This is Jan Bolle, one of our biggest supporters from Germany! He stopped by to share some insight and his shirt photo collection.  Check out those 3D movie wall hangings!

Hi Jan. As an international community member of RIPT and the daily t-shirt world in general, are there any specific challenges that members of the United State’s community might not be aware of?

No, most of the designs are known worldwide and the order process is very easy to handle. I’m very thankful that Paypal is offered because for me it’s the easiest way to pay! Thankfully I’ve never ever had any problems with customs authorities. I don’t know if RIPT ever sold one but some typical US-stuff like “Troy and Abed” are not known here in Germany, and the rest of Europe, I guess.

What did you think when the international shipping prices raised across the board for many daily t-shirt sites in early 2013?

It was a little shocking and I didn’t ordered much during that period. It’s good to see that it was just a short period.

Jan in some great RIPT Apparel tees!

You often post photos of your shirts on your facebook page and to various other locations. What made you start posting so many photographs?

Because others like it and it is a fun to create some ‘themed’ pics. I’m a collector of action figures too so sometimes I’ve included one in a pic, like the “Battle of Blackwater”. Posting pics started when I got my first shirt in the middle of 2012. Sometimes I’ve done some effects by  using a small and free tool called Pixlr-o-matic which has lots of filters and effects. The pics are just for fun and my friends like them, so it’s some kind of a never-ending photo-project

How many daily website shirts do you think you own?

I never count them, but I would say that I have close to 100 shirts.

Do you have a favorite RIPT Apparel shirt you have purchased?

No. It depends of the mood I’m in. I have a lot of faves and to choose one or two is nearly impossible.

What kind of designs are you most attracted to?

I love very unexpected combinations like the Star Wars/ James Bond shirt some weeks ago or The Walking Dead / Peanuts one). I’m not a fan of those “Keep calm and…” designs. and I will pass every Doctor Who or Adventure Time shirts because these shows aren’t very popular in Germany. I’m also not a gamer so i dont by game-themed shirts, except some Mario because he’s cute.

Jan is a fan of Peanuts, The Walking Dead, and text effects!

What makes you choose which shirts you will purchase and from where?

The design or the color of the shirt. I get a lof of RIPT shirts but I also buy from other sites. Mostly it’s only a question of the design!

Do people comment on your wardrobe often?

Yes! Not only on Facebook. I’m working as a shop assistent and wearing my shirts at work so a lot of customers ask me where i get them or make positive comments about the design. I have no problem telling them where they can get shirts like this.

Shredd!!!

If you could make one change at RIPTapparel.com, what would it be? It could be anything!

I would like to receive a weekly newsletter with sneak previews of the coming designs. The weekend preview is great, but would love to see this for a whole week. Sometimes I wish I could choose between different shirt colors.

Thanks Jan for taking the time to talk with us and share your photos!

Jazz is also a good friend and right-hand man of Optimus Prime’s. For trademark reasons, Jazz is sometimes referred to as Autobot Jazz or Meister, his Japanese name.

Below you will find the free Jazz wallpaper for your iPhone 4 & 5, iPad Retina, and computer.

Free Jazz Graphic

Jazz Desktop Wallpaper
Jazz iPad Wallpaper
Jazz iPad Retina Wallpaper
Jazz iPhone Wallpaper
Jazz iPhone 5 Wallpaper

How to download this free wallpaper for your iPhone, iPad, and Computer

1. Click on the version you want to download.
2. Save the image on your phone or computer.
3. Set it as your wallpaper.

Cliffjumper’s weapon is his glass gas gun, which fires a gas that turns metal as brittle as glass for a short time. In the episode “Fire In the Sky,” he mentions his gun has a “defrost cycle” to melt ice.

According to original tech spec notes the original name for Cliffjumper was Blow-Out, a name later used for a Generation 2 Autobot.

Below you will find the free Cliffjumper wallpaper for your iPhone 4 & 5, iPad Retina, and computer.

