A picture wont say 1000 words if there's no context. How a story can inspire you to be a better illustrator and designer.

The Problem

When producing a singular image, whether it be for a t-shirt design, print or just for fun, it can be easy to get caught up in the trap of producing something that might very well look pretty cool, but lacks any meaning, leaving everyone else with the impression that maybe you're a good draughtsman/ woman but thats about it.

So What Do You Do?

The remedy to this friends is to give your drawings meaning through letting them tell stories.

If you're not convinced, think about your favourite film, tv series or novel, what made you like it so much? 

I'm going to bet that it was probably because it had a good story, right?

A good story compels you to take an interest and gives whatever the situation is, its meaning, it makes it personal and unique, which in turn could make you care about it so much you may well want to tell others about it too.

Get Inspired

Here is a great TED talk from master story teller and Director Andrew Stanton about the clues to a great story to help you get inspired about the power of story telling.

An image might not be able to condense the highs and lows of a 2 hour film or 1000 page novel, but it can lead you somewhere and that somewhere is ideally the place where, as Andrew Stanton describes, you make 'the audience work for their meal'- Where you leave people to come to their own conclusions about the situation that you've illustrated, as if its like a problem they need to solve. 

Story Telling in Action

In order to see how this can be done so well, its time to hand you over to some real masters of the still image. The reportage and street photographers of the Magnum photo agency.

Thomas Dworzak.

What grabs your attention first is probably the gun as the silhouette makes it almost instantly recognisable. On its own that would come off as a pretty boring image, however the look of surprise and worry on the face of the woman in the background brings home what seeing someone come into your house holding a gun means. What then leaves you wondering what's going to happen is that the person coming in with the gun is moving perpendicular to the woman possibly implying that whoever it is doesn't know she's there, or maybe there's something else going on, is the gunman after someone else?

Martin Parr

This picture is a pretty good example of how using humour can help tap into something that we can all understand. The idea of a young teenage boy be rather enamoured with an older girl is hardly something original as  there are countless examples where this kind of thing can be so cheesy it makes you  wish you were blind! However the mastery is the way in which the moment is so natural and funny.  This kid's using his chance to have a peek at the girls boobs whilst she's looking away for the picture, that she really isn't bothered about, but because of the one track mind you have as a boy of that age, he fails to realise that he's also being caught on film too. That on its own is good enough for it to be genuinely funny, but what makes it the masterpiece that it is, is that, like supporting actors, the boy is holding two ice cream cones that are kind of boob shaped and the girl is surrounded by upturned cones, which in this context seem kind of phallic. You've done some crap lazy photography since then Martin, but this is still one of my favourites.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Here is Henri Cartier-Besson's famous picture, 'The Decisive Moment', its like he's bottled up pure unadulterated anticipation. There is really no other outcome for this situation, but the fact that you will never see it is, is what gives this image its power. This perfect equilibrium between past and present, means that your brain does most of the heavy lifting, which I think is what allows this image to be so simple and yet portray so much wonder.

The hard thing about powerful photography, which tell compelling stories like these, is undoubtably about catching the right moment. 

Luckily for you, when creating an image from your mind, the sky is really the limit and therefore the narrative is a luxury that you have and more importantly have complete control over so get out there and tell your story

10 Examples of inspirational Illustration and design styles to help you design unique t shirts

Today I wanted to feature some designers and illustrators whose styles will hopefully inspire you to be more creative when thinking about what sort of technique and how much detail you are using to create t shirt designs. Enjoy! Also visit my shop to get a 20% discount on all my t-shirts- I treat you right, right?


Android Jones- http://www.androidjones.com/

Crisvector- http://www.crisvector.com/

Johnathon Bartlett- http://www.seejbdraw.com/

A Trip to Mars: Fenton Ash (book cover 1909) 

Sara Blake- http://www.hellozso.com/

Johanna Basford- http://www.johannabasford.com/

Fos- http://www.heroinskateboarding.com/about/#2

Ben The Illustrator- http://www.bentheillustrator.com/

Henry Berlewi- http://www.berlewi.com/

Brian Bolland- http://www.brianbolland.net/

In the beginning you need inspiration

For me I think there's no better way to make yourself feel better and more excited about life in general, than to have an idea and go and do it.

You've got to start somewhere so here are some examples of great illustration and inspirational design that got me on the road to thinking that designing t-shirts might be a good idea and motivated me to to get off my arse and do it!

Ames Bros

Although not all examples will be t-shirt designs I wanted to start off with one, to show you just how good they can be. I'm sure not everyone is into Tron, although the beauty of this design is the way in which it combines a well known object, being the light cycle, and juxtaposes it with a situation that most people can relate to. As well as being a great idea, with a touch of humour, the execution of clean line work, strong shapes and pleasing composition make for a bold image which is easy to read from a distance as well as providing enough detail to keep you interested when you get close up.

Geoff Darrow 

Really the mind boggles when you look at the detail and precision of line work in Geoff Darrow 's work. The quality and confidence of the line work, in how he picks out each object and the care and attention to keeping it in a strong perspective helps direct the action  and splits up the foreground mid-ground and background which allows for the incredible detail without it becoming muddled. It takes a big shit all over Where is Wally and if you're looking at this thinking it looks easy, you're wrong or I'm jealous!

Milt Kahl

Recognised as the finest draughtsman of the Disney animators, Milt Kahl's drawings are really something to admire as is a lot of the artwork that Disney has produced over the years. There is really a lot to say about his work, however I'm going to stick to a few points as I could get carried away (A really great book to check out is 'Drawn To Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Masterclasses' by Walt Stanchfield). 

The beauty of his work is that there is no doubt in your mind as to what is going on- with each image there is so much character life. In the image that I've chosen the tension between Shere Khan and Kaa is palpable- you can see the tension in Shere Khan's claw as it pulls at the skin on Kaa's neck coaxing him towards him with his eyes. You can see the fear in Kaa's face in the way his eyes are closed but eyebrows are raised away from Shere Khan, as a reaction to him being there, couple that with the way in which he is moving back into his doubled up coils shows how he's been stopped in his tracks and is now trying to get away- See I did get carried away, please read up about him, look at his drawings, it wont just make you a better draughtsman- it'll change the way you look at things.

Robt. Williams

Sometimes its easy to forget that in your head, the sky is the limit. 

So you want to do a  picture of a 1967 Ford GT Mustang? pretty sweet looking car, but why not give it wings and have a giant chicken fucking it up its exhaust pipe. 

Why? you might ask and I say again, Why not? 

Don't hold me to that one, as that was right off the top of my head but the point is don't hold back if you have an idea and suddenly it turns into a ridiculous one, you might end up doing something as cool as Robt. Williams does on a regular basis. If you like this, take a look at his book 'Conceptual Realism', or the skateboard decks he's designed for Santa Cruz, the world needs more people like him.

Syd Mead

Ok so last one for now, the mighty Syd Mead, its hard to imagine a future without him really. When you look at this image you see a beautiful elegant shape, get up, walk away from your computer, look at it again...and bam! Its still there, still as strong as it was when you first saw it. 

His attention to detail is something that brings a level of realism to his designs which show wear and tear and a believable scenario, which helps you to believe that this is an artefact from the future not a design- Apparently a lot of the set design in Blade Runner came from Syd Mead having to create a back drop for the vehicles and other pieces he designed so they could be seen in the right context! Even if this is not necessarily your thing, its worth thinking how he goes about creating his work and the thought process that goes into bringing it alive.

If you have any ideas of what you might want me to put up here next, please let me know, although I hope that this has provided you with a bit of inspiration!