“I live, I die, I live again!”
Out of the dust and clamor of movie spectacle, a real life cause emerges in rather adorable form. Not everyone is a universal donor or a gritty survivalist with mad driving skills, but everyone can do something to be part of a worthwhile cause. As part of our continuing series of Charitees, and in honor of World Blood Donor Day (June 14th), a portion of this design’s proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross.
We get to learn more about the artist’s background and process in the interview below:
TF: Thanks for joining TeeFury Charitee series Papyroo!
Please start by telling us a bit about yourself and how you first got started designing shirts.
I’m a designer who worked in small game studios before leaving my full-time job just earlier this year to do whatever I wanna do. I started designing shirts just a few years back, it was purely for fun. I still remember my lazy attempt submitting an old work to Teefury, which of course didn’t make it. Then I got busy with my full-time works. In late 2014 I decided to start walking on my own path, doing character design and merchandising. T-shirt is a part of it. My wife encouraged me to try those daily shirt websites to get my name out there. That’s when I started to take t-shirt design (more) seriously. I submitted my design “Galaxy Conservation Program” to Teefury and I was surprised when Tom told me that you’re going to print my design. Seeing people loving my design, wearing it, sharing it, that’s my tipping point.
TF: That little tree has been quite the favorite! What was your creative approach on this particular design?
I saw many people sharing their photos on Instagram wearing my ‘Galaxy Conservation Program’ tee with #plantatree #savethegalaxy #earthday hashtag. I think it’s a good thing people are sharing the message regardless they mean it or not. The aim of advertising is to plant the message into audience’s mind, will they buy it or not, that’s for another day – oh yeah, my major was advertising in Visual Communication Design. So I wanted to try another design with social message on it, and World Blood Donor Day is coming up. With the aftertaste of this heavy metal action movie still linger in my head, somehow the idea just popped out while I was procrastinating on the internet.
(A process GIF here:)
TF: Do you naturally visualize adorable versions of characters while seeing them on screen or is it something that comes to mind later?
It’s always later. If I love it, I’ll draw it.
TF: This high octane feature was not only full of action, but also great character dynamics. Did you have a favorite?
Answering Furiosa would be too common. So I’ll take the war boy Nux. I didn’t have much interest on him at the start of the movie, thinking that he’s just another replaceable pawn. But he’s grown on me and eventually played an important part in the movie. I like Splendid too, just because she’s a VS model. I bet you like her too, Chris. Admit it.
TF: I thought the movie was full of splendid characters <img src="http://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/72x72/1f609.png" alt="