the design, thus I made the stripes with negative space. If you ever consider a customized shoe, I’m open to commissions, just send me an email!
Thank you for reading! till the next one