Nothing Beats a Good Designer!

An Interview with Ian Leino

Part 1 of 2 (link to Part 2)
Click on any picture to enlargenize

I’d better get a move on with today’s introduction. No, it’s not because I’m in a particular hurry nor is it necessarily because of the letters the faithful have been sending me lately that can be, um, politely summarized as ‘for the love of humanity, will you just shut up and get on with it?’ (Okay, Mom, I get it! Don’t make me de-friend you!)

No, it’s mostly because if I don’t get it in gear our guest for today, the one and only Ian Leino, he will undoubtedly be releasing another 2 or 3 designs before I’m done!! And trust me, I’m checking back every few minutes as it is to make sure I’m as au jour as I can possible be (that means dressed from the waist up, right?).

Ian is what one could call a prolific artist and designer person. Now, I know I’ve said that about others that have graced these good e-pages – including colleagues in the same genre such as Chow Hon Lam, Jared Moraitis, John Sprengelmeyer and Nichole Lillian (shameless plugs, I love ‘em! Thank you, CostCo!) – but Ian is busy with a capital Oh Boy! If he’s not pushing his tee designs at Threadless or other fine retailers, then he’s busy helping judging others’ designs, all for good causes and valuable cash prizes! And if he’s not busy putting out another great newsletter (subscribe now!) about what’s he’s sending your way soon, then he’s carrying tons of packaged loot to the post office to mail away! And a lot of that may include the very generous give-away’s that he offers on a regular basis. Have you subscribed yet? Hello?

Let’s put it this way: in the vernacular of my ‘people’ (howdy y’all!), Ian simply ‘churns the stuff out’. And yes, to answer your next question, I have churned butter the old-fashioned way, so I know of what I speak. I’ve also milked goats, but I can’t provide any more details to that owing to the pending legal proceedings. So like I’ve been trying to say for much too long now, let’s get on with the interview and meet this talented fellow.

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Hi Ian, welcome! Let’s start off with a favorite standard: Can you tell us a little bit about Ian Leino please and how he became, quote, ‘a graphic designer and illustrator currently living in Asheville, NC who specializes in design for the entertainment and apparel industries?’
Thanks for the invite Ziggy! Me? Well, I'm just a nerdy guy in his early 30's who's equally at home in a fine art museum or the action figure aisle of the local toy store.

I graduated with a degree in fine art and computer science, and took a job doing graphics for a local news station. I'd never touched Photoshop before, but luckily there wasn't that much actual work to be done! So I used the rest of my time to go through every Photoshop tutorial that I could find online, and slowly taught myself how to use it.

From there I took a job at a film and video company, at first doing still graphics then eventually working up to motion graphics, compositing, and editing. At that point I also started doing freelance work on the side, and my enjoyment of music and entertainment drew me to those sorts of projects and clients.

I’d also be interested in knowing more about your life as – hang on, let me list all these – an amateur chef, a bassist, home-brewer, oh and also the bits about owning both a jeep and a pug. Are these in some way all done simultaneously or how does that work with your graphics business?

I love food and music, but have no real formal training in either. I'd like to think that if I weren't a designer I'd be a chef or musician – but in reality I'd probably be a computer programmer (which was my original college major).

Concerning the beer thing, two years ago I was introduced to home-brewing and found that it was a great way to be more involved with the process behind something that I truly enjoy. I find it really fun to experiment with new styles and recipes, and I've found that quite a number of my friends are incredibly appreciative of the end result.

The jeep has been invaluable in traversing the snowy mountain roads of the Appalachian mountain region of Western North Carolina in the winter! Oh and our pug Norman has the very important job of ensuring that I always know when the delivery guy is here by announcing his presence with an excited round of barking.

You have some really great works already out and about. What were your influences that helped you develop your style?
I still don't think I've developed a signature style, as I have too much fun trying on different looks for each project. I enjoy the challenge of finding the one look and/or style that I think best communicates the core message of the piece.

The great thing about being in this sort of work is that everything that I enjoy at any stage of life can become an influence - everything from Looney Tunes cartoons to video games to beer labels.

Ian, you are of course very well known in the world of custom tee-shirt design. In fact, when we started talking, you were listed as the ‘best seller’ on the TeeFury site. A few questions if you don’t mind about this aspect of your work:

First of all, your work appears on several different sites as you show in your ‘printed apparel’ listing. Why do you submit to so many sites? Or do they – as in the other sites – approach you once one site takes off with a design?

