T-Shirt illustration I created for Spiral Direct of a warrior confronting an evil dragon. I digitally painted this illustration in Adobe Photoshop and Manga Studio 5. This piece was very challenging for me, because of the complex lighting. The client and I went through several revisions, which in the end really improved on the piece. Available from Spiral Direct.
Custom illustration I created of an angry Jaguar head for sports mascots provided by Great Dane Graphics. Since much of my artwork is lineart driven, it’s fun to sometimes deviate from that style and explore digital painting a bit more. It can be tricky to translate my style into digital painting, but I tried my best by giving this jaguar a lot of character and attitude. This design was created in Adobe Photoshop and Manga Studio 5, and will be used for T-Shirts and uniforms. Available for licensing from Great Dane Graphics.
T-Shirt illustration I created for the hip-hop artist Concious Curci of a thug riding a skateboard away from the cops. The T-Shirt illustration was set up for silk-screening with 4 colors to celebrate the release of Corci’s latest album.
Bloomsfield Machine and Welding
T-Shirt illustration I created for a welding company showing a cyborg welder with a torch for an arm. This T-Shirt illustration was set up for direct-to-garment printing.
CaptionWear
Comic book illustration I created for a series of all-over prints for Yoga pants designed for CrossFit. This was a really fun and challenging project, because I had to come up with a design that would look good wrapped around a leg, and seen from all angles.
Custom mascot character design I created for a vinyl wrap for a bus, and other apparel for a club in Norway, depicting an angry gun-toting gangster. The client approached me looking for a character and logo design for their club, and wanted something intimidating but also kind of fun.
I created this graphic for the “Crooks,” and provided the final graphics in different pieces and colors, so they could get as many uses from it as possible.
Zombie apocalypse poster I illustrated for the new Vodka brand, Virus Vodka to celebrate their release. The idea was to show a horde of zombies passing by the people drinking the other brands of vodka, and eating only the girl drinking Virus Vodka – because it just tastes better! I provided the client with signed prints, and animated gifs showing the process of the illustration as material to help them promote the brand and gain interest on social media.
Please drink responsibly during a zombie apocalypse.
Detail View
Cartoon mascot illustration of a Bear playing playing basketball I created for Great Dane Graphics and their children’s sports line. The graphic will be used for T-Shirts and other products for kids’ sport teams. The client wanted these designs to be fully rendered digital paintings, without lineart, which is not the typical style I work in. I’m happy with how they turned out.
T-Shirt illustration I created of Tennessee Volunteers bloodhound mascot building a brick wall made from its rival teams, for PCI Printing. Set up for Direct-To-Garment printing.
Hard Ride Clothing
T-Shirt illustration I created for Hard Ride Saloon, featuring a skeleton patriot riding a dire wolf away from a burning Illuminati pyramid. Try saying that three times fast! The client’s idea was to have the patriot character changing the sheep into wolves as he rides past, waving the american flag. This design is 100% ‘Merica!
Superhero character I designed for the Parish Bar in the UK. The character will be used on posters, menus, and advertisements to promote the image of the bar. We have a whole series of these planned in with the hero (and anti-hero, shown here) in different situations.
T-Shirt design I created of an illustrated lion wearing a crown of amber colored wax, for the marijuana-related apparel brand Concentrated Apparel. This design was set up for silk-screening, 4-colors.
T-Shirt design of an illustrated lion wearing a crown of amber colored wax.
Children’s book illustrations I created for a story written by Kelly Dale, co-star of American Restoration on the History Channel.
The story is about a young boy who find his mother’s old broken music box, and with the help of his brothers, sisters, and grandparents sets out to restore the music box before she returns from her business trip.
It was a pleasure working with the author on this book
Dark Horse Fightwear
T-Shirt illustration of a native american warrior with a green horse spirit emerging from his heart, designed for Dark Horse Fightwear. I really like how this design turned out – at first we weren’t sure how to incorporate the horse (the trademark of the brand) into the illustration, and then we came up with this idea of having the horse be an elemental spirit curling around the warrior.
I’m humbled to be a part of their impressive lineup! If you’re interested in learning a little more about me, and how I design T-Shirts, check out the full interview here:
It’s been a while between artist interviews, but today we’re very lucky to have had the opportunity to interview the extremely talented Brian Allen of Flyland Designs.com
My name is Brian Allen, I am a full-time freelance illustrator working in my studio called FlylandDesigns.com. I’ve got a wife, two kids, and a lawn to mow. Life is good! I’m really a pretty ordinary guy – In fact, my artwork and the clients I work with are often a lot cooler than I am!
