Mongo Angry! Mongo Smash! The Store

So, You Want To Be A YouTuber

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:30:00 +0000

Why not? Don’t we all just have that need to be gawked at and make silly noises and faces? Sometimes, it just happens all on its own.

Really, this is now a thing. And I wanted to update you on how it’s going.

It’s fun. It’s work. It’s a pain in the ass some days, but, I still enjoy it.

Sorry, my thoughts are a bit all over the place as I try and figure out exactly what to cram into this one post.

The Regular Stuff - I haven’t forgotten to dance with the one that brought me.

I still do shirts. I still blog. I still care. I just have been really busy at slacking off and doing other work. It’s been hard to budget my time between my ninetofiver, my family, my shirts, and YouTube. Since it’s the newest thing, I needed to put some work into it, so I can hopefully let it ride some on auto-pilot.
Rants/Vlogs – In an effort to report to all of you how I’m doing and to give you tips and advice for better… You…Tubing(?) I am going to record a series of posts I shall call RANTS. These will be me talking about everything about the business and the pitfalls, the successes, the heartbreaks, and everything.

Again, I did most of this on my own, and while I have had an AMAZING amount of help from others in the online community of designers, I am still finding out on my own how to do things and want to share with you so that you can know what you should think about if you wanted to do any of this stuff.

Now, of course, the videos will be of me probably playing games or other stuff. I just don’t have the confidence of putting my big old ugly mug up on YouTube. It’s hard enough for me to make sentences… and grammar. So, deal with it.
Space – One thing I will share, now is that if you are considering doing YouTube videos as a side gig or career, be prepared to become a digital hoarder.

I started out in January with nearly 700gb of hard drive space on my lap top and this month I had to purchase a 1 terabyte external drive to make room. And… it’s filled. So, is my laptop, again. Being the cheap ass lazy entrepreneur, I am trying to keep my costs in check.

Since I am not making any money on YouTube, as of yet, I cannot keep sinking money into something without an ROI. So, I either need to get more viewers/subscribers or pull the plug. What? Did you expect me to actually throw away all the countless hours of gem filled commentary while I dig a hole or build a city? That was sarcasm. In all actuality, I probably need to just not suck in my videos and I’d probably get more views. YouTube is a vast and huge abyss of videos. I’m in there somewhere. You can help by supporting me and I will love you for it in a non-committal / non creepy way that doesn’t result in restraining orders and regret.
Finally - CHECK ME OUT http://www.youtube.com/TheAngryCast I promise to write more. I’ll call. I’ll text. I want to make this work between us. I just need to find out who I am and be comfortable with that. ;)
Oh and yeah, one more thing, MONGO SMASH!

The Westeros League: The Dreadfort Boltons

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay on posting this. I’ve been busy adding more spinning plates. I launched a YouTube Channel, which is mostly me gaming… and failing, but more importantly, it will give me a chance to share some of the designs with the gloriousness that is my voice. Kidding. I fully intend to do a bit on The Westeros League before season 3 bows.

With that in mind, the last addition to the league is now here to capture your hearts… or at least flay your skin.

My Design It - The Dreadfort Boltons Video

The Dreadfort Boltons

Not much can be said without giving too much away. In what promises to be the “Snake in the mailbox” moment for season 3, the Boltons, not the no talent ass clown that shares the name with an employee at Initech, play a big part in the events in Westeros.

Not knowing a lot about them, because I’m a scrub and haven’t read the books, I had to rely solely upon the wikis to glean what I could. The Boltons sigil is that of a flayed man. Now, as I try to keep the designs PG, it’s hard to display a man without skin prominently on the front of a shirt. I almost went with a backup plan of doing the design as a red carnation, dripping blood. However, inspiration came from another team with an almost blood soaked theme. Who can forget the end to the curse of the Bambino and the Boston Red Sox in 2004, complete with Curt Schilling’s bloody sock? That sight made me come back around to displaying the flayed man, but as a silhouette, almost mimicking the dangling red socks. The lettering for the team and their home seat of Dreadfort is similar to said Beantown ballers. Finishing the look is the motto, “Our blades are sharp.”

