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What is your current residence and occupation?

I currently live in Rochelle, Illinois. It is a fairly small town of about an hour and a half west of Chicago. I think the population is about 13,000 or something like that. I work in an even smaller town that is about fifteen minutes west of Rochelle called Ashton. That is actually the town where i grew up and it only consists of about 1100 people and one factory. The factory is where i work. I am a systems engineer and department head in the contract packaging portion of the business. The company basically blends and packages a large variety of dry ingredient food mixes that you would buy in your favorite grocery store. Everything from stuffing mixes to brownie mixes and quite a bit in between. This is quite a departure from what i went to school for (drawing and printmaking) and it is a fairly long story as to how I ended up there. However, it pays the bills until I can make a legitimate living doing art all the time.

How would you describe your style?

This is kind of a tough one. I definitely like to think that I have a recognizable style, but i'm not quite sure how i would describe it. I suppose my work could be described as slightly dark and twisted? I try to put a strong emphasis on the line work in a design without making it too overpowering and I think that is something that is recognizable throughout all my designs. Aside from that I don't know how else i would describe it!

You have described yourself as a "fine art" or "studio" type of artists, how did you get involved in creating Tshirt designs?

Well, I originally went to school for graphic design and I hated it. I couldn't stand being in front of a computer all day (if you know me you will find that quite ironic now). I wanted to have the hands on art experience. So I went the "fine art" route and majored in drawing and printmaking (primarily intaglio) When I graduated college I moved back in with my parents and started working while I tried to figure out what the next step in my life would be. Well, I didn't have a studio any longer and to be honest I became somewhat burned out on doing art because of an insane senior year at college so I sort of just stopped doing anything.

Fast forward three years and I found myself discussing starting a tshirt design business with one of my friends. We weren't sure where to start so I started researching what other people were doing on the internet. I came across a few sites but I still had no idea what to do or where to even start. So I joined the community of a small company out of Chicago (i'm sure you all know who [ EDITOR:Haven't heard of em' ]) and threw a really crappy design on their site. Well, it did terribly but I decided to try again and again and again. I suddenly found myself in love with drawing again and finding a new way to create art that I could enjoy and be satisfied with the results of. I now eat sleep and dream about art again. It's a great thing and I owe it to the awesome companies like this that are giving artists the opportunity to express themselves through a different type of medium...tshirts of all things!!

Favorite fairy tale or monster story of all time? and why?

I don't really know that i've thought too much about this over time but i think my favorite children's type tale is Alice in Wonderland. It was just so bizarre and crazy when i was a kid but in a really cool sort of dark way that I always really enjoyed it. Then, at an older age I realized how much darker it could be!! It just has all the elements for really awesome characters being created in the imaginations of artists.

Many of your design works have hints of the grim and sinister, where do you draw your inspiration?

Well, I think i've just been inspired by a wide variety of artists throughout my life thus far. I love imagery by a lot of great artists like < Egon Schiele and Robert Rauschenberg who I looked at quite a lot when i was in school. I also am very inspired by a lot of the artists that I have become friends with throughout my life. Nick Stakal and Steven Perkins are a couple of great artists that i am good friends with who were also a big part of why I got back into art again. I also think that my art acts like a giant stress reliever, as it does for many artists. I am a relatively positive and easy going person and I think that the reason I can be that way is partly because all the twisted and dark things that are in me come out in my art. To be honest i'm not sure where it comes from much of the time. I usually just start out trying to draw a funny character or animal that I am interested in or whatever and is ends up coming out just slightly darker than I usually intend!!

Your line work compliments the subjects of your work so well, what is your medium for design and how do you create your final illustrations?

First of all, thank you. That is a great compliment and i truly appreciate it because my line work is definitely the most important thing to me when creating a design. Everything I create is drawn by hand. I use good old fashioned pencil (and ink) and paper! The best way to create in my opinion!! :) I always do an inked drawing that i scan in to photoshop where I can manipulate color. The only effects that I don't create by hand would be halftones. I think everything else that i've created for tshirt design has been made by hand and scanned in. I do actual ink washes and so forth to create my textures, when i use them, but like I said earlier I add my color on the computer. Someday I would like to try the more digital approach with a tablet or something but only if i could get a line that I am satisfied with. I don't want to lose the organic feel that I think I can get when drawing on paper. I love the control and the best design and art to me is when you can see the human touch in the work.