A lot of that stems from trying to find the right market for certain designs. For example, some of my best-sellers at TeeFury would never have been printed elsewhere, and some of my Threadless designs that have been reprinted multiple times might not have even registered on other sites.

But you’re right: having a design that really hits at one site is also a sure-fire way to get emails from lots of other sites, as everyone is looking for good artists and potential big-selling designs.

What do you think it takes to succeed with a design and get it printed?
Like with any form of artwork, strong ideas and refined artistic skills are incredibly important; but finding the right audience that really connects with your work is equally important.

Some of that comes from time that I’ve spent building relationships and investing in communities; and some of it is sheer dumb luck. Since I can't control luck, I tend to rotate my focus between the other three depending on my current mood – that is, refining ideas, practicing new art styles, or spending time connecting with communities.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve talked to some of your peers in the recent past and am just curious if the group of designers in this market is relatively close or is it more of a situation where you share mutual admiration for each other but not necessarily Christmas cards?

A huge percentage of the friends in my circle are people that I've met through various online design communities, most of whom do at least some work in t-shirt design. For my part, I'm terrible about forgetting to send cards of any sort, but yes, I did actually receive Christmas cards from several other artists this year!

I think the Internet has really changed the nature of communication and affected all of our relationships in the process. I have several online friends who I've only met once in my life (or never at all) that I talk with daily, while I may go weeks or months without seeing some of my good friends that live here in town.

To take this thought a step further: do you feel like you’re in competition with these other designers – even the ones you may ‘know’ well – or is it really focused on pushing yourself to come up with a great design?

I'd say on some level, all designers are in competition with each other but in a more positive way than that concept is generally perceived. I mean, without competition, the first caveman who grabbed a smoking ember from the fire and left a charcoal mark on a wall would be hailed as the greatest artist in human history; the creator of the wheel would have had the pinnacle of modern transportation forever; our concepts of art and communication and technology and beauty would never have advanced and society would be in pretty lousy shape.

I think we're all competing with ourselves, but it takes the work of others to show us how our own work measures up. A person on a desert island who makes a spear is pretty impressed with himself … until an aircraft carrier cruises by.

I’m also curious about your ‘available designs’ section. Are these designs that you feel strongly about that haven’t yet found an outlet or where do they fit in?
Exactly. After completing them, there are a number of designs I've created that I enjoy and that I think could work well as a t-shirt but I just haven't found the right home yet.

Also, when I'm contacted by companies looking for designs, it gives me a way to point them to one central repository of all of my currently available designs, rather than sending out PDFs that may soon be out of date as new designs are added and old ones are sold.

Continued in Part 2

Nothing Beats a Good Designer!

An Interview with Ian Leino

Part 2 of 2 (link to Part 1)
Click on any picture to enlargenize

Ian, continuing on about some specific designs: I really got a kick out of your piece titled ‘Ironic Slogan’, which in good British seems to take the piss out of the tee-shirt design industry. Was that your intention and if so, were you aiming it at certain design trends or really just having fun with everyone’s’ work including your own?
That's precisely what I had in mind.

It seems like a dozen new online t-shirt shops are founded every day, and most of them are based on the same general formula. I thought then that by creating a design of the formula ITSELF that has been behind so many other designs I was doing a sort of tongue-in-cheek end-run around the entire industry. I enjoy humor in all forms, but have a special appreciation for meta humor like that.

If I had to choose, I’d probably say my own personal favorite design of yours is ‘I Wish I Were’ with the ‘devil’ making snow angels (I shouldn’t say this, but it really speaks to me!!). Can you please walk us through how a design like this comes to ‘be’ from concept to finish?
That design started out as an element of a larger design that was titled “A Cold Day in Hell”. I wanted to show a picturesque snow-covered scene in Hell with a number of rather cute and playful demons enjoying a variety of wintertime amusements from skiing to ice skating to snowball fights. After it was done though, the aspect of the design that people responded to the most was the one demon making a snow angel! So I decided to focus in on that one character to create a stronger impact.

