Feb 13, 2013
MONSTERS!!! Man,....this shirt...it's so friggin' clean! My favorite piece to see come out of HH so far for sure...so much to tell about this shirt.
The story about the MONSTERS tee is...just as random as that last sentence.There is a lot to such a simple design,but it started way before HH even had a name.
Ever since I've been young,there's been a degree of nausea that I get when I find something to be disgusting.The smell of cinnamon,poorly written sentences,bad color choices, just things that don't necessarily make sense or are difficult to justify make me want to hurl.
There is a feeling right before I feel this nausea, and I never had a name for it.It's like seeing stars bubbling steam,something volatile happens and usually it results in a sort of struggle that translates from a mental 'bug' of sorts, into a full fledged ailment.It's quite unusual , but it's something acknowledged that is worked around...basically don't put yourself in disgusting or bothersome situations.
As stated in previous rants,the last few releases have been based around dealing within business and the industry.I have had all sorts of run ins with just tons of people, and a strong majority of them can't and never will make sense.This as you can imagine, has just lead to many a disgusting situation.There was one interaction that was so bothersome, I threw up for about a week anytime I thought about it.
While trying to explain what the image I see looks like, I just kept drawing slime OVER and OVER anytime I felt like throwing up.During this time, there was a character on the anime One Piece that had an issue similar to mine with stomach flu and nausea that came to mind and coincidentally,the slime or poison he ommitted looked EXACTLY like the slime in my head that I was drawing! So it seemed natural to do something with that.
This is JUST LIKE THE SLIME in my head! Haha! But not as black...mine changes colors! Haha!
The thing about the piece that was difficult however is that there was a need for me to make something negative into a positive,well-designed work.So,I couldn't think of how to do that....but it seemed to be that if you take the most negative things you can think about and turn them into a sort of compilation,that translates into an awesome shirt (think Footsies, or Jimmy Loko).
So, after a bunch of head scratching, I thought to myself, "what's the most disgusting thing you can think of right now"..and "how do you make that into a positive?"...during my toiling, I was in the middle of a stream chat and someone was just laying into HH HARD. And I felt so disgusted...then it clicked, "MONSTERS".
The thing about MONSTERS is it's actually one of the most overused wonky words in our circle.It's kind of a catalyst for good or bad, but people, often try to label or box monsters into these unhappy internet people.The thing about a monster is they can be anywhere or anyone.Almost everybody is a monster in some way.Whether it's a person following hype,typing,or just being a jerkface, MONSTER moments come over just about any person on the planet.It's more of an energy than anything else...
The Monsters Tee Sketches before they got all prettied up...
So why label it or put it in a box? Once you get rid of the word 'stream' or 'chat' or any descriptive noun ahead of the word, MONSTER is this super clean and powerful word.It actually brings people together and creates a sense of unity.Just say it: MONSTERS. It's tough.So why not give it a design as badass as the word is?
So after referencing a bunch of slime and getting the design hammered out.The piece really just became it's own thing.It's the opposite of the feelings that spawned the design, clean,unified,makes sense....I smile anytime I see someone rocking it.So, it's just a testament to what the world can be with the right mindset and thinking.
End result turned out wayyyyyyy better than expected!
The colors are a Nod to people that were around during it's conception, and they work together to make the piece pop and create that energy we wanted to capture while also remaining restrained enough for anyone to wear it day or night.It's a nice little piece of work.
Anyways, that's the MONSTERS tee.And it's in the store now...and you thought it was just a vector and some Pantones...shame on you.Rock with it already...MONSTERS. -h_h-
Stay Hungry