I work with small businesses, bands, and large companies as well, like Hard Rock Cafe, Spiral Direct, and American Greetings.
I love designing t-shirts, but I actually never set out to specialize in that as much as I am now. When I first started as a freelancer illustrator, I was grabbing any job I could get (even web design, which I am quite terrible at). As my artwork starting getting better and my portfolio became more focused, I started getting a flood of T-Shirt projects. This made sense, I guess, because my artwork is line-art driven, and usually high-contrast and colorful, which are the main ingredients for some cool T-Shirts.
I quickly hunted out every resource I could to learn how to design for shirts, and the complicated process of silk-screening. It was a bit of a clumsy process at first, but I’ve learned a lot from talking with other artists and printers since then.
I make a point to seek out artists and follow their work on social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Behance, and Mintees. It’s so amazing how easy it is to quickly put together a feed of amazing artwork. It can also be overwhelming and intimidating if you’re not careful.
Other than that, I draw a lot of inspiration from the pop culture that I grew up with in the 80s and early 90s. Movies, comics, and music of that era.
For many years, I used to draw and ink on paper, and color digitally in Photoshop. About four years ago, I switched to a 100% digital workflow once I discovered the Wacom Cintiq, which is a monitor and tablet combined. I feel my artwork improved a lot about two years ago, when I switched to Manga Studio 5 for most of my process. In my opinion, it is the best piece of software for drawing and inking, and it has a ton of cool features (like painting with halftones) that make designing t-shirts efficient and enjoyable.
I typically start my designs with a series of rough thumbnails. After choosing the best one, I blow it up, and draw over top. Once I’ve got a pretty clear drawing, I usually turn the color to a light blue, and carefully ink the image. My artwork is usually heavily line-art driven, so my coloring process is similar to the techniques used by comic book artists. I drop in the flat colors, make a copy of that layer, and use the flat color layer to make quick selections as a apply the shading, highlights and rendering. When designing T-Shirts, I typically keep each color on a separate layer, to make the separation process easier.
My favorite design was a full-color direct-to-garment design I created as a personal project called “Take-Out,” featuring a crazy looking alien with a hot-looking redneck girl tied to the hood of his hot-rod/spaceship. There’s just something about this piece where everything worked (which is rarely the case), and if every project I worked on was exactly like this, I’d be perfectly happy.
I believe the most popular design I’ve created was a parody illustration of Cheech and Chong as zombies. The silk-screening was perfect, and the posts about the image were shared more than and reached more people than any other posts I’ve made. It was even featured on Cheech and Chong’s own social media outlets. The design was created for an apparel brand called Marijuana Zombie.
H.R. Giger and Luis Royo.
Favorite T-Shirt designers: Angry Blue, Godmachine, Dane Henry Jr, Felix LaFlamme.
My family and I love camping – there are a lot of great places to go here in Pennsylvania, and it’s a lot of fun now that my kids are big enough that I don’t have to worry about them getting carried off by squirrels.
I often get myself into trouble by taking too many things on at once. I’ll end up trying to go in too many directions at once, and then I can’t really focus enough on any one thing. I’m working on it!
Louis C.K. – I admire his ambition and complete devotion to his art. I heard that every year he completely throws away his previous act, and starts over from scratch, never telling the same joke from the previous year again. I wish I was that fearless!
Ronnie James Dio – Because … well, because Dio.
I recently partnered with RageOn.com, the largest distributor of dye-sublimated apparel. I’ve opened up a shop with them, and they will be selling many of my designs exclusively. What makes them different than other T-Shirt sites is that they print the design on every inch of the shirt – even the shoulders and sleeves – and the designs are in full color.
I recently created a design I’m excited about featuring Kermit and Ms. Piggy as a pimp and ho entitled “Pig Pimpin.” You can.
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Thanks for your time Brian, we look forward to seeing more from you in the future!
You can checkout all of Brian’s work on his website, here: https://www.flylanddesigns.com
Logo and mascot design I created for a marijuana themed printing business called Kush Canvas. The client asked me to create a friendly character made from a leafy bud. I designed the logo in three different versions: one-color, simple-color, and full-color, so that it could be used in many different applications.
Zombie label illustrations I created for Vaping Sisters’ new line of eJuice flavors. The client gave me the names of the eight flavors, and I had to design and illustrate a different character for each. The labels themselves are only about 2.5 inches tall, so I had to design the characters with a lot of contrast and bright colors so they could be legible at such a small size. The flavors are sold online and in their shop.
