Roots

I quite like the Roots design. I'm not sure how this design came about, though. It was a moment of wanting something simple yet complex, and it developed before me with little thought about where we were going. This is what I ended up with: Roots, with dark pastel high lights.

This design looks better on lighter shirts, me thinks. This off-white, barely grey shirt is my favorite. I'm also a fan of how it fits on many of the other products, especially the notebooks and water bottles.

I look forward to more designs with a little more flair than just text; although, I do enjoy playing with the text-based designs best. Sometimes, outside of other craft and design projects, a design fits best in the RedPress family even when it does not focus on text.

Look for this design and more in the RedPress Shop, and follow us on instagram @RedPressPrints or on here for many more designs to come!

Educate: Don't Hate

There are times when we have to remember that ignorance is best fought with knowledge, and ignorant questions are best answered honestly. Questions are requests for knowledge, and kind honesty can help end hate where anger-filled answers can only breed more hate and distrust.

Why Pride?

As we get closer to July this year, there are a lot of people questioning why LGBT folks still insist on throwing a wild parade and street fair with various surrounding parties. We get it: you're queer! It's not about showing they're different though: pride celebrates the moment various sorts of queer people were tired of harassment from law and society. The varied groups came together to show they would do anything it took to live their lives as they wanted to by loving whomever they wanted to love and dressing in clothes they chose for themselves. "Although there had been other protests by gay groups, the Stonewall incident was perhaps the first time lesbians, gays, and transgendered people saw the value in uniting behind a common cause." (Britannica)


This coming together of queer groups marked a much stronger minority, all facing similar discrimination, with more presence and power than the individual groups. These events lead to getting the issue in front of people who had never even known the harassment and violence LGBT people faced. With knowledge comes power, and enough people gained that power to help LGBT people fight for many of the rights they have today.

The Fight Is Still Not Over

Even though all these events occurred decades ago, LGBT people are once again facing discrimination and violence. With renewed division around politics and many social divides gaining depth, knowledge and empathy are lacking on many fronts.

Let's fight to spread our stories, our fears, statistics, scientific studies, hopes, and dreams. Remember to educate, even when a question or statement brings fear and hate to our forefront.

Check out the Educate, Don't Hate design on RedPress.Threadless.com by clicking here!

Gluckhaus Board

Another Project I've worked on for the Scarlet Onagers Guild is an original graphic for a Gluckhaus game board. Gluckhaus, or Lucky Pig, is a traditional English and German Game from hundreds of years ago.

The game board can be created with playing cards or drawn in the dirt with a stick, but having an already printed game is easier for new users to keep the pieces in order. Along with the board, the game utilizes two dice and a variety of game pieces, traditionally small coins. The game is purely of chance, but plays well as a drop-in, drop-out game typical of street gambling games. This translates well into a party game played with pennies or chips.

Where To Get a Game

The game is fairly wide spread across Renaissance Faires far and wide. If you want a copy of a game board and rules, it can be easily found online... but the far more exciting way to obtain this game is to head to your local Renaissance Faire this summer and ask around. You'll be helping out a small group of vendors and you'll see many exciting things as well.

Check out the Scarlet Onagers and their new game board on their Facebook Page.

Happiness is Measured in Picas

 

Graphics, Text, & Happiness

For everyone who enjoys typing, drawing, correcting, organizing, or any of the other tasks of graphic design: happiness is measured in picas. Each and every part of an image in it's place, after zooming impossible far and correcting with taps of the shift and then arrow alone: happiness.

Each Pica Counts

After many collaborative projects, I giggle about how a non-designer watches in despair as graphic parts are moved by the point, pica, and pixel. It does matter! We see it, and we know our fellow designers -- either by profession, education, or hobby -- will see it as well. Advertise what we all know to be true: every pica truly does matter.

The Merchandise

Like what you see? Head on over to Threadless and check out our many Happiness related graphics. And remember: happiness is measured in picas

Why Threadless?

I discovered Threadless when I was looking into merchandise platforms for Bellingham Game Company’s logo and pending game releases. After reading many reviews, I was hesitant, but thorough research has shown me that Threadless had a rough patch when switching from printing in runs and printing on demand (Introducing: Artist Shops!). This bump in the road is completely understandable to me, especially since they were quick to respond and begin repairing their business and reputation.

Nickel and Dime Up

The profit margin isn't great on Threadless because the base costs are a little high per item, but I set my margin fairly low... so it is also a my fault. I would much rather see my stuff out there than make a bunch of money; although, some money is nice. The Red Press brand is just a hobby and an outlet for me to create graphics, order prints of my own graphics, and click a box for others to wear the same design if they wish.

Artist Shops

It is fairly easy to set up an Artist Shop on Threadless. Create an account and upload a design. You can mess around with logos and banners, or you can skip those. There are simple templates for layout, fonts, and colors of the shop so you can keep the setup simple and get to what you want: put mah stuff on shirts!

They have an interesting mix of products: typical shirts & hoodies, coffee cups, stickers, skateboards, phones, duffel bags & backpacks, towels, pillows, shower curtains, stretched canvas and other wall mounts. Once your image is uploaded (per the specs clearly laid out or any of the supplied templates), select the items and colors you want available. This can all be changed at any time, but the image placement editor is quite a bit buggy. Remember to slate a little extra time and be patient for this part.

Work Together

Threadless also has the option to list another account as a "collaborator" on a particular design.  This means you and a buddy can each have shops, but also work on something together and give each other credit. Have great ideas, but not the right software and know-how to add the finishing touches? Work with a buddy, agree on a profit split, and have them list you as a collaborator! Threadless will then deal with splitting the profits each time a sale is made. Teamwork made easy!

Show Me Yours?

Do you have an artist shop? On Threadless or Cafepress or another platform? Comment below and link your shop! Free advertising! :)

Believe in Nessie

Do You Believe?

There is a new design in Red Press Artist shop on Threadless. Believe in Nessie!

This graphic was a bit of an accident. In working on another graphic still in progress, a mis-step in editing vector points led to the start of it. Even in my frustration of learning a new vector editing software, I couldn't help but laugh upon seeing the silhouette of the Lochness Monster upon my graphic.

Prior to correcting the graphics, I copied Nessie here into a new file. As I wrapped up the other project, I came back to Nessie and added a few simple flourishes. Once complete, Nessie was posted to the Red Press Threadless Artist Shop, and is now released to roam about on shirts, hoodies, phones, and notebooks!

Check out the Nessie graphic in the Red Press Artist Shop by clicking HERE!

New Opening!

Our Artist shop is just starting out. Feel free to comment or message with suggestions on what products you'd like to see with this print, what you think of this print, or anything really. I'm always game for a good conversation starter!

Test Set

broken window




i dare you