Free Cliffjumper Graphic

Cliffjumper Desktop Wallpaper
Cliffjumper iPad Wallpaper
Cliffjumper iPad Retina Wallpaper
Cliffjumper iPhone Wallpaper
Cliffjumper iPhone 5 Wallpaper

How to download this free wallpaper for your iPhone, iPad, and Computer

1. Click on the version you want to download.
2. Save the image on your phone or computer.
3. Set it as your wallpaper.

Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has announced that the series’ next racing title will arrive later this year, with a demo scheduled to appear this July, ahead of a holiday launch. Expect a heady 1,200 cars to make the new edition, with 33 locations (and 71 layouts) to drive them around. Polyphony Digital has developed a new game engine for Gran Turismo 6, one that “pushes the limits of the PS3,” but the incoming game might make another appearance on the incoming PlayStation 4.

Gran Turismo 6 Resources

TechDigest: Gran Turismo 6 out this Christmas, headed to PS3, not PS4…yet
The Verge: ‘Gran Turismo 6′ comes to PlayStation 3 this November
IGN: Gran Turismo 6 ‘In Mind’ For PS4 – PS3 may not be the only landing pad for Polyphony Digital’s next game.
Engadget: Gran Turismo 6 coming to PS3 in time for the holidays, creator has PS4 version ‘in mind’ (video)

How does it work?

The D-Tech Me experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios uses a high resolution single-shot 3D face scanner created by Disney Research labs. The 10-minute experience captures an image of the fan, which is later sent to a high-resolution 3D printer to create a figurine.

Images courtesy of Disney

How much does it cost to turn yourself into a Storm Trooper?

The Star Wars D-Tech Me experience is $99.95, plus shipping and applicable sales tax.

How long does it take to arrive?

The completed figurine will arrive in seven to eight weeks.

The Joker first appeared in the 1940 comic Batman #1 but he didn’t appear on tv until 1966 in the Adam West version of Batman when he was played by Cesar Romero.

About The Joker

Real Name: Unknown
Alias: The Joker
Affiliation: Formerly Black Glove, Injustice Gang, Injustice League, Joker League of Anarchy
Base Of Operations: Arkham Asylum, Gotham City; Ha-Hacienda
Occupation: Professional Criminal; Serial Killer
Height: 6′ 0″
Weight: 160 lbs (73 kg)
Eyes: Green
Hair: Green
Universe: New Earth

Riddle me this

1. What’s your favorite quote or saying by the Joker in either movies or comics?
2. Which actor has the best Joker laugh?
3. Who was your favorite joker?

Today Bumblebee is known as the yellow 2009 Camaro from the recent Transformers movies, but he has gone through many upgrades in video games, movies, posters, and t-shirts – binging him far from the 1977 Camaro he started out as.

Below you will find the free Bumblebee wallpaper for your iPhone 4 & 5, iPad Retina, and computer.

Free Bumblebee Graphic

Bumblebee Desktop Wallpaper
Bumblebee iPad Wallpaper
Bumblebee iPad Retina Wallpaper
Bumblebee iPhone Wallpaper
Bumblebee iPhone 5 Wallpaper

How to download this free wallpaper for your iPhone, iPad, and Computer

1. Click on the version you want to download.
2. Save the image on your phone or computer.
3. Set it as your wallpaper.

About Bane

Bane is a brilliant world-class fighter and tactical genius who augments his great physical strength with a steroid called venom. Raised from childhood in the Peña Duro prison on Santa Prisca, he was determined that he would destroy Batman to prove himself, and succeeded by breaking the hero’s back during Knightfall.

Current Alias: Bane
Affiliation: Formerly Secret Six, Suicide Squad, Secret Society of Super-Villains
Base Of Operations: Gotham City
Alignment: Bad
Identity: Secret Identity
Occupation: Professional Criminal
Gender: Male
Height: 6′ 8″
Weight: 350 lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Universe: New Earth
Place of Birth: Santa Prisca
First appearance: Batman Vengeance of Bane #1 (January, 1993)

Resources about Bane

DC Wikia: additional information about Bane.
DC Comics: more about the origins of Bane and the story behind the reasons for his hatred of Batman.
DC Universe Wiki: tons of information about Bane outside of the comics.