The Dreadfort Boltons is available from my stores, now.

The Dreadfort Boltons

Available from Skreened and Redbubble.

Black American Apparel Unisex fitted tee from Skreened: $27.99

Black T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

3/4 white sleeve on black baseball shirt from Redbubble: $27.54

Black Zipper Hoodie from Redbubble: $50.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 5 Deflector Case from Redbubble: $37.20

iPad (Retina) Deflector Case from Redbubble: $63.90

You can check out all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

Look out for a video walk through of each design, coming soon.

The Westeros League: The Evenfall Hall Tarths

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Well, I did it, again. I wasn't content with leaving the league at 14 teams, so I expanded. We now have 16 teams in the league. The two new teams should be pretty prominent in Season 3. The first is based on a popular character from the last half of Season 2 and is currently traipsing through the countryside with a Lannister in tow. That is, of course, Brienne, the Maiden of Tarth.

Check out the Design It Video for
The Evenfall Hall Tarths

The huge Nordic-like woman who plays Brienne has gained quite a following since donning an awkwardly mobile suit of armor and has even spawned a fan made parody Rom-Com trailer.

The only thing this is missing is a Natalie Imbruglia or Cranberries song in it. But... still a better love story that Twilight. LOL

So, on with it.

It was hard to not do this design in the vein of rugby or football (what us Yanks call soccer) team logos. After all, the sigil for The Tarths is their crest with a sun and moon against offsetting colors. However, being that we are always treated to Gwendoline Christie tromping around in that suit of armor like she's going to fall over, I thought her helm would be a nice addition.

Building off the colors from the wiki page, I set that against a shield.   It doesn't have that traditional American professional sports feel. Let's face it, I can't draw, and there aren't a lot of pro teams with a shield or a knight as their logo unless you dig into the minor leagues or college ranks. New Orleans is the only one with a sort of crest and I already went to that well for the Tyrell's.

I hemmed and hawed over dropping the beaver (the part that covers the face, ya sickos) down over the name area and outlining it with a little white to break it up from the black background. I guess, in hindsight, using black on that area was a bad idea. The colors for the design needed to retain the crest and shield coloring, as seen on the wiki page and in the first scene of Brienne fighting for the chance to be Renly's guard. The armor color needed to make it in there somehow and overall, I think all the colors work together. The crossed swords were just an added way to cover up some canvas space.

The Evenfall Hall Tarths is available from my stores, now.

The Evenfall Hall Tarths

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

Black American Apparel Unisex Tank from Skreened: $28.99

Heather Grey T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Dark Grey Pullover Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 5 Deflector Case from Redbubble: $37.20

iPad (Retina) Deflector Case from Redbubble: $63.90

You can check out all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble. The second addition will be up soon. Also, look out for a video walk through of each design, coming soon.

The Westeros League Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 05:00:00 +0000

OK! Here it is. Your chance to win the Westeros League Prize Pack is here.

Winner gets a shirt design of their choice, drink ware of their choice (mug, stein, or 4 shot glasses), a $20.00 gift card to Skreened, the complete set of Westeros League stickers, and Season One of "Game of Thrones" on Blu-Ray.

The giveaway runs from November 18th-26th, Midnight to 11:59PM.

Enter up to three times in the following manner:

Answer the question "Which team do you root for?" by leaving a comment below.
Answer the question "Which team do you root for?" on the Facebook image.
Tweet "I just entered to win the #WesterosLeague giveaway from @AngryMongo."

Once the giveaway is over, I will choose one entry, at random, from all. I will contact the winner and they will have 24 hours to respond.