How did you come up with "The Dark Side of Fairy Tale"?

Well, it was for a competition that was actually themed "The Dark Side of the Fairy Tale." So I wish I could claim that I was 100% responsible for coming up with it but I had a little push to get the creative juices going. However, I still had to come up with an idea and I decided to base it on some sort of obscure fairly tale. I don't normally have a story to tell in my designs or an underlying meaning but I really wanted to embrace the challenge for the competition. So I looked up some Grim's Fairy Tales and based my design on one of them....

Why did you pick the Grim Fairy Tale - "The Twelve Brothers" as your inspiration?

I basically was scanning through a bunch of the fairy tales and I came across "The Twelve Brothers" tale and had never heard it before. I really enjoyed it and thought that it was just dark enough to meld well with my style. It is just a twisted and sad story that does have a happy ending but just conjured up really good imagery for me. Plus, i had been wanting to incorporate a female character into a design since that is not something I normally do.

Support Jared! Buy The Dark Side of the Fairy Tale | Mens | Womens

Which is more important in a design - style or content?

Content is important to an extent for me but it is never what sells me on a design being great. I truly admire people that can have a theme or ideal that they can realize through art but I, at least at this point in my career, am not that type of artist. I would rather have a defined style and create imagery that people can enjoy for whatever reason they so choose. I don't want there to be only one meaning for my art. I want the viewer to take something out of it on a much more personal level. I want them to say "hey i love this shirt or whatever because it reminds me of blah blah blah..." or whatever.

Hopefully it's because it reminds them of this other awesome shirt or poster or whatever that they have, which also happens to be created by me ;) Seriously though, I just love art and design that makes me feel something. anything! I want to get that feeling in the pit of my stomach when I look at it. That feeling that you just can't explain and i don't think that you need strong content to do that. An image can do that alone.

What would be the most important piece of advice you would share with aspiring illustrators and designers trying to "make it"?

Haha!! I would ask the same question to someone else. I don't really think of myself as being anywhere near making it. However, I can say that I love what i'm doing and that if you don't have a love and a passion for it you are missing the most important thing for creating art. Create every single day and don't give up. LEARN HOW TO DRAW. I mean really learn how to. I don't care what type of art you are doing whether it be graphic design, figure painting, abstract, sculpture or whatever. Learning how to really draw is the most important thing to any artist.

There are so many people doing design today that just don't have the fundamentals and it shows. Talk to other artists. This has been a big motivating factor for me too and it has helped me learn a lot. There are so many artist forums and communities on the internet today that is would be a shame not to take advantage of them. Remember that there are other people out there just like you who have questions and uncertainty, even the best of them. So to summarize: Create every single day!! Talk with other artists and learn from them. They're probably just like you!! and finally, learn how to draw. please.

stumpyhorse's designs

Where do you currently live and what do for a living?

I curently live in Montreal since september 2006 but I'm from Marseille in France where I have studied visual communication. There, I have been working as a graphic designer and illustrator freelance for two years. These days, I'm working as an art-director in a Montreal based advertising agency called BCP and I'm still doing some illustration jobs on the side. I love Montreal where I meet many talented and inspiring people. Actually, I can feel a certain "creative ebullition" in this city... there is something latent... maybe a coming cultural revolution :)

Where does the name APY come from?

It obviously comes from the word "happy" that is a kind of way-of-life for me. It's not easy to be always happy in life, but I do my best. For me, happiness is above all a question of willpower. Otherwise, luck of life or not, I realized that the word "APY" was made of my name initials. It then become APY as for Alias Plard Yoann or Aka Plard Yoann.

If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

I would probably be a dragonfly because of the name my ex girlfriend was giving me (apparently, I look like that). Otherwise, I would be a penguin because I like the way they walk, they don't care about looking ridiculous and finaly, they live in the cold, as I do living in Montreal :)

What is your process when working on a new Tee design? (do you listen to really loud music and sketch out ideas, do you look for something in the media? do you work soley on the computer etc.?)