Welcome to our second in an ongoing examination of the daily T-shirt industry and how to navigate it as an artist. There are many sites and the rules, if there are any, change every week. The sites claim that anyone can participate, but then where does someone even get started? RIPT has employed the help of artist Dora Lerf to help navigate the way through the murky realm of designing, specifically for t-shirts, and then even more specifically for the 24-hour sale websites that have sprung up over the past half-decade.  We hope this guide helps give newcomers a point in the right direction. Good luck and enjoy!

Check out Part 1 here.

#2 The Players

Your guide, Dora Lerf.

If you are struggling to get your first print, there might be several reasons for that. Maybe your artwork is just not up to par, maybe your idea is not that funny to other people, and most commonly, you are trying to get printed at the wrong place. Looking at the previously printed designs by a certain website might give you a good idea of what they like to print and what they are generally looking for (some art directors prefer cats, some Transformers – they are just people too!).
Let’s see what we have (I know, this will be a lot of info at once, but you might use this as a guide):

Teefury (http://www.teefury.com):

One of the biggest and definitely the oldest still-existing site that uses the shirt-a-day model. They mostly print pop culture-based shirts. Located in the USA, the company sells their shirts for $11, which gives you $1 after every sold piece. Large sizes and variable shirt colours have recently been made available. Artist sales are traceable with their sales tracker. They do some fun challenges such as TwoFury or weeks when they gather designs around a special theme. They sell each design for 24 hours, but some of them are available for a couple hours longer as part of their ‘after hours’ offer. Teefury can print up to 6 colors.

RIPT Apparel (http://www.riptapparel.com):

Another US based company, specifically based in Chicago, IL, probably doesn’t need much introduction if you are reading this. Besides $10 shirts, they print posters, iPhone 4 cases, stone coasters, hoodies and kid’s clothing in their in-house print shop (which I feel is awesome since it gives the company more control over the production of the designs). They have a sales tracker and a great submission system that lets you know if your design is up for consideration or declined. They have a 30-days ‘soft’ hold on your design (more on that later). I find them to be kind of a last unicorn of today’s daily shirt business as they still send you a free shirt when your design goes up for sale. They also do some big promotions and challenges regularly such as their ‘Artist appreciation month’. They can print up to 5 colors.

Qwertee (http://qwertee.com):

They are the odd one out as this company is located in Ireland, making them the only notable daily shirt company in Europe. Because of their location, they might be a good place to reprint a design since they tend to represent a different market. Most of their fanbase/submissions used to be mainly British themed (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Harry Potter). However, they also aim to have variety inbetween. They sell their shirts for 48 hours (with slightly increased price for the second day). They don’t have a hold on your design, however, every submission (unless curated instantly) lands in a huge pool for voting. Don’t be fooled by that, the designs are still getting curated, so voting doesn’t mean much unless you garner an impressive numbers of votes in a short time. Designs are limited to 5 colors on dark shirts and 6 colours on light shirts.

“For me, one of the greatest things about Qwertee is the voting section. Obviously votes aren’t everything, and finally curators choose designs based on several aspects. But it’s great because you can actually notice the trends and check if your designs are popular, if you are doing right, or going the wrong way. Feedback is really important and voting is a great source of feedback.”

- Pablo Bustos

Shirt!Woot (http://shirt.woot.com):

Shirt.woot isn’t strictly a daily shirt site since they are currently selling all of their past designs at once, but they do have a new featured shirt every day for a lower price of $12. They mostly print cute and clever designs, usually with a hint of pop culture and geekiness. They love cats, but who could blame them? Their customers are the internet. Their contracts grant them a 60 day hold on your design, but their upfront payment should make it up for you. All shirts sold after the day of feature gives you $2. They have a themed derby every week, but you are free to submit a daily entry too. They work with 6 colors and have some fun printing options such glow in the dark ink.

