The new t-shirt designs are out today! I’m so excited to finally show you them. The new t-shirts are a set of two complementary designs with Mexican sugar skull tattoo-style designs – with a twist!
Meet Cinco de Mayonnaise and Dia de los Meows – they’re both available now in the online shop.
Inspiration: Sugar Skulls
My inspiration was the cat sugar skull on the Cattoos (temporary cat tattoos). I really like the style and wanted to develop it into a larger, complete design. The Mexican Day of the Dead festival has some really cool imagery, with sugar skulls and bright colours, and it’s often used for tattoos, with swirls and lots of detailed, decorative elements.
Research: Dia de los Muertos
I researched the art style – sugar skulls are made to honour relatives and friends who’ve passed away. They’re an art form of their own, with such intricate details, all made of sugar and painted. Day of the Dead takes place in Mexico around Halloween, from 31st October – 2nd November, and it’s all about honouring and remembering the deceased, with offerings of their favourite things. On Dia de los Muertos, spirits are allowed to reunite with their families for 24 hours. In many ways it’s a upbeat celebration of life triumphing over death and remembering loved ones – and I like how it’s all about their favourite things!
Designing Cinco de Mayonnaise
For the design I took the cat sugar skull as a starting point and, with favourite things in mind, started doodling away, adding swirls and Latin American style decorative elements like dots and lace details. It was really fun – usually my style is very simple, but I enjoyed embellishing with all the little details.
First I created some designs with random favourite things, then decided it would be a stronger design if everything was based around a theme. I came up with the title “Cinco de Mayonnaise”, a twist on Cinco de Mayo (a Mexican festival on 5th May) and drew a fast food design, with fries, soft drink, ketchup and mayonnaise in Mexican style. The teardrop swirls make perfect splurges of ketchup and mayo!
Second Design: Dia de los Meows
But that didn’t include the cat sugar skull, which is where it all started! So I made another version on a cat theme, with sleeping cats, playing cats, milk, cat food, balls of wool, tiny paw prints and fish bones. The title for this one is “Dia de los Meows”, which I think is really cute!
These t-shirts are a little different from the style of my other designs (it’d be boring to always be the same) and I like how the detailed designs have a stylish look, while still being fun, with cute details. I’m happy with how they’ve come out – I think they’ll go with lots of outfits, and I really hope you enjoy wearing them.
Available Now
Both designs are available now in the online shop. There’s a special introductory price until Thursday 5th May 2016 (Cinco de Mayo!). Both t-shirts are available in mens sizes S-2XL and ladies slim fit S-XL. As with all orders, everything’s despatched quickly within 1 working day – great if you’re buying a last minute gift.
If you have any questions just get in touch, and I’d love to know what you think of the new designs!