Local T-Shrits
T-Shirt illustration I designed for a restaurant called Big Kahuna Cafe in conjunction with Local T-Shirts. I had a lot of fun with this design – a acgreat theme to be working with during the summer months. The design was created for Direct To Garment printing, so we could really go all out with the colors.
Local T-Shrits
T-Shirt illustration I designed for a restaurant called Big Kahuna Cafe in conjunction with Local T-Shirts. I had a lot of fun with this design – a acgreat theme to be working with during the summer months. The design was created for Direct To Garment printing, so we could really go all out with the colors.
T-Shirt parody illustration I created of Kermit and Ms. Piggy hitting hard times, entitled “Pig Pimpin.” This was an illustration I created sometime ago, and I always loved the idea, but the execution was kind of flat. I decided to redraw it, and I’m really glad I did.
Purchase as a signed art print
Also available as an all-over print T-Shirt from Rage On
Dark Horse Fightwear
T-Shirt design I created for the MMA apparel company, Dark Horse Apparel, featuring a set of demon and angel wings on the back. I’ve seen T-Shirt designs with wings on the back before that I really liked, so I tried to approach this one by adding my own stylistic input wherever I could. I put most of that into the abstract handling of the “spine” down the back.
This design was set up for silk-screening with 4 colors.
Celtic Warriors
T-Shirt illustration I created of a skeleton riding a chopper through flames for the motorcycle club Celtic Warriors. It’s always a pleasure to work on direct-to-garment T-Shirts, because I don’t have to hold back on colors.
Signed art prints of the design will also be auctioned off to support the client’s local police force, of which he is a member.
Great Dane Graphics
Cartoon mascot illustration of a tiger playing basketball I created for Great Dane Graphics and their children’s sports line. The graphic will be used for T-Shirts and other products for kids’ sport teams. The client wanted these designs to be fully rendered digital paintings, without lineart, which is not the typical style I work in. I’m happy with how they turned out.
Great Dane Graphics
Cartoon mascot illustration of a bulldog playing basketball I created for Great Dane Graphics and their children’s sports line. The graphic will be used for T-Shirts and other products for kids’ sport teams. The client wanted these designs to be fully rendered digital paintings, without lineart, which is not the typical style I work in. I’m happy with how they turned out.
So this is super cool – a children’s book I illustrated is ranked #2 on Amazon today in the Free Children’s Books and Graphic Novels category! Today is the last day to get it for free, so please check it out and share! Thank you!
http://amzn.to/1qTOCoT
T-Shirt design I created of a mushroom cloud shaped fire skull for Nuke Proof Tools. The image will be used on banners and T-Shirts for the company’s tradeshows and events. The client had seen a mushroom cloud skull design I did years ago, and wanted something similar. It was fun to go back and work on the same concept, and have the chance to make imrpovements.
Explicit Airbrush
T-Shirt design I illustrated of a skeleton with dual airbrushes for the awesome airbrush shop Explicit Airbrush. The client and owner of the shop is an artist himself, so I had a lot of fun as our collective minds grew this illustration. This design is set up for Direct-to-garment printing.
Evolution Media
This is a mascot and logo I designed for the MMA fighter Umaer “THE HONEYBADGER” Haq. Basing the mascot on the fighter’s nickname, I set out to create something that was high contrast and colorful that would be printed on the fighters shorts, used on banners, and on his website.
HOSS
Double-page editorial spread I illustrated for the Canadian DIY magazine HOSS. The magazine features many tv DIY celebrities, and the art director wanted a detailed illustration introducing each of their contributors as caricatures building a house. There were over 18 caricatures that went into this very complex illustration.
The magazine prints over a million copies bi-monthly.
Listenable Records
Iron Maiden, and the artist behind their amazing artwork, Derek Riggs, have always been a huge inspiration for everything that I do. So I was super excited when I was hired by Listenable Records to create an illustration tribute to Iron Maiden’s first album, “Killers,” for an upcomming sampler that would be given out at Iron Maiden concerts in Europe. I tried to cram in as much of my own style as I could.
Listenable Records
Iron Maiden, and the artist behind their amazing artwork, Derek Riggs, have always been a huge inspiration for everything that I do. So I was super excited when I was hired by Listenable Records to create an illustration tribute to Iron Maiden’s first album, “Killers,” for an upcomming sampler that would be given out at Iron Maiden concerts in Europe. I tried to cram in as much of my own style as I could.
Justin Nicholson
T-Shirt illustration I created of a Pelican on the beach for Mike’s Beach Bar. This was a direct-to-garment design, which I really enjoy, because there’s no limit to how many colors I can use.