“Working with Woot is great. They take the time to respond to every submission, usually within a week, so you know where you stand. I’ve even gotten feedback along the lines of “We like it, but it needs a few changes before we’ll print it.” If they do accept a design, most of the time you sign a contact that gives them lifetime rights to the art, but in return, you get $1,000 up front. There are other contract options as well. And now with their print-on-demand option, all designs since 2007 are available, and the artist gets $2 a pop. Not bad, and it’s cheaper than Redbubble for the customer.”
- Orion Palmer

Other notable daily sites:

The Yetee (http://www.theyetee.com):

This US-based company has a special love for anime and retro gaming themed designs and I always feel they are like a small family with their artists. They recently opened the Yeteemart which offer goods for sale permanently, next to their daily $11 shirts. They occasionally have artist promotions and even host their own art shows from time to time. Their artist commission is $1.50 per shirt and they offer sales tracking during an artists sale period. They also offer artists 3 free shirts when they are featured on the site. The Yetee prints up to 6 colors.

Shirtpunch (http://www.shirtpunch.com):

This Canadian company is biting big with their 3 featured pop culture design per day. The shirts sell for $10, but they offer additional products as well. They pay a 10% commission fee to artists for everything sold. As they require three times of as many designs as most places, this might be a good starting place if you are a little unsure about your first print. Shirtpunch prints up to 6 colors.

Not-so-daily sites (but good to know them)

Threadless and Design By Humans prints are much respected throughout the artist community. They are mostly looking for artsy designs, even though threadless has a history of printing cute shirts too and not so long ago they started working with licenses. They both have a 90 days hold. Design By Humans supports an impressive 10 colors on their screen printed designs. Threadless doesn’t have such restrictions anymore, because not all of their designs are screen printed.

The small companies and some general advice on picking a place

There are new daily shirt companies popping up almost every week – some stay, most don’t. New companies are always off to a rough start and most fail because of one reason or another. Think about it: how many companies can this market actually support? While supporting a startup company can result in good friendship with the owners and eventually earn you a preferred artist position, it usually has more cons than pros. There are several stories about artists not getting paid, shirts never arriving to customers, terrible print quality, and yes – even stolen artwork.

“At a certain point your time becomes more valuable than the design. Why spend time subbing, communicating, prepping files, sending out blasts, making promos, asking for reblogs and shares etc. just to make $10 or less? With the hours you’ll spend doing all that, you could’ve created a new design that is more popular. Market share. THIS IS A BIG DEAL. The more of these small sites we support the more the market becomes flooded and overall sales suffer per site. Think of dividing a pizza. Would you rather have 1/2 a pizza or 1/100 of a pizza? ”

- Daniel Albert

There is nothing wrong with small companies in general, but there is one thing you have to keep in mind before anything: your customer. Maybe you desperately want a print and you would accept anything, but a happy customer is a returning customer. Not just to the company but to you too.

“You want to provide your fans with a nice product so they will be likely to buy one of your designs again. You may not be able to control the quality of the product produced by a company, but you can control who you do business with.”

- Mandy Andrie

Receiving an e-mail from a new company fishing for designs might sound flattering first, but you should always look into who you are about to work with. I get one of these e-mails asking for my artwork at least once a week, but they usually never mention a concrete design. They are unable to do so even when I ask them, even though they claim to be a big fan of me, of course! Most of these emails, with a few exceptions, sound even less personal than the viagra spams I get. If they can’t take the time to write a personal e-mail, what else will suffer the same fate?

“I basically ignore most emails especially if they are cut and paste and aren’t asking for anything specific. The amount of work you have to put in promoting just for a few dollars isn’t worth it. Plus I don’t like pushing people to buy a product that I have no idea of quality or customer service.”

- Matt Parsons

Basically, you just shouldn’t submit to every random place led by your own greed without testing them as a customer at least. What decides who stays in the industry is not only the featured art but mainly the quality of product and the post-purchase customer service. Being selective about who you work with will make you happy and your customers in the long run. I promise!

That famous hold

As we discussed, some sites form a hold on your design while they deciding whether to print it. Accepting their terms and conditions is almost like signing a contract: if you don’t want to get into trouble, or at least want to avoid some most likely unpleasant situations, just respect this hold.

”Reading the fine print is something a lot of us designers don’t do, and the length of time a site can hold a submission upload varies. Shirt.Woot for instance has a 60 day hold on artwork from time of submission (although they usually accept or reject within a 2 week basis, and usually faster I’ve found on most instances). I’ve had a dispute with them as I submitted to Teefury and Shirt.Woot and unfortunately (or fortunately) Teefury accepted instantly, and then Shirt.Woot did a week later. Needless to say I got chewed out on this.”