The fine print:
Chances of winning are not increased with spamming. I will only take the first three valid entries (one from each method) from each entrant. The winner will be asked for their address, their choice of design for the shirt and drink ware. The mug or stein come with winner's choice of designs. The shot glasses can be four of the same design or four different from the 14 available. Please no P.O. Boxes. I will do my best to have the prizes to you prior to Christmas but I cannot guarantee delivery, especially internationally. Prizes with choice of designs will be shipped separately. Season One of Game of Thrones was bought from Amazon and is Blu-Ray. I do not know if it will be compatible with winner's system. I am neither affiliated with nor compensated by G.R.R. Martin, HBO, the makers of the series, Peter Dinklage, or anybody else in connection with the books, shows, or merchandise. The designs are simply fan inspired and are not intended to be official merchandise. I am but a humble graphic designer with an Internet account, a paint program, and enough free times to poorly execute my own interpretation of a sports team set in the realm of ice and fire. No direwolves were harmed in the making of this giveaway. Although, one vagina wraith did get summoned, at the 11th hour, for some help in coming up with a design. I won't say which one, but if you can find it, you've wasted a lot of time. For those of you new to this, I tend to ramble in the fine print section just to see if people pay attention. There's usually just rambling for rambling's sake. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Official Winter Is Coming Giveaway Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 22:37:00 +0000

Here it is, the official announcement of the Winter Is Coming Giveway.

I have spent the last few months gearing up and now it is finally just a week away. All of the design posts are done.

I have almost all of the prizes ready to go… just need to box them up. Now, all I need is to organize the post for launching. I am actually thinking of creating a Facebook event post to sort of keep it all organized. Have to research that part.

In any case, here is what the winner shall get.

Your choice of team shirt from The Westeros League supplied by Zazzle.

Mug, Stein, or set of four shot glasses with team logo of your choice supplied by CafePress. (Shot glasses can be same or different teams)

Redbubble stickers showcasing all 14 teams.

Brand New Blu-Ray discs of Game of Thrones Season 1.

$20 Gift Card from Skreened.
Little other things in the box.

When is the giveaway?

Running through the week of Thanksgiving, November 18th - November 26th, midnight to midnight.

How do you enter?

When it's time for the giveaway, just comment on the Facebook post, the blog, or retweet a phrase for a chance at up to three entries into the giveaway. Then at the end of the week, I will pick one winner at random from all the entries. Hoping to ship out before the end of the month to get it delivered before the beginning of Winter. Now, if the winner is overseas, it might take longer.

So, stay tuned, winter is coming and so is this giveaway.

Achievement Unlocked: I Voted

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Whatever your party affiliation, your convictions, or opinions, we can all agree that it is our civic duty to get out and vote.

For us PA voters, there has been a huge deal made about Photo ID being required for voting. In fact, the stupid ads were still be played on the air even after the Supreme Court shot down the law requiring ID. So, in case you are still confused, I will say it one last time....

In Pennsylvania, you will be ASKED, but NOT REQUIRED to show Photo Identification at the polls, unless you are voting for the first time in a new polling place.

OK, so get out and vote. The lines will be long, but I'd rather complain about wasting an hour of my life instead of not being able to complain about the next four years.

Achievement Unlocked: I Voted

Get it at the following places:
Redbubble, Skreened, Cafepress, and Zazzle

The Westeros League Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been putting together a post for each team design. The first four teams got a fictional report of how their seasons were going. That become cumbersome and I scrapped it for a straight forward approach. So, beyond the Baratheons, Greyjoys, Starks, and Lannisters, it's more about what inspired me, the approach, obstacles, and talking points.

Included in each post is a larger version of the design and links to the stores and different products they adorn. For now, I only have them on Redbubble and Skreened. At Skreened, they are available as t-shirts or hoodies. Redbubble has a wider selection including shirts, hoodies, stickers, iPhone cases and soon to be iPad cases as well.

The giveaway will be coming shortly as I continue to gather up all the prizes for it. Stay tuned and enjoy.

The Westeros League: The Cape Wrath Seaworths

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

We’ve finally reached the end of the league. The last design is up and it’s one of my favorites just because of the hilarity of how it came up during the show.

Davos Seaworth has had a hard life. He’s down a couple digits and was witness to the biggest “WTF” of the series so far, the vagina wraith. Seriously, when I saw that I was like, “DAFUQ!?!?”

