Feb 1, 2013
Alrighty, owe you guys a few good stories on some of the last pieces, let's go with the piece most prominent in my mind right now: Scumbags.The shirt actually came from another project originally and was being worked out to be a part of our first collaboration...due to high levels of grimey weird stuff, that never happened.But the template for doing a mascot shirt was there.
There's always a need to articulate thoughts and feelings, I felt it was done quite deliberately last year with pieces like the Jimmy Loko and Self Sponsored shirts.We have never used a mascot here,and it just seemed like a great direction to go for the vibe trying to be channeled.
Early Scumbag sketches
The goal was to address the parts of business and our community that has to do with exploitation and lack of action.There are a BUNCH of people that have a million gripes, but very few of those people actually do anything conducive to making a change.They're 'NO WORK,ALL SAY' ....they kind of just go wherever the flavor of the week jerkface decides to take them and play along, whining the whole way and doing nothing.This translates to their entire lives,and they get nowhere most of the time.
The Scumbag in the design is thought to be the mascot character, no he is just an opportunist.Whether he's selling,joysticks,DVDs,or whatever else, he is going to get by as long as there is a dummy willing to buy whatever he's selling ...or saying...and no one will do anything outside of watch him and whine a little while doing little to nothing to stop him.The Scumbags are those bozos that put up with this.
Despite the game references,the Scumbag mentality translates to all communities and worlds.Scumbags are everywhere.There are very little people that work in spite of whatever setbacks come into their life.This work is a nod to make people want to take action when pursuing their goals and desires...a sort of 'we will rise' within a fun to wear shirt.
As for aesthetics, the influences were propaganda,and old iconography.It just seemed super fun to make something super wearable and fun regardless of the heavy message.The iconography and colors seemed to make it just REALLY nice at the end of the process.
If you look closely, there's a small offset in the Scumbag's print, that is a nod to old comics where the printing is just a bit off from the press.Really smart stuff I can't take credit for.. my bud Matt came up with that like the smart butt he is.Too crazy.
In closing,this shirt is the one that probably got the most responses from strangers, and it was nice to see that the work can be appreciated on all levels,that's a great feeling and a new one..just really heartwarming,especially considering how much work went in and sleep was lost making this.Definitely a non-Scumbag effort.
Finished product,turned out ill right?
There are a few more Nods hidden in the piece, but it's no fun telling you guys all of them.If you have the shirt, look closely and you may catch some, if you don't have the shirt, make sure to get it while it's in the SHOP and we can get a pow wow going to talk about the shirt some more.Haha....anyways, hope you enjoyed the rant and deconstruction.Look out for some of the other stories soon! -h_h-
Stay Hungry
