Here’s a recent shirt design commissioned by Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose.
So metal!
I submitted three roughs with the same dragon artwork, and this was my favorite. (Unfortunately, the client went with my least favorite, a more typography-centered design. Ain’t that always the way.)
This was a fun illustration job, as the client wanted to have a cartoony mascot illustration in the shirt based off their centerpiece ride, Danny the Dragon:
Danny's seen better days.
My first instinct was to go for really bright colors since the design was meant for kids, but the general vibe of the park seemed very retro. The design shown here was inspired by video game and toy licensing shirts of the 1980s.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Woo hoo hoo! Either that’s a scanned version of the actual t-shirt or that’s the old-school Silver Age comic filter you’ve been using for your alphabet series! Lol!
Looks good. Wonder what he’d look like with a mask and cape …
Actually, it’s a simple distress pattern I applied to let the color of the shirt show through before printing. Helps with the “vintage” feel.
Still wish I hadn’t had to use Futura for the wording, though. It’s a pretty boring typeface.
I like the t-shirt design better than the actual dragon on the ride. Nice work Steve!