But Davos’ most hilarious tale was how he flies the flag of an onion on his ship. That alone made his inclusion into the league a definite. But… how do I bring an onion design to life in a league of animals, people, and flowers?

I tried to do this as a ship design, much like his sigil image from the Wiki of Ice and Fire entry.

However, the design of the ship overshadowed the onion, dwarfing it. Then, I went back and looked over the professional logos for some inspiration and it was obvious where I should go for the design, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I took the Bucs design and used it as a guide. I didn’t make it as tattered since the colors would blend and it be hard to see. Instead of the cutlass holding up the flag, I went with a bastard sword, much like the Rangers’ design had. For the text, I went with a less Tiki looking font and more of a pirate-y shredded one, maintaining a likeness to the Buccaneers’ logo. As for the Skull and Cross Bones from Tampa Bay’s flag, I ditched the idea of including my own with an onion in the place of a football. The onion here suffered the same fate as the original intention to use a ship for the design. Instead, I left the onion front and center in the middle of the flag. I did keep the black and grey coloring, even though I already had several ones using those colors.

In the end, I was extremely happy with the overall design and it still makes me giggle every time I see it. Then, I think, “vagina wraith” and I’m in a fetal position on the floor.

That concludes the designs in the Westeros League. I hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I enjoyed creating the designs. Stay tuned for a giveaway coming up in the near future.

The Cape Wrath Seaworth’s is available from my stores, now.

The Cape Wrath Seaworths

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

Smoke Anvil Unisex T-Shirt from Skreened: $26.99

Black T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Pullover Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case from Redbubble: $37.20

You can check out all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: Clegane's Keep Mountain Hounds

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 20:30:00 +0000

We only have two designs left to showcase and they were alternates.

I say alternate because they are sort of done with tongue in cheek. Most people will not get them unless they are familiar with the source material of the books and shows. In fact, the only reason I did one was because I had to do the other out of sheer joy of bringing an onion into the mix.

The first is a hybrid of sorts. Sandor and Gregor, the Clegane brothers feature prominently in the series. In fact, my first huge “WTF” moment, other than the incest, was Gregor decapitating his horse at the joust tourney. It was brutal because of how long it took. Now, as evil as a person he may be, I still hold a bit of a soft spot for Sandor, but he has his own demons as well.

For the design I wanted to go in a different direction because the obvious problem was calling the team “Clegane’s Keep Cleganes”. A friend stepped in and said that I did need to do this one and offered the idea of the Mountain Hounds as a sort of compromise. That made it all the more easy to realize the design in full.

I tried to keep the overall color scheme intact, though had to fudge a bit since the contrast of a dark focal point on a lighter background was muddying the design. The text part was easy as I had no real basis for inspiration. It did remind me of a racing team or a logo for a outdoorsy type store or brand, maybe even a beer.

The Clegane’s Keep Mountain Hands is available from my stores in the following:

The Clegane's Keep Mountain Hounds

Available on Redbubble and Skreened

American Apparel Lemon Unisex Fitted T-Shirt
from Skreened: $29.99

Light Yellow T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

White Hoodie from Redbubble: $43.20

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case from Redbubble: $37.20

You can check out all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: The Frostfangs White Walkers

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Rounding out the 12 main teams, I knew I had to include the White Walkers. Question was… where do they reside? I scoured over the Wiki of Ice and Fire and debated the idea, nearly scrapping it altogether. I was going with Always Winter but was swayed by a good friend to use Frostfangs.

This was the one design where I really broke convention like the Night’s Watch Raiders. I wanted to keep to a city and house name but having only seen the two seasons and not read any of the books, I was a bit lost in the Haunted Forest.

I finally settled on Frostfangs White Walkers. I’ll admit the name didn’t roll off the tongue but thought if I could pull it off, it would be well received. I’ll leave the judgment to you all.

In coming up with the design, I wanted to do something different with the colors. I already had a lot of silvers, grays, blacks, to go along with whites. I knew that white was going to be a central color but had to offset the color somehow. Grey was inevitable but what about another color. The Rangers’ crow had those red eyes. That was it… that frozen blue look in the eyes of the Others. That was third color. I tried to make it look like one of those arctic blue cough drops.