- John Haswell aka thehookshot

Some sites request a ‘soft’ hold, which is really a polite request rather than an actual hold – while you are legally not liable if you submit to other sites while waiting for a yay or nay, it’s generally not a good idea. These sites have the right to decide about printing you in said period, even if you receive a print date from somewhere else meanwhile. Unpleasant situation – starting to see a pattern here?

There is an unspoken rule even if a site doesn’t have such rules about submitting: generally it’s polite to wait two weeks before moving on to the next place.

Passing legal

Now this is a sensitive topic and it really can’t be generalized.  While I will try my best to give you some cues, a line can’t be drawn between ‘safe’ and ‘not safe’. Mind you, this might differ from design to design and from site to site. Some sites allow more and sometimes print blatant fan art too, while others try their best not to feature designs that directly infringe on any other third party intellectual property.

RIPT’s guide and examples of copyright infringement

Designs printed on the daily shirt sites almost always fall in the category of parody or fair use. It can be a direct parody of a famous style or picture, a mashup between too franchises if it makes sense, a play on words or a work with something that has already became part of the public domain.

As easily the protection of parody comes, it’s as easy to lose it. Using the wrong keywords when you put your work on redbubble for instance (like the name of the brands in question) is almost like directly asking for getting it removed. Once it’s said out, it’s over.

“Almost every DMCA story turns out to be an unhappy one: you work hard to get a finished, polished design, and out of the blue it gets taken down from a website such as society6 or redbubble due to a copyright claim. One of my very first designs I intended to market as a tshirt got taken down right as it started to gain momentum. I tried uploading my work to other websites, and it never regained that momentum. I took it as a learning experience.  The work that was taken down was definitely not my best anyway. It forced me to work harder and create more quality work.”

- Nick Dennis

Using existing photos, concept arts to trace or actors’ faces are usually a big no – you either want to use royalty free stocks, get permission, or make your own reference photos to work from. Some companies are really protective of their brands (like Marvel, DC) so even if you create an evident parody with their charaters, you can easily find a DMCA notice in your mailbox the next day. Your job is to make something from scratch that resembles something, without actually looking like something. Following me?

Stay safe in the gray area – next time I will report on all the things you should and absolutely shouldn’t do when submitting your artwork.

Dora Lerf has been an avid T-shirt artist and designer for over 3 years with designs featured at Qwertee, RIPT Apparel, and more. You can find more of her work online at her facebook page and sometimes as artist eriphyle.

For those of you not familiar with Invader Zim fanfiction: Invader Zim is a cartoon series created by Jhonen Vasquez that premiered on Nickelodeon on March 30, 2001.

After botching the first invasion, invader Zim is eager to redeem himself to the leaders of his home planet Irk. They assign Zim an obscure, unimportant planet called “Earth” along with his sidekick Gir. Together they infiltrate human society disguised as a schoolboy and pet dog.

Below you will find the 4 main characters for the show.

Zim

Overzealous, impulsive and convinced of his own greatness, Zim is incompetent as an Invader. He constantly schemes to enslave or destroy mankind and, despite his access to potent Irken technology, his plans, frequently based on misconceptions, are never successful.

Gir

Gir is a Standard Issue Information Retrieval unit. He was made out of some scraps in a trash bin by The Almighty Tallest. GIR disguises himself by wearing a green dog suit which fools most humans, despite looking almost nothing like an Earth dog.

Gaz

Gaz is Dib’s cynical, humorlessly sarcastic and psychotic younger sister. She plays a prominent role in the show, but rarely takes an active part in attempting to hinder Zim’s schemes. Though she knows and admits Zim is an alien, she believes Zim is too dumb to actually be a threat.

Dib

Dib has been obsessed with the paranormal and supernatural ever since he was a baby and instantly recognizes Zim as an alien, but everyone derides him as “crazy” or “insane”.

What’s your favorite Invader Zim T-Shirt?