I think we all like the opportunity to step outside of ourselves occasionally and try on different personas. Whether it's wearing a costume at Halloween or even dressing up for a fancy dinner - the way we see ourselves affects how we act. In re-working the character, I wanted to portray the idea of a dark and powerful creature taking a moment to act out of character and enjoy a bit of playing in the snow.

You’ve also done some exciting work for the ‘music industry’ including print projects, promotions, calendars (for both Black Eyed Peas and KISS – well, one out of two ain’t bad!) and more. How did you get ‘in’ to these outlets, which I would think would be really competitive and tough to achieve?

My work for the music industry was actually my first step into the world of free-lancing. I lived in Mobile, Alabama at the time and got some very small projects for Integrity Music, a Christian music label that was in town. I slowly worked my way up and eventually landed bigger projects with better budgets, and they remain one of my best clients.

Between client projects, I started working on tee-shirt designs for sites like Threadless; but before I was ever printed through any of those sites, I used those designs as a portfolio to apply for t-shirt design jobs that I found online. And actually "Ironic Slogan", that you mentioned earlier was what landed me a gig with a band merchandise company doing a couple of car-related designs for Kid Rock. That company was very happy with my work, and kept giving me more projects - mostly shirt designs but also magazine advertisements, calendars and other print jobs.

Also, you’ve even had a few shirt designs make it all the way to sales for The Beatles! Tell us a little how that project came to be?

Once I completed the Kid Rock designs, they tried me out on a few other bands like The Doors, Bob Seger and ZZ Top. After that they approached me about doing some retail designs for The Beatles. I was thrilled to have the opportunity, but intimidated by the sheer volume of Beatles designs that already existed!

After working through a number of concepts I eventually pitched them 2 designs, one of which was approved and eventually sold through The Beatles official store as well as a number or retail outlets.

In terms of your ‘non-Tee’ offers – again including promotions, branding and others – how do these differ to you from either a design approach or even end satisfaction perspective?

These other types of projects allow me to stretch different creative muscles, and keep me from becoming a one-trick pony.

To make a musical analogy - lots of musical artists create 'side' bands in a totally different style from their main band. They may still love their major creative outlet the most, but it's important to be able to create and express ideas that may not fit in with that mode. Print design, apparel, branding and the occasional web work all allow me to take a different approach to a creative challenge, but they offer the same sense of satisfaction when I feel I'm able to communicate the central message of the project - whatever the project is.

It seems that a one man ‘show’ as it were in the active design industry is a busy, perhaps even often laborious task, referring to one picture you posted of a HUGE pile of shipments to be made. How do you balance these ‘operational’ aspects vs. getting the time you look for to be designing, sketching or just in general using your creative talents?

It's a balancing act, for sure, and there are times that a huge workload on one side causes the other to slip a bit. When I have several client projects in the works, it may take me a few extra days to ship orders.

For the most part though, they're fairly complementary. My brain can only work on creative concepts for so many hours at a time, and I find that taking a little time to deal with some of the business side of things often gives me just the break I need to feel refreshed and ready to delve back in to design work.

Even when things start to pile up, I try to find ways of getting things done without bursting from overwork - maybe talking to clients while I'm driving to the post office or folding shirts at night while I watch a movie.

Looking ahead, in what direction would you like to see your business go in the coming moons? Is there a specific area in the design or illustration fields you’d like to get into or even do more work in?

I just finished up my first ever movie poster design and I'd love to get into more of that work! I'd also be interested in working directly with bands on album covers, posters or other projects.

As for long term goals, my sister is a costume designer in the theater, and I think it would be really interesting to collaborate together on creating a full apparel line one day.

Having said that: what’s next for Ian Leino?

Well, I've just released several more products through my shop, plus I'm really enjoying the big response my Facebook fan page has been receiving! Also, in the next weeks and months I have some designs coming out on at least three different websites.

I'm a big sci-fi fan, and I've donated over 50 of my popular "Serenity Sake" shirts and glasses to this year's "Can't Stop the Serenity" program, which shows screenings of "Serenity" all around the world, with all profits going to Equality Now and other charities.

In non-design news, I'm excited for summer so that we can finally put the top down as we drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway! Oh, and I’m definitely looking forward to an Italian vacation that my wife and I are planning for the early fall.