Morbid Industries
I was hired by Morbid Industries to sketch concepts for new horror masks they will be producing and distributing in Halloween stores this season. The sketches will be used by the scultpors as reference to create the masks. This was a really fun project because the art directors gave me a lot of freedom in creating the creatures.
Zombiez Survival Paintball
Logo design I created for a paintball course in New York called Zombie Survival Paintball. This is a really cool twist on paintball. The course is actually set up with waves of attacking zombies that you have to shoot down to survive.
The client hired me to create the logo for the course. I had a lot of fun with this.
Great Dane Graphics
Illustration of a gator leaping out of a swamp I created for Great Dane Graphics, in a pitch for the contract for Swamp People, the TV series about people living and working in the swamps of Louisiana. This was the first time I was tasked with drawing a fully rendered alligator, and it proved to be more challenging than I thought to find the right pose.
Guyle Morris
Album cover I illustrated for the young and very talented guitarist Tyler Morris, featuring Tyler fighting off an alien invasion with his rock. The graphics from the album cover were also used on the musicians website design, and will eventually become a mini-comic to distribute with the album.
Spiral Direct
Zombie T-Shirt I created for Spiral Direct, depicting a pile of zombie hands in the moonlight. It was an immense privilege to work among the talent powerhouse that is Spiral Direct. The design was quite complex, due to all the different hands, and the requirement that it be highly rendered.
Drawing hands has always been a challenge for me, so I compiled a mockup of photos of my own hands for reference. Luckily I have skinny little claws for hands!
Coolbone
Custom illustration I created of two military parrots at the beach, for graphic wraps designed for coolers, for Coolbone. This was a very fun and challenging project, trying to design a graphic highly detailed graphic that would repeat, and could wrap around all sides of the cooler. Looking forward to working on more.
Fit-Out Apparel
Custom t-shirt design illustration of two MMA fighters in a comic book style, designed for the MMA apparel brand, Bad Matchup. We’re both very pleased with how this turned out.
G & L Diesel
Logo design I created for an automotive repair shop and racing company called G&L Diesel, featuring a monster character holding a turbo.
The client hired me to create a sharp looking logo and a humorous mascot character. After submitting a few concept sketches, we picked this version of the monster: a horned, and mischievious looking creature holding a turbo and zipped into a racing suit.
The logo was provided in several different variations, colors, and formats to maximize the client’s usage.
Half-Time Brewing
I created this illustration for a brew suit for Half Time Brewing Company’s Growlers. A Brew Suit is a kind of a thermal case that zips up over a Growler to keep it cool.
This design was created to give the Growler a futuristic, mechanical look. I incorporated Half Time’s logo and signature red and gold color scheme wherever I could.
Half-Time Brewing
T-Shirt illustration I created for the New York brewing company, Half Time, featuring a crowd of Hop-Heads of many different cultures and species.
It was a fun challenge coming up with different characters, and making them look different by blending the limited colors together using half-tones.
The design was set up for silk-screening using 6 colors, and will be available in their stores and promotional events.
HOSS
Double-page editorial spread I illustrated for the Canadian DIY magazine HOSS. The magazine features many tv DIY celebrities, and the art director wanted a detailed illustration introducing each of their contributors as caricatures building a house. There were over 18 caricatures that went into this very complex illustration.
The magazine prints over a million copies bi-monthly.
Snap Fitness
Custom mascot character design I created of a friendly marijuana seed for a lifestyle brand in Australia. Designed for T-Shirts, stickers, and other products. This character is named Seedy, and he’s a pretty cool guy once you get to know him. Just don’t ever lend him money.
So Pro Gaming
Logo design I created for the professional gaming shop SoPro Gaming, featuring an alien mascot character jamming on his keyboard.
The client wanted a mascot that was a bit unusual and help make his brand more recognizeable. We tried out several different mascot sketches before landing on this one with an alien
Ron Clark Academy
T-Shirt illustration I created for the Ron Clark Academy featuring their dragon mascot and the four different seals of the school.
Detail View
T-Shirt Mockup
ZodoMan, Royal Zone Records
Album cover illustration I created for Royal Zone Records artist Zachary Martinez (ZodoMan). He asked me to create an image of him transforming into his mascot character, the monkey, in a style similar to Carnage from the Spiderman Comics. Spiderman was all I read as a kid, so I was very excited about this project. We were both very happy with how this turned out – record releasing soon!