Next was the hard part… the actual look of the design. I did some searching and figured I needed something that looked like a soldier, pretty much a dead soldier, though. I figured something akin to a Civil War style look. It seems rather strange, but think of the leader of the Others as an old civil war soldier or mountain man. That led me to a college team in West Virginia, the Appalachian Mountaineers.

Its design was exactly where I was going in terms of ideas. It had that ghostly man with a beard set against a mountain. However, I knew that I needed to be more cracked and rigid with the lines as the leader of the Others had that very wrinkled and lined face. So, I redrew the design, using the Mountaineers as a basis, but made the face hatless, more angular, added in some lines to the beard, and then expanded the mountains more to adapt to a hatless, nearly bald head.

As I’ve found out over time, fonts for logos are rarely created, taking into account all the letters. In this case, no one font worked totally for all the letters in Frostfangs White Walkers, so I had to customize a few to capture the same feel as the Mountaineers logo. The easiest part, considering the rest of the design, was the side wall of the team name. In the Mountaineers logo, the "N" and "S" have breaks in the gray. I decided to go solid, unlike the "S" in Tullys because it just looked better.

When all was said and done I was proud of the work... it's still not 100% where I would have liked it, but I'm not going back and putting walkie talkies in over top of the guns.

And with that, here's The Frostfangs White Walkers.

The Frostfangs White Walkers

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

Navy Anvil Unisex T-Shirt from Skreened: $25.99

Grey T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Dark Blue Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case from Redbubble: $37.20

As always, you can check out the entire line of designs at my Redbubble and Skreened stores.

Footnote: Here's the original inspiration for the design. I've began putting this at the end because when I post it to Facebook, it tends to pull the first picture which is usually an actual sports team logo... ruining the effect of sharing the post.

The Westeros League: The Night's Watch Rangers

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Continuing the Westeros League design posts with the Night's Watch Rangers.

They are the last defense against the monsters beyond the Wall. Up at the end of the world, they are the sword in the darkness. Over two seasons they've trained and froze and waited for the chance to keep the things that go bump in the night away from the lands to the South. In season 2, we saw exactly what they are going to be up against as a horde of White Walkers came marching towards the gate.

OK, the Night's Watch had to be included. But deciding how to figure this one out took some time and head scratching. There isn't really a city associated with those at the Wall. I couldn't decide what to even call the team. Do I call them the Crows, because there isn't a family name associated. Eventually, I settled on Night's Watch Rangers but still didn't have a masoct, so I went with the crows as they are sometimes called.

The immediate inspiration was The Oakland Raiders due to the difference of only two letters. I based the overall design on the logo of the Raiders but substituted a bird for a Raider and used the Bastard Swords instead of the Cutlass. Since there is no real house for the Wall, I went with the Raiders colors, using a small amount of red for the eyes and tongue of the crow. The last addition was putting in the motto of "I am the sword in the darkness."

You can find the Night's Watch Rangers in my stores:

The Night's Watch Rangers

available from Skreened and Redbubble

Black Unisex Fitted Tee from Skreened: $29.99

Black T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Heather Grey Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case from Redbubble: $37.20

See all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: The Valyria Targaryens

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 01:45:00 +0000

As we continue looking at the desgins of the Westeros League, we get into the real fun ones. Up next, the Valyria Targaryens.

Watch My Design It video for
The Valyria Targaryens

This was an important team to bring to life. It is the fourth storyline that plays out across the first two seasons. While the Baratheons fight the Baratheons/Lannisters and the Night's Watch venture North of the Wall, the Targaryens and the Dothraki make their way to the Narrow Sea and get ready to attack King's Landing. Daenerys totes along her three dragon babies and encounters court assassins and the mysterious people of Qarth.

According to the wiki, the sigil for the Targaryens is a three headed dragon, representing the three dragons that were rode into battle by Aegon and his sisters. Their colors are black and red.