First of all, it's really rare that I'll sit in front of a desk saying to myself that I have to produce a new tee design. I usually have an idea before starting. As for the tee ideas, they often come when I'm walking in the street, when reading a book or listening to music. Good ideas often come when you don't expect them. Once I have an idea, I sketch it out on paper, then scan the design that I color on Illustrator.

On your blog you talk about designing in a "bubble". Describe your ideal work environment.

First of all, I have to be alone, therefore, in a bubble. I have recently moved alone in an apartment in order to make it happen more often. Solitude is necessary to extract on paper what is deep inside me. Therefore, my ideal work environment is at home, In front of my desk, on a good chair with paper, pen and good music (very Important). I'm also more productive In the evening and at night... with a beer, of course! :)

Your work "After The Rain Comes a Rainbow" is truly a heart warming piece. Tell us about the story we see in the letters and your inspiration for the design?

At the begining, I wanted to do a "typo design" with the sentence "After the Rain Comes a Rainbow". I did a lot of test with the "After the rain" written in "raindrop" and the "Comes a Rainbow" in a rainbow design, but I wasn't really satisfied. I therefore wanted to tell a story through a typo that illustrates the sentence. This design has certain similarities with a storyboard in 2 parts. The first part "After the rain" is a zoom out. Itís a sad sailor lost in the middle of the sea. There is a big storm. We zoom out again through a dead tree. The storm is calming down, the rain is down, a whale appears and spits a rainbow.

Here comes the second part "Comes a Rainbow", a zoom in with the rainbow who comes back to the tree who rebirthÖ and to the sailor who do a colorful smile. When I did this design, that was a dark moment for me, so I tried to be positiveÖ so I did this. Illustration is the better way to me to translate what I feel. It could be clichÈ to say that but itís true. The sailor coud be me. The tree, my roots (where I come from). Itís not easy everyday to be far away from home. But there is a lot of significations in this design... maybe Iíll discover them later.

How have you seen Art transcend language barriers and culture?

Art is universal, for sure. There is rainbows in the whole world ? Art transcend language barriers and culture because there is simply no rules. Everyone can understand or appreciate art like he wants. Art is an extension of human feelings. You canít always explain feelings with words so thatís why Art is magic for me. I think Internet is also a wonderful tool for artists to share their points of view. Itís so amazing to see so many differents styles from so many countries, like on DBH! I love this melting pot, itís really interesting.

Who or what influences you?

Ahah, the list could be long. Everything around me : people, nature, travels, my family. The stupidity of humans sometimes, Iím really fascinate about that. It's a subject without end. Alternative music, movies, books, comicsÖ.and so many things in art. I also met recently an illustrator I really appreciate, Krsn and his friend Akroe, a really famous french designer. Akroe explained to me his work a little bit drunk, that was really interesting. The work of Heiko, a german illustrator, I really love what he does. But I have a little list on my blog with all illustrators I love. And to finish, Womans, the best inspiration!

You have significant success being printed on the various designer submitted clothing sites out there. What has been the key to being consistently printed on a variety of different sites?

Seriously, I haven't a miraculous receipe to be printed. But nowadays I think people want to wear something with a positive, poetic or funny message. Our society is so cynic, People needs to dream, to get out of the reality. All my designs printed are full of joy, but I also love dark, cynic and weird things. When I was 12, I read Stephen Kingís books, I listened Iron Maiden (always now), I watched horror movies and one of my favorite movie is Blade Runner, thatís cool. In conclusion, spread the joy to be printed!

What would be the most important piece of advice you would share with aspiring illustrators and designers trying to "make it.

Donít forget that computer is only a tool. Donít fix Internet too much. Your best weapons are your brain and your pen. Take care about all the things around you. Everything is inspiration.

I would like to thank all people who vote for my design. And again, thanks Design by Humans!!!

Other designs currently in the running, designed with love by APY:

When you look at the design work of Sven Palmowski aka A_mar_illo, you are struck with an innocent quality which tugs at your child-self and makes you just smile. Perhaps this innocent quality is the secret to Sevn's success as a full time illustrator for various children's books and educational material. We had the chance to catch up with Sven last week via email:

Tell us a bit about how you came to be a freelance illustrator?

When I finished studying at the academy of art, I wanted to get back to traditional drawing skills and use them for the practical purpose of make a living out of it. I didn´t believe I would be able to do so in plastic arts, which were dominated by very conceptual stuff in the nineties, so I started again to draw a lot while trying to get into comics and illustration, which was really hard in the beginning. But finally I got the first little jobs in advertising and after a while for publishing houses.