Vaping Sisters
Package design illustrations I created for a new line of vaping e-juice flavors by Vaping Sisters. The labels were all mafia themed. Watching Scarface 15 times has finally paid off! I was required to conceptualize and illustrate 10 different labels, based on different mafia archetypes. Can’t wait to start the next series!
“We’ve been very impressed! We look forward to working with you again on our next line!”
Clayton
Custom decal set I created for Shaft ID, a company that creates decals for hockey helmets and wraps. This set was made to look like the helmet was being peeled away and showing a zombie underneath.
Funland, Rehoboth Beach Delaware
A graphic wrap I illustrated for a ride at an amusement park. It’s always a privilege to work for Funland in Rehoboth Beach, because I’ve been going there every summer since I was two years old! The ride was an old motion simulator they picked up from an arcade, and it was showing its age. So they hired me to create a giant illustration that transformed the ride into a beach buggy. Illustrations of kids are in the windows on each side of the vehicle. I imagine this will be one of the most unique jobs of my career.
Before and After
Graphic wrap being applied by Xtreme Graphix.
Graphic wrap being applied by Xtreme Graphix.
Graphic wrap being applied by Xtreme Graphix.
Graphic wrap being applied by Xtreme Graphix.
Listenable Records
Iron Maiden, and the artist behind their amazing artwork, Derek Riggs, have always been a huge inspiration for everything that I do. So I was super excited when I was hired by Listenable Records to create an illustration tribute to Iron Maiden’s first album, “Killers,” for an upcomming sampler that would be given out at Iron Maiden concerts in Europe. I tried to cram in as much of my own style as I could.
Ron Clark Academy
Custom mascot illustration of a dragon I designed for the Ron Clark Academy. We started with a few thumbnail sketches, and initially started off with the dragon looking more cartoonish, but decided instead to make the mascot fierce and intimidating. The logo was designed in several different variations, from simple to complex, so it could be used for many different types of applications.
Dark Horse Fightwear
I had the privilege of designing the new logo emblem for Dark Horse Fightwear. The client wanted a detailed image of a warrior and his horse, that would look great printed large on a T-Shirt, on banners, and signs. Designed for silk-screening, 4 colors.
T-Shirt Mockup
Concept Sketches
Darin Jones
I was hired by an apparel brand creating a series of T-Shirts featuring the unofficial mascot of Stanford, the Stanford Tree! I was asked to design a tough, rampaging tree stomping on its rival mascots. If you want a drawing challenge, try making a tree look mean. It’s not easy! Trees are usually pretty pleasant.
Gold Strike Chili Mix
Website template illustrations I created for Gold Strike Chili Mix in conjunction with Creative Pro Studio. For the company’s new website, the client wanted a design that was colorful, animated, and interactive. I created all the illustrations, and handed it off to the developers, who will animate certain features.
Gold Strike Chili Mix
Website template illustrations I created for Gold Strike Chili Mix in conjunction with Creative Pro Studio. For the company’s new website, the client wanted a design that was colorful, animated, and interactive. I created all the illustrations, and handed it off to the developers, who will animate certain features.
How do I describe this project? The NYC musicians, We Chief, hired me to create a simple animated image to advertise their new single. The concept was inspired from the title of the song, “Gyals From Brooklyn,” and they wanted the artwork to be minimalistic and colorful. Oh, and they also wanted three giant butts walking toward the Brooklyn bridge.
This was a lot of fun to illustrate, and even more fun to animate!
Hard Ride Saloon
Custom T-Shirt illustration for Hard Ride Saloon called “American Patriot.” The client wanted something patriotic and dark, so we came up with this image of a skeleton soldier holding a rifle. This design was set up for silk-screening, 4 colors.
Hard Ride Saloon
Custom T-Shirt illustration of a zombie roughneck driving an oil rig through the Bakken oil fields. I took a different direction with this T-Shirt design, and tried to go for a more comical, line-art driven design. This is one of my favorites so far for the brand – I love the bright colors.
Set up for silk-screening, 4 colors.
Children’s book illustrations I created for Amazon’s CreateSpace, for a book entitled “The Very Lonely Suit” by Annette Miller.
Professional Illustrator Brian Allen reviews the new Wacom Cintiq Pro 24″ (non-touch). I have been using the new Wacom Cintiq Pro 24″ extensively since early April 2018 and I love it! I upgraded from the Wacom Cintiq 24HD, which I used for over 6 years. I had high expectations for this digital drawing tablet and […]
©Brian Allen
©Brian Allen
©Brian Allen
©Brian Allen
©Brian Allen