Now, I had a few options in the design to consider. The ancestal home of Valyria or Dragonstone could represent the city of the team, then again, they reigned in King's Landing for 300 years. In the end, I went with the ancestral home of Valyria. I went with a more Dungeons and Dragons type of font for the name while the city remained a basic serif based one. I neglected to add in the motto because I couldn't get the words to fit into the design very well. I may go back and add it in later, perhaps.

The actual mascot was very hard to realize. I needed to have three dragons, but joined at the neck. I didn't want to take on trying to draw the full body of the dragon and while looking through sports logos for inspiration I came across one that struck me as pretty cool. So, the finished dragon heads were drawn with the Denver Broncos logo in mind.

Using the logo as the basis, I drew up the dragon head, paying attention to the angles and lines. I also added the scales based on one of the old direwolf images. I've never drawn a drago, so I kept tweaking the face until I thought it felt right. I then copied the orginal and made two more behind it, rotating each to add depth and visibility of all three. Lastly, I added the logo and city. I kept the simplicity of the Broncos logo, feeling that less could be more in this case.

So, here it is, and you can find the Valyria Targaryens in my stores:

The Valyria Targaryens

Available on Redbubble and Skreened

Smoke Anvil Unisex Value Fitted T-Shirt from Skreened: $26.99

Black T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Black Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case from Redbubble: $37.20

See all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: Sunspear Martells

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 23:00:00 +0000

Another one of those smaller, not well seen houses in the show, the Martells of Sunspear have not really made an appearance in the first or second season. The biggest mention is when Tyrion sends Myrcella Baratheon to be wed to Prince Doran.

However, their sigil looks like it’s already a team logo, so I included them to; A: Take advantage of that fact and B: get my design count up to an even number.

Watch my Design It Video for
The Sunspear Martells
(Now with glaring spelling mistakes!)

From first glance of the logo over at the House Martell page on the Wiki of Ice and Fire, I thought, “Phoenix Suns”. So, I ran with it.

Phoenix Suns Logo (circa 2000)

Of course, the sun is different and there is no basketball involved, but I wanted to use the Phoenix logo as the foundation. I did use the Phoenix logo as a basis for the shape and the coloration style. The somewhat clip art style shading and depth perception was also mimicked in the way the light fell on both the sun and the spear.

The font choice was inspired by the SUNS logo but like the Tullys’ design, I needed to sort of fudge the letters I didn’t have a guide for.

I found it hard to justify putting purple into the design as the Martell’s colors are orange and red. I used a sort of brown in place of the grey background and only used a complimentary bluish or purple hue for the shirt or iphone selections.

A side note about the designs, the backgrounds on some products are not selectable. I do offer each of these in cases for phones, but the backgrounds are customized by me, with my best opinion on color selection. For the iphone, and soon to be iPad cases, I gave the backgrounds a stainless steel appearance with a color choice dependent on the design. Unfortunately, you cannot pick and choose your own background. These are only available through Redbubble at this time. If a time comes when they offer a choice of colors, I will make the designs available with a transparent stainless steel finish, allowing the background color to bleed through.

You can check out my stores to see the Sunspear Martells gear:

The Sunspear Martells

Available on Redbubble and Skreened

Orange Anvil Unisex Value Fitted T-shirt from Skreened: $26.99

Blue T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Dark Blue Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 3GS Capsule from Redbubble: $42.54

See all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: The Highgarden Tyrells

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Kicking off the second half of the Westeros League, I went with the Tyrells of Highgarden.

I wasn’t going to include them, but sort of had to. After all, Margaery plays a big role in season 2 of the show, as does her brother Loras. The Tyrells are feisty, yet regal. So, in that aspect, I guess they should be included in the league of designs.

Watch my Design It Video for
The Highgarden Tyrells

My biggest problem with bringing the Tyrells to life was how to adapt a rose sigil into a more anthropomorphic setting of mascots and logos. There are not a lot of flowers that function as a logo or label for sports teams. That led me to the only team that I could find that was based off of a flower, The New Orlean Saints.

