“Eighteen bucks for this? What a ripoff!” – Some Guy
Yesterday was the entry deadline for Threadless’s Simpsons design contest. All told they accepted 820 submissions (and there was a real rush at the end because that number was 494 when I checked it yesterday afternoon). You can view all of them here, and scoring goes on until Tuesday, so you’ve got plenty of time to vote.
I’m not sure how many they are going to actually print, but there are definitely a couple that I’d consider actually buying. Below are some of the ones I liked best, but there are a lot more at the site.
Wow! Chocolate, half price! – It’s a little busy as a design, but it’s a very recognizable scene so it shouldn’t be a problem.
BONESTORM – Oh, nothing, just the Bonestorm logo.
Hitmen… best friends – Lenny and Carl in a fantastically well drawn guns out version of Travolta and Jackson from Pulp Fiction.
Movie Poster – Man Getting Hit By Football, an official selection of the Springfield Film Festival.
The Stingy & Battery Show – The black and white broadcast look is a nice touch.
Monorail Emblem – Just what it says.
They Fight & Bite – Giant Itchy head.
They Fought & Bit – Scratchy version.
Lincoln Squirrel – This is one of those you could basically never wear to anything but a gathering of geeks, but if someone recognized it you could probably be their best friend forever.
You don’t win friends with salad! – Illustrated with all the constituent parts of a common hot dog.
I got toasted at Flaming Moe’s – This shirt would be ideal for taking off before you sit down to a family dinner.
Lisa&Marge&Homer&Maggie&ElBarto – Nice usage of the “bunch of names” t-shirt design.
The Fraternity – The Stonecutters emblem with “Stonecutters” and “Est. 776 BC”. I’d like this better if it was just the emblem, make people figure out what it is. (Also, they were established long after 776 BC if their “fifteen-hundredth anniversary” was in 1995.)
Simpson & Son Tonic – You look like a man who needs help satisfying his wife.
A Vintage Intro – There are a lot of these that involve using the outlines of the characters, and this is probably my favorite. The clouds are great, but it’s especially nice the way they worked in Snowball II and Santa’s Little Helper.
Duff Beer Can Pop Art – Andy Warhol Duff is a great idea, and the colors are fantastic.
Spruce Moose – This could’ve done with a few less elements, plane and airport names alone would’ve been enough, but I can’t design for shit, so what do I know?
dnjk – The bullies.
Duff Ad ! – A pinup Marge selling Duff! Viva life!
Silhouette Night – Again, this one is very obscure, even moreso because it comes from “The Principal and the Pauper”, but it’s still pretty cool.
The Simplesons – Another silhouette one, but very, very minimal. It especially looks good on the black background of the t-shirt.
Bleeding Gums Murphy – A jazzman deserves a portrait with some style.
Meet the Be Sharps! – There were a few Be Sharps designs, this one is their album cover in all its silly glory.
Worker & Parasite – Exactly that. Are those letters even actual Cyrillic? I have no idea.
Brave Corporate Logo – Mr. Sparkle says “Join Me or Die!”.
TRONUT – Ah, old school Tron.
A Super-Simpsons-Spectrum – Yet another silhouette, the colors are nice but I might get rid of the logo at the bottom. It’s pretty obvious what this shirt is.
Up and Atom! – Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy in a simple, 2-d design.
Food Chain – The food chain, with Homer at the center.
The Frogurt is also Cursed – Like so many of these I think this one is trying a little to hard to make people get the reference, but evil frogurt is evil frogurt.
Lisa Plays – And if a jazzman deserves a portrait in style, so does one of the great little ladies of jazz. The spotlight is a nice touch.
The Painting – Just the sailboat from behind the couch. It’s simple and generic looking, and would probably fly over the heads of even casual fans, but that’s what makes it cool.
THRILLHO_ – 8-bit (16?), monochrome Thrillhouse.
Shudder – Translating the rake scene into a still image is tricky, but this design pulled it off.
Mr. Plow – Just the logo with an enjoyably pleased looking Homer.
Everything’s Coming Up Milhouse – Milhouse jumping from the end of “Lisa’s Date with Density” combined with his winning phrase from “Mom and Pop Art”.
Precious Venus – Mmmm, gummy Venus.
Doof – From Sweden!
Angry. Angry Young Man. – Sideshow Raheem with black power hair picks. Nice.
Ben – Just a bear with a microphone strapped to his head.
YELLOW – I like the inventive nudity and all, but how come Marge doesn’t have a mouth?
The Happy Sumo – The neon sign from the outside of Springfield’s first sushi restaurant.
Down With Homework – Simple and effective for starting riots.
Guy Incognito X Homer – A great design showing off Homer and his exact double.
Can I borrow a Feeling – It’s got his picture on it!
JARRING MIX – Nice little Futurama cross over.
Eye On Springfield – And now, Part 7 in our eye opening look at the bikini.
The Be Sharps – Another Be Sharps design, this time just of their name and a hat. Cool.
3 Ralph Moon – Three Wolf Moon is nigh ancient in internet time, but this is pretty funny.
Yay! It’s laser day! – Speaking of Ralph, here he is in another meme that’s not exactly fresh but really works well with him.
Springfield: Good – A Springfield postcard design with Jebediah’s motto.
let your spirit soar – Mona’s painting of Homer as a kid would probably be good for a real life kid, particularly the kind who enjoy running around naked.
It’s just a little airborne! – Just a flying pig with an apple in its mouth. Simplicity itself.
The Godburns – Finely detailed drawing of Burns as Vito Corleone.
Demoiselle D´Simpson – An artsy Homer, Marge and Maggie.
The Simpsons’ Present… – Homer’s Hitchcock outline from “Treehouse of Horror III”. This would get double pop culture reference points on a t-shirt.
WITH IT! – I’m generally not a fan of t-shirts that have more text than Ivanhoe on them, but Grampa’s quote about not being with it anymore is awfully tempting.
As I said above, there are a lot more. The list here isn’t even 10% of them, and Threadless’s site is easy to scroll through (it’s 30 designs to a page), so check ’em out and vote for your favorites.
