The state of Pain Propaganda: New Merch!

I don't know if it's because the U.S. election is just a few days away (VOTE FOR FUCKS SAKE DAMMIT), but I have been feeling it, you might say.

I've had a lot of design ideas lately; The hero was an idea that popped into my head one evening just an hour before my dose of Methotrexate, so I cranked out the art for that and coded it up a few days later during a lunch break.

"Transgender Underground Mafia" was a fun one that just screamed "t-shirt" the moment I saw the meme.. And I'm particularly proud of the glitch technique I used to craft it's simple typographical style.

Of course, I also couldn't resist making some Nerfed Gamer Merch. While nerfedgamer.news does have a donation setup for funding, it's always nice to have something physical folks can grab should they enjoy the design (which is just a large version of the logomark).

Next, we have the "Pain F#@kin' Sucks" design; This one actually came about because I was annoyed about an eBay seller who listed an out-of-print 5.11 Tactical t-shirt in that retro Heavy Metal design style that is fuckin' rad, but when I purchased he cancelled the order because he actually didn't have any more of it.. Of course, I did find another seller who had it (and am actually wearing it now as I type this), so still. Anyway, it inspired the 80s synthwave design that was ironic before hipsters made irony a personal brand (and I'm also old enough to have seen new stuff designed in that style unironically).

Finally, we have the latest design, which I conceived of just yesterday and cranked out that night (with a bit of polish this morning): The Broken Samurai. I've actually wanted to do something with a Japanese samurai theme for a long time, but never actually got beyond the "fucking around" stage.

I have been embracing my new art style a lot with this stuff; Since I can't actually physically draw anymore (still - hoping treatment helps), I've had to make use of things like the pen tool in Illustrator/Inkscape, or outlining techniques I've developed in Photoshop (which I then import into a vector program for live tracing) to craft the non-typographical stuff.

I do need to actually create some new wall art, though; The Broken Samurai is available in art prints, but it's core conception was for t-shirts. I've had a photography & photomanipulation glitch portrait series that I've wanted to do since last winter, but couldn't get the models for it. Since we're creeeping up on winter again (the photos would be shot at night with snowfall), hopefully this year I'll finally get those shot.