The Fleur de Lis design on the Saints logo only served as inspiration from the standpoint of placement of a Golden Rose. The shield became more central to the logo. The lettering, I thought needed to be somewhat regal and ancient. I leaned towards Celtic or Scottish lettering styles for both the team name and motto. The colors followed the described ones from the wiki page I looked at.

You can check out my stores to see the Highgarden Tyrells gear:

The Highgarden Tyrells

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

Anvil Unisex Heavyweight T-Shirt from Skreened: $24.99

Heather Grey Girly Fit T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case
from Redbubble: $37.20

See all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: Riverrun Tullys

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Chugging right along in the Westeros League designs. Next up... The Tullys of Riverrun.

Watch my Design It Video for

The Riverrun Tullys

For this one, I also wanted to stay away from well known professional teams. The easy way out would be to look at the old Miami Marlins logo from when they were still called The Florida Marlins. I did look to them for inspiration but didn’t feel like it would work as a design style. I wanted to go more minor league with this idea. So… I started doing searches on minor league logos with fish or nautical mascots when I came across the Columbus Catfish.

I liked how the fish called curled around the name. I also liked how the team name was shaded and at an angle. I found a fish picture and then redrew it facing the opposite direction, adding an angry eye to it. Eyes are hard to do. I’ve had a few designs that were crippled by the idea of having angry eyes attached to them. Case in point, the Iron Island GreyJoys. That Kraken was Cray with those eyes in the early stages.

After I finished up playing with the fish, I got started on the name. That became another nightmare. Here’s a little tip for you folks looking to do pop culture sport logos. More often than not, the font style for a team name is custom. Someone might come along and develop a font based on it, but for the most part, the customization is meant to encompass only the characters in the logo. The rest of the alphabet isn’t usually a consideration. So, when I looked at how the 3D visualization of the word “Catfish” had all solid bottom lettering, with very few gaps, I didn’t take into account that I had a “Y” in Tullys to deal with from a spatial perspective. As it is, the fin of the catfish covers the bottoms of the “F” and “I” reconcile this problem. I didn’t want to cover the “LY” in Tully because it’s not like we are familiar with a Tully like we are a catfish. You can lose whole letters in catfish and know what the word is supposed to be just by association. Also, the side of the S was hard because there is a break between the top half and the bottom. I made several attempts at either splitting them or combining them. That’s another thing I find hard. It takes a real good eye to make three dimensional designs on a two dimensional plane. I’m just getting the hang of it and still find it extremely difficult.

Now there are fonts like Chisel, Stowe Open Face , or Wednesday Matinee Shadow that sort of give you the triangular shaped letters with shading on one side, but again, the letters in these types of designs are usually customized for just those letters. Catfish only shares two letters with Tullys, leaving me to figure out how to do a “Y“. For the colors, I kept the silver color for the trout and let the red and blue play out in the lettering. The blue was an easy match for the shadow of the lettering while the red became the sides of the letters which sort of matches the inspiring design of the Columbus Catfish. I didn’t bother with the points at the middles of the letters because of the “L” and “Y” in Tullys making it more like a hybrid of the Spartan and Wednesday Matinee Shadow font types. Probably the easiest part was the city and motto.

In all, I think it’s one of my better looking designs. I think it stands out as one of the best of all 14.

You can check out my stores to see the Riverrun Tullys gear:

The Riverrun Tullys

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

Unisex Baseball Shirt from Skreened: $30.99

Baseball Style 3/4 Sleeve Shirt from Redbubble: $27.54

Dark Blue Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case
from Redbubble: $37.20

See all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: The Eyrie Arryns

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Next up for the Westeros League is The Eyrie Arryns

Watch my Design It Video for

The Eyrie Arryns

The obvious comparison to a major league American team would be either The Philadelphia Eagles or the Atlanta Falcons. I did work off of a mix of the Eagles curvature with the MSU Spartans style of lettering. I redrew a falcon pic, I had found, which was rather small in comparison. Now, I know what you're thinking. "He done screwed up with this one. It's a blue falcon on a white moon" And... you could be right. However, I tried very hard to stick to the original colors from the House Arryn page on the Wiki of Ice and Fire. The white moon was just not working with the overall design.