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Currently plying his trades from his wonderful surroundings of Asheville, NC (please visit today… and spend all your money while you’re there! My tax refund will be glad you did!), Ian Leino has received critical acclaim from far, wide and any other dimensions you might want to add. As an independent graphic artist, he’s worked with a broad range of regional and national clients as well as well-known brands, including famous bands, and much more. His work on a wide variety of projects is available for your viewing pleasure on his homepage and also via his social media links.

Ian is perhaps best known for his apparel designs that have created a fanatic following that awaits each new design with glee. Seriously, when he runs a freebie contest, his Facebook wall looks like the mosh pit at a Green Day concert (ha! I knew I could get a plug in for these pics!!). His different designs with often poignant or socially relevant themes have been picked up for production by a number of the most popular and competitive online sites including Threadless, TeeFury, DesignByHumans, Woot and many more. Check ‘em out today and also be sure to stop by his shop for out of print designs and other merchandising fun!

Links (ha, get it? Like sausage... never mind...)

Homepage
Shop (direct orders from artist)

Facebook ‘fan’ page
Twitter

Flickr gallery


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All pictures, videos and other media are used with written permission of Ian Leino, including all current or previous business affiliations related to same, or are available in the public domain (noting copyright and other restrictions, accordingly). No further reproduction or duplication is permitted without contacting the artist directly.

Some pictures have been modified slightly or combined only for the purpose of space limitations. In all cases, we invite you to visit the artist’s site(s) for more!

Pet Rats, Deaf Cat, Great Art and All of That

An Interview with Nichole Lillian

Part 1 of 2 (link to Part 2)
Click on any image to enlargenovize

Sometimes when you first see an artist’s work, your eye is drawn to not only what is present but also to what is not present.

In the case of Nichole Lillian, I was initially drawn to her art – especially within her work submitted for tee-shirts – because of it’s very ‘organic’ flavor. In addition, I really enjoyed how Nichole’s work employs a lot of natural imagery mixed in with an acute attention to detail and color reminiscent in many ways of any variety of block or etched printing techniques. However, it was also a refreshing departure to see that her submissions omit the traditional ‘meme’s’ you see so much of today in design (e.g. Star Wars characters combined with Super-Heroes, Super-Heroes combined with each other or anything under the sun, etc.).

Nichole also shows that she is very in tune with nature yet manages to maintain a playfully subtle sense of humor, not that either of those are mutually exclusive mind you. And whether you consider it necessarily a nod to nature or not, her artistic moniker ‘Ratkiss’ also instantly catches your attention!

Ziggy Nixon was pleased to catch up with Nichole to talk about her work, her collaborations with other artists, and her one-of-a-kind style.

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Hi Nichole, welcome! To start off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what led you to become an illustrator? (*also, do you prefer Nichole Lillian Humphrey or just Nichole Lillian?)
Hi! Ziggy!

About me: well, I was born and raised in Michigan. I’m a vegetarian, but I’m not preachy about it. Just like anything else out there it’s just one of those things that people have to decide to do on their own. I have pet rats and a deaf cat. His name is Mr. Mystery.

As my main income, I’m a dog groomer. However, by night I try to take time to be artful, that is, between my other duties of fighting crime and saving kittens. OK, that last bit is a stretch but anyway... I love art, listening to music, road trips, nature, space, exploring, baking, taking pictures and cooking. Oh and I think pizza is the best food in the world. Just think of all of those toppings available. Mmmm. I’m tempted now to order one now, ha.

In terms of my art, well, I’m a self-taught artist. I pretty much grew up with a crayon / pencil / pen / paintbrush / you-name-it in my hand so it’s just something that I’ve always loved to do. I remember when I was young, my pops and I would draw a lot together. I still have those little doodle books of our drawings, too. It’s quite fun to look back at them, actually. One of the first things I remember drawing were bumble bees! It’s funny to think about that today because I now have huge fear of bees, eep!

I would note that I did go through a period of time without drawing much of anything. I can honestly say thanks to the great folks at Threadless for existing because they’re the reason that I started drawing again!

(*Nichole Lillian is fine as I’m getting married in September and my last name will change then, thanks!)

Also, before we get too far into this, may I simply ask: what is the source of your ID, namely, ‘Ratkiss’? I’m just hoping it has nothing to do with quality of said kisses...
Ha ha, nope! It has nothing to do with that!