You grew up and studied fine arts in Germany, How does German culture influence your work?

I think the influence of new media and internet is "globalizing" the contemporary design: An argentinian or french (or whatever) illustrator can perfectly do the same job for a canadian or italian (or whatever) magazine, website or fashion line. But of course there are still national design styles having their very own peculiarity, like those of Japan or Brazil for example. And probably there is some german influence in my style too, maybe just the kind of humour in it, or simply the fact that I work in a quite systematic way.

What brought you to your current residence in Barcelona, Spain?

In 2003 I had to look for a new apartment and at the same time I figured out that the internet was becoming the main medium of communication with my clients, Let´s say I was in the situation to catch a map and point the finger on a spot by chance. So I decided to give it a try and went to Barcelona with my powerbook and the idea to stay there for half a year or something. Actually, after a while I found myself very happy with my new residence and also very quickly "engaged" to my small spanish-german family ;) Besides after 4 years living in Spain I still work for my former german clients and I don´t even have to go to meetings there anymore.

Your portfolio site is divided between two types of illustrations - those for pleasure and those for your "nine-to-five" job. How do these two styles differ? Do you find more gratification in the illustrations you do for pleasure?

Though I´m a freelancer, I call my illustrations for schoolbooks and textbooks my "nine to five" job. I do them for several ongoing series of educational material which guarantee some economical security for me as an artist, but they have to follow lots of restrictions like educational issues, communication with the target group or even political correctness. On the other hand there are my "free" works like those you can find here on Design By Humans. They are my very own creations in the first place and I put more personal passion into them, I guess, but fortunately I find gratification in both fields.

What is your typical process for creating one of your illustrations?

I always begin with a rough pencil sketch which is the base for a clean and precise ink pen drawing. Followed by scanning, using Photoshop on my Mac with tons of customized brushes and a simple old fashioned Wacom graphic tablet. Sometimes I leave nothing of the original drawing except for the colour fields between the outlines which creates sort of a screenprint look.

You have described your free illustrations as "creatures of my mind, born of their own aesthetics." What was your idea behind the piece entitled "treepeople" - a recent Shirt of the Day winner here at Design by Humans?

I think "treepeople" turned out to be "knotty", weird and simple at the same time and it´s a perfect example for a piece which is born of it´s very own aesthetics. I always change a lot from the beginning of a drawing until it´s final result like positioning, compostion or details, but the original drawing of "treepeople" is quite as you can see it on the T-shirt just in black and white, which means it was perfectly apt right off.

How do you pick your color palettes for your illustrations?

Depending on the theme of the illustration, I pick one of these favourite colour palettes I often use: One is dominated by browns and earthy tones combined with blue tones. Another one is a clear domination of magenta or pink combined with white. Or sometimes just a black and white drawing combined with some strong 100% yellow highlights.

Who or what influences you?

I´m very influenced by the impulses of music, fashion or even TV. I love illustrators like Jeffrey Decoster, Thomas Lee Bakofsky or Catalina Estrada and also artists like David Hockney, Max Ernst or Francis Bacon.

What would be the most important piece of advice you would share with aspiring illustrators and designers trying to "make it"?

Be as stubborn as you can, create networks, take advantage of the internet. In the beginning this might be more important than making money right off. Working at McDonalds during daytime and drawing illustrations at night is not a shame at all, it´s romantic;)

Whether Chris is "tag-team doodling" with his wife, or engaged in Illustration Fridays", one thing is consistently obvious - Christopher Koelle is the real deal. A truly original artist, Christopher Koelle's dynamic use of line work creates poignant story scapes leaving the viewer hungry for more. His brush strokes are laid with an almost hurried precision, as if his art is exploding from his mind and soul on to the screen. Koelle's humble manner is refreshing, he is quick to celebrate other peoples contributions and talents and slow to take credit for his own amazing work.

Koelle caught our attention with the powerful illustrations from "Men in Black" written by Colby Buzzell, featured in the PBS documentary "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience". The documentary "explores the searing firsthand accounts of American troops through their own words - fiction, verse, letters, essays, and personal journals."