After the response to our top t-shirt sites article we thought we might try to catalogue the people behind the designs, those who often go unnoticed behind the scenes – the t-shirt designers. However putting down our favourites was a lot harder than we first anticipated – there are so many talented tee artists out there that it was difficult to narrow down the list enough to fit on one page! So we’ve decided what’s best is for you to decide. We selected 25 designers whose designs we love and you can vote for your favourite in a poll which will last for one month. Voting is simple, just click the button under your fave designer and your vote will be registered. The winner will be announced in April

Here are our nominations for top t-shirt designer of 2009….

Glenn Jones (glennz)

Anyone who regularly browses Threadless has probably heard of Glenn. He has been working in the design industry for over 15 years but now focuses exclusively on illustration and apparel. Since this change of focus he has had an astounding 20 designs printed on the Threadless site, a record. He has developed somewhat of a cult following there, which has lead to the creation of his own website and linked online store, where all of his designs, including those that never made the cut on Threadless, are on offer. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Glenn designs his tees thousands of miles from where they are printed, housed and shipped in America, yet this has proved no barrier to success – in fact quite the reverse. Glenn is probably one of the most well-known and popular designers on this list, and for good reason. With fresh and simple ideas executed perfectly in bright colours Glenn is one of our all-time favourite designers, and seemingly yours too.

Joel Rose (Drakxxx)

A freelance artist and graphic designer currently living in Southampton, New Jersey, Joel possesses an Associates Degree in General Art & Visual Communication from Livingston University in New Jersey. He claims that his ‘artistic ability and imagination are invaluable to me, and they are tools I use to live life to the fullest everyday’. They also clearly help him to come up with some inspired t-shirt designs. His portfolio can be viewed Here. Our favourite example of his work is this clever design inspired by one of our favourite films ‘A Clockwork Orange’ that was recently sold on TeeFury.

AJ Dimarucot (CollisionTheory)

AJ became widely known among internet consumers of uniquely designed t-shirts after his $10,000 win of the DesignByHumans monthly competition. Based in Makati in the Philippines, AJ continues to work as a freelance designer specialising in print and apparel, having only stumbled into the industry after looking for freelance jobs on craigslist. Stylistically he seems to favour a ‘drips and splotches’ approach but is also excellent at more simplistic designs. A portfolio of his work can be found on his Behance spot. AJ hopes to one day be successful enough to start his own line.

Ian Leino

Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Ian graduated with a studio art major and computer science minor over ten years ago. Since then he has moved on from working for a film and video production company as an editor and graphics specialist and now makes his living as an independent graphic designer and illustrator. His range of t-shirts conceal a cheeky nature mirrored by the cartoon-like graphics used in their design.

Edno Pereira Jr. (Draco)

The Brazilian Edno is a great t-shirt artist whose designs are often criminally overlooked on user-voted sites such as Threadless and DesignByHumans, where only a small number of his submissions make it to print. Oddly he seems to fair quite well on LaFraise, where 9 of his shirts made the final cut. Edno’s style has evolved somewhat over the years – after starting with relatively clean designs that often concealed a subtle image or idea his work is now readily identifiable by a unique sketch style. A brief interview with Edno can be found Here.

Budi Satria Kwan (radiomode)

A relative unknown, nevertheless Kwan has had shirts successfully printed on a range of sites such as Threadless, DesignByHumans, shirt.woot, laFraise and CommonThreadz. We love the complex nature of the designs and how so much seems to be going on at once with any given t-shirt. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

Joshua Smith

Joshua founded the design studio Hydro74 in 1994 and since then has worked with a massive number of high-profile corporate and apparel clients such as Nike, ESPN, Quicksilver, Burton and Billabong. Joshua’s tees are produced with a high-quality finish that many individual designers might struggle to achieve, and his ‘faded’ style of design demands such treatment. Joshua’s portfolio can be viewed in part on Hydro 74.

Matheus Lopes (mathiole)

Matheus is an illustrator based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He mixes vivid colours to brilliant effect in his designs, often contrasting muted greys and blacks in the same space as rainbow graphics to produce a startling t-shirt design (see his Threadless entry, e.x.ecutioner). You can view his extensive t-shirt gallery on emptees, as well as several of his new and unprinted designs on both deviantart and his flickr stream.

