Pandas and jungles and…psychos, oh my!
A few months back, we challenged artists to submit designs for our new homegoods swag. And when you have shower curtains, fleece blankets, and rugs to think about decking out your space with, one does not simply have just one winner. Instead, we had three – Fikri with a panda blanket as adorable as it is soft (so pretty dang soft), LordofMasks with a witchcrafty tapestry, RicoMambo with a Hitchcock-inspired shower curtain (guess which movie), and jaybarnham with a creepin’ jungle-y rug design.
We caught up with LordofMasks, Fikri, RicoMambo about their designs – see what they had to say below and check out their designs! We dig ’em.
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Camille Chew (LordofMasks) – Tapestry Winner
Congrats on the tapestry win! Have you ever used a Ouija Board?
Thank you! I have never used a ouija board, although my boyfriend got a me a beautiful handmade one for Christmas last year. But if I’m being honest, I’d be the friend that would purposefully move the planchette around to try to scare and/or insult everyone else.
What are three words to define your style?
Graphic, witchy, magic.
If you could live anywhere, where would you want to live and why?
I would want to live in a secluded cottage in the woods. One with a huge studio space so I could spend all my time making art. The forest environment would be good inspiration for all my witchy artwork. It needs to have wifi though.
Understandable! Your “witchy” art style is beautiful – how did you develop it? What inspires you?
My style has developed over a lifetime of making art. I think the only way to develop a style is to experiment a lot and just make tons of work. Eventually you’ll be able to pick out the elements in your work that you like and use them to build your own style. Some of my inspirations include mythology, fantasy, the occult, street fashion, and the many artists I follow online.
I see you have an Artist Shop too! How did you choose which designs to put in your shop?
I wanted to showcase a cohesive collection so I chose a bunch of my favorite occult inspired designs. I also wanted to include a few designs that would be exclusive to my Artist Shop.
What medium do you use to make your art?
All my Threadless designs and most of my illustration work is done digitally; everything is drawn in Photoshop using a tablet. I am also a printmaker, and occasionally work in ceramic as well.
Shop LordofMasks here!
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Meet Zulfikri Mokoagow (Fikri), the blanket winner
Congrats on your win! Have you ever won a Threadless challenge before?
Thank you! Really excited for sure, I never won before. Only got some selected to print in two challenges; Peanuts and Hulk challenge.
What are three words to define your style?
Maybe “explore,” “spontaneous,” “hand-drawn.”
This panda pattern is a bit different than your usual style! What inspired it?
Try to see a sleeping panda! They looks really cute in funny pose. For this one, I just tried to make design that fit for the challenge itself. Starting from the function of the blankets themselves, which warm and comfort people with a bunch of pandas that will look like they’re sleeping over the user. So, I can say it’s inspired by the challenge itself, specifically to make the function that can go along with its design.
You do a lot of great typography work recently – is this a new area of art you’re dabbling in or have you always enjoyed it?
It’s my first time to actively design in this area. The ‘word challenge’ truly challenged me to create some, it’s really fun to turn meaning of word into visual design. I’m a bit overthinking sometime, it cause me to have many ideas and I need to decide which ideas to work on, so that’s why I got a lot of submissions there :D
Do you do art for a living?
I do art at most for living, I’ve asked some perspective and experience from other Threadless artists on a forum some months ago as a consideration. Then I decided to try it totally freelance and focus on art – wish me luck!
If you could live anywhere – in space, underwater, etc. – where would you want to live and why?
So some years ago, I dreamed about an isolated peaceful house. It’s a remote place, semi forest-savannah area, with a waterfall and river near the house. There is some small farm on the other side of the house to grow some (legal and illegal) plants. so I think I’ll find that place; the dream is just too vivid to ignore (there’s a lot more detail I can tell you for hours haha). But, I’m truly curious about living nomadically.
I see you have an Artist Shop too! You have so many rad designs, how did you choose which ones to include?
Those are some old works. As a starter to try an Artist Shop I put white-background designs to make it look clean and there’s no busy-colorful-feeling on homepage.
(Open your own Artist Shop right now!)
Meet Branko Ricov (RicoMambo) – the shower curtain winner
Congrats on your win! Have you ever won a Threadless challenge before?
Thank you very much! Yes, I won “Threadless love Characters” back in…I think 2011, with T-Shark design. Threadless made a costume, I think you still have it :) I am very excited – I just needed this win, long time no print here.
What are three words to define your style?
“Comic,” “drawing,” “Photoshop.”
You have so many awesome pop-culture designs – what was the first thing that got you into film/TV?
I don’t know, I just love movies, don’t have anything I love more or less. But its beginning was John Wayne (yeah) Westerns, Clint Eastwood, Warriors, Mad Max, Alien…and many more (Hitchcock, of course). And yea, I am pretty much superficial…just love blockbusters :)
Which Alfred Hitchcock movie would you rather be stuck in if you had to choose?
Thanks but NO, Psycho, Vertigo, Birds, Rear Window, Rebecca, North by Northwest… LOL! I like to watch them, but that hard atmosphere, tension, relationships, and drama are not for me.
Fair enough! How about if you could live anywhere – in space, underwater, etc. – where would you want to live and why?
Huh, maybe two months on a snowy mountain, four months on a tropical island, three months on a luxury yacht, the rest in Split, Croatia where I live now. Nothing special, haha.
I see you have an Artist Shop too! You have so many rad designs – how did you choose which ones to include?
Easy, I included almost everything I have.
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And the featured image of this post is “Jungle Looking Back” by our rug winner, Jay Barnham!