When I was establishing a web-site, ‘ratkiss’ was the first thing that came to my mind, again with me having pet rats and all. The plus side is that it’s a short name that’s easy to remember and spell.

The down side I guess is that I hope it doesn’t scare people off from even looking. I know some people have a fear of rats.

What have been your influences in helping shape your style?
Threadless is full of some of the most inspiring artists around. I’ll name a few I noticed on there right from the start: Ben Foot, Joe Carr, and Terry Fan.

All in all, I just keep doing what I enjoy! And hopefully, it will all keep on slowly evolving as time goes by.

Do you work solely by hand or do you combine with elements from computer tools to bring such a unique flair to your artwork?
Well, honestly, I don’t know how or what makes my art unique. I just do what I love after all.

Inspiration can strike me at any time, so I do try to carry a little notepad for doodles with me to prevent ideas and things from getting lost easily. I think they like hanging out together in one little book anyway. Especially since on one of my last road trips I didn’t have anything to doodle on but the back of a take-out menu, ha ha.

If there is something that I want to take further than a doodle, I’ll get a sketch going and then from there I’ll ink the line work on some Bristol paper. Everything you see up to this year (2011) has been a combination of that along with coloring using traditional methods or scanning in my line work and coloring it digitally.

I’ve also done some experimenting using India ink this past year. I’d like to do more with that and perhaps more painting in general. I would love to do a ‘zine and one day even give some sculpting a try! I’m always up for exploration.

One thing though, I never liked pen tablets: they were always awkward to me since I couldn’t work with them in my lap. Having said that, I recently got a Cintiq 21 UX and it’s all I’ve been using lately. (ZN: sob, I want one, too!) It’s amazing and still allows me to work on my lap like I usually do (it’s a bit heavy but I’m used to it now). It also enables me to maintain that natural pen-to-paper feel that I’m comfortable with. Plus, I’m able to do everything I was doing before and even more. It’s a great investment.

As I mention in the introduction, one of the first things I noticed in my research is that your ‘submissions’ miss much of the trend of ‘meme’ designs that go on today. Granted both ‘Surfing the Stars’ or even ‘Nightmare on Pop Street’ shown here could be argued to hold a little bit of this aspect in them – though I think that’s stretching things – but do you normally intentionally ‘avoid’ this kind of approach? Or is it just something that holds no particular interest for you?
It’s just not something that interests me, really.

I draw what I love to draw and what makes me happy. If others love it as much as I do, it just makes it that much more special to me, in all honesty.

How much interest do you have in CURRENT pop culture? I ask specifically because I find your work very reminiscent of what we saw some 20 to even 40 years ago, including even Klaus Voormann’s ‘Revolver’ cover for the Beatles.
I’m quite flattered at your comparison, thanks.

However, I don’t even know what would be considered ‘current pop culture’ if that tells you anything, ha ha.

Do you consider yourself ‘in tune’ with nature and the environment around you, and if so, how has this influenced your work?
It’s probably just as influencing to me as the many other things in my life.

I do draw a lot of animals though, so I’m sure it takes up a big part of my subconscious.

Continued in Part 2

Pet Rats, Deaf Cat, Great Art and All of That

An Interview with Nichole Lillian

Part 2 of 2 (link to Part 1)
Click on any image to embiggernuegen

Nichole, we were just talking about your drawings and your use of images featuring animals, nature and more. To this, your piece ‘Taking Flight’ is both very beautiful and yet also very haunting with its imagery related to the BP oil spill of 2010. Can you describe a little about your approach to this design and what it meant to you to make this ‘statement’ (incl. the offer to share your profits for the recovery efforts)?
I think for the first time I was actually thinking about the wear-ability of my work. I wanted to inspire hope and awareness, and at the same time have a design that would be able stand on it’s own without tying the Gulf or BP directly into the image.

It was very important to me, especially with the possibility of donating any winnings, had there been the chance to do so.

As mentioned, several of your designs include scenes of finely textured nature and environmental themes; however, two recent pieces – ‘Blowing bubbles and skating around on a magic keyboard’ (here to the left) as well as ‘As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent, you asked for the latest party...’ (below) – both seem to me to be a pretty significant departure from your usual style. What was your approach with these?
It’s interesting to me that you see it as a step away from my usual style, because I didn’t have a different approach for either of those, ha ha! I see a lot of what I’ve done before in both of those designs, actually.