Joe Alterio

Originally from Boston, Joe now lives in San Francisco, California, where he works as a illustrator, designer, animator and comic artist. We particularly love the simple design yet complicated idea encapsulated in the ‘paranoia’ tee pictured below, and hope it makes it into production soon. An interview with Joe can be found on Teefury.

Jimi Benedict (jimiyo)

Jimi is a curator for Teefury and an awesome t-shirt designer. Not only that, he also operates a site where he gives out free tips and tutorials on all aspects of apparel design. His designs have been taken up by the usual big independent user-driven sites but he also has not strayed too far from his beginnings, with examples of his work available at small sites such as BangBangT-Shirts. He has a staggering portfolio and also runs a blog where his fans can keep up to date with all of his designs and activities.

Mike Friedrich (siXsiXsiX)

Berlin-based graphic artist Mike has been a freelance artist since 2001. He has worked for some of our favourite t-shirt websites, including ABetterTomorrow, laFraise, Threadless, TeeFury and DesignByHumans. His work is characterised by its intricate and complex design and a flickr stream for it can be found Here.

Sven Palmowski (a. mar. illo)

Sven was born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany. He has worked as a freelance illustrator for more than a decade and makes his living solely from his designs. In 2004 he moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he now comes up with all of his t-shirt illustrations, describing them as ‘creatures of his mind, born of their own aesthetics’. His work can be viewed on his website or his Behance Network profile.

Dave Perillo (Montygog)

At 35, the Philadelphian Dave is older than most on this list, yet he proves that designers do not have to be young to produce fashionable t-shirts. He claims to draw inspiration from such classic figures as Charles Schultz, Roy Lichtenstein, Hanna-Barbera and Jim Henson, yet his designs show a cutting-edge pop-culture style one wouldn’t particularly associate with a diehard fan of The Muppets.

Aled Lewis (fatheed)

Hailing from London, England, Aled loves to create stuff that ‘makes people think and laugh at the same time’. That his t-shirts achieve this is surprising – that they do so in a stylish manner with clean uncomplicated designs is nothing short of astonishing. Aled manages to do simply what other designers have struggled to do for years, provoking both thought and laughter with his designs which can be viewed in full Here.

Jan Willem Wennekes (stingerstyler)

Jan works from a studio in Groningen, the Netherlands and only began a career as an illustrative designer after studying both philosophy and Artificial Intelligence at University level. Neither of these heavy subjects appear to have influenced Jan at all, with colourful monsters and critters adorning the front of most of the t-shirts on offer. There is a surreal streak here we really like, and the distinctly non-human monsters often have very humanistic qualities that are used to make a point about society. We particularly like the alcoholic critter on the t-shirt below.

Olly Moss

Olly is an up-and-coming 22 year old English designer who has already worked for clients such as The New York Times and Urban Outfitters. His designs are mostly inspired by classic films and videogames. A short interview can be found at Threadless and many of his designs can be found on his flickr profile, which at over one million views is an indication of how popular Olly’s work is.

Alejandro Fuentes (Los Fokos)

Alejandro was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and this is now where he produces all of his work. A freelance graphic designer and illustrator in the apparel industry, Alejandro’s designs incorporate an amalgamation of styles which combine to create some truly dreamlike images. Some of his designs have been printed and sold on Oddica and at TeeFury; a more extensive portfolio, including shirts that have not yet been printed, can be found on his Behance spot.

Brock Davis (Laser Bread)

Brock comes fresh from winning the Threadless ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award, and it is easy to see why. His designs are inspired by anything from subversive animal imagery, to Greek Mythology, to philosophy (we particularly love his ‘ghost on the machine’ gag). A full profile of his threadless submissions can be found Here, and he has a website showcasing his apparel Here.

Michaela Colette Zacchilli (spideretcetera)

This 26 year old from Providence, Rhode Island is most comfortable designing surreal and elaborate t-shirts. They may not make much sense (to us) but that’s beside the point really. In fact, it heightens the appeal of her tees – we like wearing stuff that depicts a scene in which we have no idea what’s going on. The blurb to her ‘billy the money buffalo goes to a party’ design (see, even the names are screwy!) sums up Michaela’s ‘stream of consciousness’ design philosophy perfectly: “Why does billy encounter so many exciting things on the way to the killer party??? GOSH is he lucky!” More of Michaela’s designs can be seen at her DesignByHumans profile.

