Sir Merlin » Illustration

Some fresh stuff!

Sir Merlin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:47:34 +0000

Ive just added 3 new illustrations / T-shirt graphics to my portfolio. Click HERE to check them out. All of them have been done for the 2010 Killer ltd range. Im really happy with how these have turned out, and cant wait to see the finished products.

Killer Praying Hands 2

Sir Merlin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:24:37 +0000

The praying hands 2 shirt is a redesign of a shirt I did for Killer a few years back. The original was a single colour print and did very well for the brand. As it had been run for a few seasons they asked me to change it up a bit so that it still looked fresh in the range. I added bright colours as per the rest of the shirts in the new range, and then cleaned up the line work as well. I also added the roses around the hands which framed then and allowed me to add more colour. The changes gave the design a fresh look and helped it fit back into the current range.

Killer Panther Shirt

Sir Merlin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:55:03 +0000

This was another tattoo inspired graphic I did for Killer Ltd. Their projects are always fun to work on as the subject material is always open, and the brand identity allows you to explore some interesting subject matter. As always I incorporated the Killer dagger icon into the image and used bright colours to contrast against the classic tattoo styled panther.

Killer Hot Rod shirt

Sir Merlin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:09:58 +0000

This is an illustration I did for Killer Ltd’s latest range. Ive been wanting to do a Hot Rod illustration for some time, so when the brief for the new range came along it fitted in perfectly with their “Live Fast Die Young” theme. I chose to use red, black, and white for the print as they are classic hot rod colours, as well as complimenting these colours with classic pin striping in the background. The car its self was based off of a classic bucket styled rat rod, and I used the Killer dagger icon on the doors.

Prison Tattoo Munny

Sir Merlin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:22:56 +0000

This is a custom Munny I’ve been been working on in my spare time. I do a lot of tattoo inspired graphics for KFD and Killer so thought it would be fun to make a Munny that was covered in various tattoos. Working on these little toys is a lot harder then I thought, and I really should have started on a bigger one. At the end of the day though it was a lot of fun and Im keen to work on more of these. Id like to add a few accessories and packaging to this guy at some stage, but for now he is pretty much done.

Highway Collective T-shirts

Sir Merlin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:40:33 +0000

The Highway Collective is a group of Volkswagen enthusiasts that Im involved with. There are tons of horrible T-shirts out there with VW’s on them but we wanted something a little more toned down but fresh at the same time. We decided to print up some shirts of our own and they turned out to be a huge success. Below are some of the prints.

Killer “Live Fast Die Young”

Jon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:07:02 +0000

Killer asked me to design a print for them along the “Live Fast Die Young” theme. Based on that a coffin seemed to be a good visual element to start with and I worked from there. I incorporated the dagger as it is a symbol that is carried through in all the Killer graphics, and included some roses and the slogan as decorative elements. This design came together a lot quicker then I expected and I’m pretty happy with the end result. After seeing the design Killer decided to run it as a large back print on a hood as well which I think will look real nice. To compliment that I did a small chest logo to run on the front.

Killer “Live Free or Die”

Jon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:51:02 +0000

The “Live Free or Die” shirt has to be one of the most mammoth vector illustrations I have done. Killer wanted a graphic T-shirt with a “Hesh” feel to it. The brief was to go full colour and create something with a strong message. The statement “Live Free or Die” is one that reflects what the Killer brand is all about, and no creature is as synonymous with freedom as an eagle. I started the illustration with the idea of placing it on the chest as if it were a big chest piece tattoo. After finishing the illustration in black line work, I then added colour, and then finally the killer text logo to finish it off. By the time I was done I didn’t want to look at a vector line for weeks, as drawing and colouring every feather too almost 3 days to complete. The end result though was well worth the effort, and I cant wait to see these when they come back from the printers in a week or so time.

Close up of line work.

Close up of colour detail.

Full bird illustration.

T-shirt mock up.

KFD “Moses Signature Series”

Sir Merlin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:06:20 +0000

Moses Adams is KFD’s pro skater and I was asked to design his pro boards. Moses is a little different from the other guys on the team in that he is more into Hip Hop, where as most of the others on the team are more rock n roll type of guys. In his boards I worked to incorporate this element of his personality into the graphics while still staying true to the KFD brand identity. I chose to use gold, white, and gray as the spot colours, and created a font that I wrote his name in. One of Moses’ personal requests was that his pitbull be included in one of the graphics, which was also fun to illustrate. We ended up going with two boards, one using his name in the font I created, and the other with the illustration I did of him and his dog.

KFD “Search and Destroy”

Jon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:58:29 +0000

Search and Destroy was the theme given to me for this job, and the guys at KFD wanted to use a pirate ship in the design in some way. I had never illustrated a ship before so it was pretty fun doing this one. Getting all the elements of the ship into the drawing was quite a task, and I never thought getting water to work would be so hard. At the end of the day the client was really happy with the result, and I like they way it turned out as well. I’m looking forward to getting one of these decks when they finish production