But both of those designs were part of design challenges at Threadless. ‘Blowing bubbles and skating around on a magic keyboard’ was for a ‘Threadless loves Sharpies’ contest sponsored by the pen company. The challenge was to include an 80’s theme using the 5 new Sharpie’s glam colors in the design.

The other was a community organized challenge which consisted of an old school Threadless theme, a size/presentation restriction, and a limit of 4 colors. So in these case, I really just drew them to fit the criteria of those specific challenges.

A few of your pieces also show that you have a very strong talent for using patterns (for example, ‘I love trees’ shown to the left) or even typography. How do you best judge when to incorporate these types of elements into a piece?
Oh man, I love patterns and details! I can very easily get carried away with them so I have to make sure that they do their part in the design. I aim to create a happy balance with everything, because sometimes they can take over my designs.

Typography is fun too, I’m just not confident in using it. But I’d like to experiment with it a lot more in the future.

You have also done a few designs where I don’t think I’ve really seen this approach before, namely that you have ‘re-designed’ some prints for other artists of course with their permission. What was the impetus for this work? (ZN: pictures here are NOT examples of same)
Ha ha, here we go back to my home sweet home... Threadless. This ‘approach’ was from another community organized challenge they held.

Basically, everyone who participated picked a design that hadn’t been printed, then they got permission from the original artist (very important) to re-design it. From here then the artists each had their way at creating the original design in their own style.

It was a lot of fun to participate in! It was really neat to see how the differences in each person’s style can make a design look completely different than before!

While we’re on the topic of collaborations, you’ve done some co-designs with friends including Steven McNamara, Ben Foot and others, even once under the intriguing moniker of ‘Horrendous Consequences’. What was it like to work in a team setting like this and how did it differ to your usual ‘solo efforts’?
Collaborations are fun. I like working on with others to gain different perspective of things I might not see myself.

However, I don’t want to lose focus. So I usually stick with one collaboration at a time, alongside with one of my own projects. It’s my way of keeping things organized. It is a different than how I usually work by myself mainly because there is a lot of back and forth communication between us about what needs to be changed, improved, removed etc..

Overall, though, it’s a very good experience.

Besides your own web-site and your designer profiles on either Threadless or Flickr, how are you getting your work ‘out there’? Are you working for example with agents or other promotional outlets?
I’m just flying solo as far as far as getting my work ‘out there’ goes.

I don’t have any agents or promotional outlets other than my own web-site and the links within it. I think it’s a good start and the web-site looks great!

Finally, I am concerned to know if you still have, in your own words, ‘nightmares about blank paper’?
Ha ha, no.

But if I do, I’ll be sure to dream up myself some markers and paint!

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In perhaps one of the most succinct yet telling autobiographical ‘About’ sections on the web today, Nichole reminds us that she is a self-taught illustrator and artist from Michigan, who owns both pet rats and a deaf cat, and that she really likes pizza. Even though I myself am not from Michigan and have never knowingly owned a rat, I can however vouch that the latter two points are most assuredly really fantastic (my deaf cat’s name being ‘Treetop’ owing to his propensity to sit in... wait for it... treetops! Think Snoopy's 'vulture pose'...).

Having listed her profession before as ‘dreamer’, her works do indeed take you quite often into colorful dream worlds filled with hairy beasts, giant mountain farmers, creatures of both the day and night, plus much, much more. Do check out her primary ‘abodes’ at both her ‘home’ Ratkiss web-site and especially as often as possible her growing and prolific Threadless collection!

You can also find more of Nichole’s offers (she’s the less hairy one – facially speaking at least – shown here) at these other interesting links:
www.society6.com/studio/ratkiss/store
www.designbyhumans.com/humans/detail/67047
www.flickr.com/people/ratkiss/

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All pictures, videos and other media are used with written permission of Nichole Lillian, including all current or previous business affiliations related to same, or are available in the public domain (noting copyright and other restrictions, accordingly). No further reproduction or duplication is permitted without contacting the artist directly.

Some pictures have been modified slightly or combined only for the purpose of space limitations. In all cases, we invite you to visit the artist’s site(s) for more!