There are few things in this world that pair better than pizza and beer.
It was the best pairing circa Netflix and chill, and even Netflix and chill would be nothing without a big ‘ol slice of pepperoni and a six-pack, amiright? I mean dang, even the classic cheese and wine pairing is just a fancy, pinky-out version of pizza and beer. Think about it.
We’re not saying that those who disagree are bad people…just that they might be alien replacements a la Invasion of the Body Snatchers and are not to be trusted.
Evan Luza gets it. This designer and Artist Shop owner turned his love of this sacred, cheesy-meets-hoppy combo into a winning raglan challenge design that truly captures its essence. We talked to Evan about everything from his internship at Adult Swim to Rick and Morty, to…well, pizza and beer. Duh.
Check out his answers below and shop the design here!
I see you’ve submitted a “Beer & Pizza” design before! What do you think drew people to this one? Was the world just ready?
Haha exactly, the world just wasn’t ready! Nah, my first submission for the Pizza & Beer interpretation was for the minimalism challenge, so that design was much more simplistic.
You’ve submitted a TON of awesome Threadless designs! How has your style evolved?
Ah thanks, I appreciate that. I think my style has broadly evolved (and hopefully stays evolving!) in regards of understanding shapes, negative space and how objects interact with each other that result in more striking and more dynamic compositions.
The younger me would approach a design or concept and just throw marks and ideas at the wall until I saw something, now I try to refine and experiment with multiple techniques and directions before just settling on my first attempt. It’s timely but oh so helpful.
When did you first start submitting designs to Threadless?
Oh Jeez, back in 2007 I submitted my first design, and it was terrible. Utterly terrible. Since then I’ve submitted 317 more designs, two of which have been selected, which is a win in my book! …I may be addicted to Threadless.
So you had an internship with Adult Swim, which is pretty rad. What do you do there?
Three of them, somehow! The first two were with the digital department which focused on cutting assets from shows (and making some original content) to make web banners for their homepage and the mobile app, and the most recent internship was with Adult Swim Games.
I mostly designed PR and consumer email blasts to promote new games coming out, and created engaging images from existing content. It was tough but a spectacular experience, I’m hoping I can maybe just maybe weasel my way back there once I graduate.
I saw (creeped) on your Instagram that Rick and Morty shared some of your work! How’d that feel?
It makes me wanna say wubba lubba dub dub
What kind of styles are you typically drawn towards?
I’m a sucker for negative space and simplistic conceptual stuff. The “damn,
why didn’t I think of that” kind of look. But overall I love everything from the surreal to geometric or even symmetrical or natural, so everything really!
Who are your artist inspirations?
Oh man, where to begin. The more general answer would be, every artist on Threadless. More specifically, artists I’ve found from Threadless like Olly Moss, Lim Heng Swee (aka Ilovedoodle), Rick Crane, Robson Borges, Alex Solis, Dan Elijah Fajardo – the list goes on and on. And also a special shout to my friend and mentor of mine who’s still at Adult Swim, Jeff Krichmar. These guys all have very different styles, from being highly conceptual to killer killer illustrators. All in all, very immersive and uber inspiring collection of art.
What’s your dream job?
I might know the answer to this one day, but as of now I just want to create. Create with teams, create by myself, be directed, direct; I want to experience a variety of creative outlets to understand where I think I might thrive. But I do love designing for shirts. My philosophy is, if it would look good on a shirt, it would probably look good anywhere.
Favorite beer? Favorite pizza topping? Favorite beer-pizza combo?
A cold wheat beer and a pepperoni slice – mmm, just eat and drink until you sleep.
Get your own Pizza & Beer swag here!