Pete Harrison (Aeiko/duoform)

So good they gave him two pseudonyms. Pete lives and works as a freelance designer in London, England, after graduating with a Bsc Honours degree in MediaLab Arts. As well as having undertaken work for several prestigious clients such as Dolce & Gabbana, Microsoft and BMW he also runs his own labels, ‘Funkrush’ and ‘SuperCombo’ (in collaboration with another of our favourites, Olly Moss). Pete doesn’t create all of the t-shirts on offer, but his influence pervades the design ethos of the label at all levels. The t-shirts have fun and quirky designs, with playful graphics and slogans that sound like they could have been lifted straight from comic strips. It’s a testament to Pete’s vision that all of the designers he chooses for his label create shirts that reflect his own passions. You can keep up to date with all of Pete’s various activities by following his blog.

Jeremy Hitchcock (Dekonstruct)

Jeremy hails from Buffalo, New York and has been designing t-shirts for many years. Like many t-shirt creators, he has made the crossover from cartoonist to designer. Unlike many however, he has resisted the urge to transpose characters from his comic strips to his t-shirts, and they are the better for it. His obsession with space, monsters and science, so obviously an inspiration for his comics, is taken and transformed into stylish t-shirt designs that transcend his terse comic style. His portfolio is viewable on his website or DesignByHumans profile and many of the designs are available to buy from his mysoti store.

Matthew Skiff

Matthew is 22 and designs all of his t-shirts at his hometown in Denver, Colorado. Where other designers in this list look for the cutesy/caricature aspect of the monstrous Matthew takes the completely opposite direction. He takes the macabre and reproduces it in vivid detail, often transposing it into a humorous situation. Some examples of his work include a werewolf playing guitar, a pair of dismembered zombie hands praying and a skateboarding mummy, all lovingly rendered in detail on the front of his colourful t-shirts. These, and the other tee designs in his profile, can be viewed on his Behance Network spot.

Joe Ledbetter

Joe is 31 and lives in Pasadena, California where he worked as a graphic design artist for three years before becoming embroiled in the LA underground art scene. By 2004 he had perfected a trademark visual style characterised by vibrant colours and endearing personalities. Whilst not technically a t-shirt designer, his characters have been emblazoned onto toys and apparel and sold all over the world – and on the t-shirts especially his subversive and absurd approach to humour serves him well. His work aims to ‘question our taking of life (and ourselves) too seriously’, and we love the way in which he goes about this.

eBoy

OK, so we’ve cheated slightly here. Not so much a designer as a design group, Berlin-based eBoy was formed in 1997 by Steffen Sauerteig, Svend Smital and Kai Vermehr. Their complex designs are famous for utilising idealisation, which they use because they “loved the idea of making pictures only for the screen”. According to them “it’s the best way to get really sharp and clean looking results…. you are forced to simplify and abstract things”. This simplification is a major advantage in their t-shirt designs, which are clean and sharp as a result. eBoy have gained worldwide recognition for their designs and have produced work for such austere clients as Coca-Cola, MTV, Adidas and Honda. You can catch up with their latest thoughts on the eBoy blog and a great interview can be found Here.

David Creighton-Pester (Wandering Bert)

David currently resides in Hamilton, New Zealand, and now works as an illustrator and graphic designer after completing a bachelors degree in Computer Graphic Design from the University of Waikato and Wanganui Polytech. His designs flit between a range of styles but his use of colour is always very considered and clever – in a medium where colour is often considered secondary to graphics the tee below is a perfect example of how the clever utilisation of colour can be incorporated into the design itself. His portfolio can be found on his website, along with tees he has had printed on emptees and Threadless.

This is by no means a definitive list – we’re sure you will disagree with some of the names we‘ve chosen and think others we’ve omitted deserve a spot and we welcome any comments. When making the list we’ve tried to include all manner of designers with different styles, from those of a fashion background to those who learnt their craft on the street, some successful and some who have yet to achieve the reward we feel their talent deserves. If your favourite doesn’t appear then let us know and we’ll be sure to check them out for our next list of top designers!

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