So Gay! at GOST

I’m working on new T Shirt graphics. In an ideal world I would be doing this a lot more often, but in a small company you have to wear a lot of hats. So instead of whiling away my days drawing smiling penises and masturbating monkeys I end up spending a lot of my time reviewing purchase orders and calling vendors instead.

Now with the Magic Tradeshow fast approaching it is time for me to hunker down and just start cranking out graphics. Our Summer line is out the door and in the shops already and Fall is done and being printed as I write. That leaves Holiday and Spring. About fifteen more graphics.

Ugh.

When I first start sketching I am usually pretty leery of people looking over my shoulder. An idea typically will go through a lot of changes before it is finished and in the early stages I am not really looking for criticism. I try not to censor myself too much in the early rounds. I like to just let ideas flow, no matter how ridiculous.

Sometimes a ridiculous idea will make it all the way through to production, as was the case with “Like Heaven,” which totally shocked me.

And sometimes a ridiculous idea just needs to be modified a little bit before going to market as was the case with “Outta Here.”

So, right now I am in ridiculous mode.

I am just letting the ideas flow. Ghosts on unicorns, pills shitting, nooses and ejaculations; nothing is off limits.

After seeing what I was working on Joe said to me, “I hope you are going to make some things that Tui and I can wear.”

The implication being clearly that Joe and Tui are the “guy’s guys” of the office. The purveyors of heterosexuality. If you need a carburetor fixed or a skull cracked or if you want to talk sports or sexual positions, these are your dudes.

“Don’t worry,” I assured Joe. “I start out with the wildest stuff and then reign it in from there. The simpler and more refined designs will come later.”

But then I noticed something interesting.

Tui, our paragon of masculinity, our hulking hunk of heterosexuality, was wearing a yellow T Shirt and colorful MISMATCHED flip-flops! He had a turquoise sandal on one foot and a yellow one on the other!!

Wow! Could it be that the tide was turning? That Tui was quite literally changing his colors? What was once a hardcore black and white streetwear aesthetic was now being informed by ALL of the colors of the rainbow?? Would Tui ACTUALLY wear a shirt that said, “SO GAY!”??

Hmmm…