Compare the test on the left and the finished on the right.

I needed the blue outline around the falcon and the signage didn't work with it intersecting, overwriting, etc. So, I opted to go back to the blue moon and deal with it. It was a late night and I was just too tired to go back and redo it.

Now, what do about the wording? Where does it go? I need to fit a moon and the falcon on the design as well as the name. I tried putting the "Arryns" above the falcon, but that didn't leave a lot of visible background for the full moon. So, I opted to place it below and have the falcon claw into the sign. Even with the blue moon, I'm still a little bit perturbed with the way the outline around the wings falls behind the sign while the talons fall in front of it. I had to duplicate the layer with the bird above and below the one with the sign so I could erase out the rest of the falcon that would be sitting behind the sign.

Overall, I'm about 75% happy with the finished product.

Check out my stores to see the Eyrie Arryns gear:

The Eyrie Arryns

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

Heather Grey T-Shirt from Skreened: $24.99

Heather GreyT-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Grey Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case from Redbubble: $37.20

See all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: The Bear Island Mormonts

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

OK… new format. Let’s roll.

Having only experienced the saga from the perspective of watching the show, I know there is a lot I’ve missed. I also know there is a lot that is different. Season Three will probably jump the rails considerably. However, I have tried to stay faithful to the books in terms of the designs of the various houses. Leaning heavily on A Wiki of Ice and Fire, I did some research to see how I could pull off the various themes and sigils as a sports themed logo.

Watch my Design It Video for
The Bear Island Mormonts

The Bear Island Mormonts was the first unfamiliar territory I broached. Those of us “book” virgins have only been exposed to two Mormont characters. Jorah, who is in service to Daenerys Targaryen and Jeor, his father, who serves as the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch at the Wall. That didn’t give me much to go on, so to the wiki I went.

Once, I was a little more educated, I thought about how to bring the design forth. It had to have a woodsy feel to it. Now, there are plenty of Bears teams out there. Of course, we all know The Chicago Bears but I didn’t see them as an influence. There’s the Boston Bruins… but that doesn’t really have a bear in its logo. So, I stayed away from mainstream sports. I needed this design to be fierce… almost three dimensional. I didn’t go really campy looking designs much yet. Even the Greyjoys was played seriously as you can with a Kraken for a mascot.

I looked around at bear logos and bear drawings and redrew from a design I saw that really captured the feeling of being attacked. I wanted a rounded logo but trees needed to be a part of it. They were throwing off the lines being triangular, like pine trees are. So, I sort of gave it a twisty look as if you are on the ground and the bear is on you. I also included, as always, the motto, “Here We Stand”.

From a logistical standpoint, it was better that I started out using the city name and the family name as the team instead of the animal. Otherwise, the Bear Island Mormonts would have been the Bear Island Bears. Yeah.. sometimes you have to plan ahead in these things or you will end up having to restart, jump the shark and change gears, or just continue going with what could end up as a bad design. Of course I ended up having to jump the shark a bit later on with my last two designs. I wanted to include them but thought it was going to be hard to justify the city/house name rule. But… I think it worked out fine.

Check out my stores to see the Bear Island Mormonts gear:

The Bear Island Mormonts

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

Heather Grey T-Shirt from Skreened: $24.99

Asphalt T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Grey Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case
from Redbubble: $37.20

See all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

Westeros League Post Format Change

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

When I originally envisioned doing these posts for the Westeros League designs, I had two paths before me. The first path was to try and craft a story, kind of like a sports log of each team through the first two seasons of the HBO show. The other path was to give a straight up detail of the design including inspiration and story behind what I was trying to achieve.

I opted for the more creative route and found myself struggling to adapt the storyline of the show to a Sports Center type of perspective. After all, when you have the Baratheons fighting against themselves and Starks fighting different battles at the same time, it’s hard to try and weave a plausible game/match format. To make matters worse, I intend to hold a giveaway once I finish the last post and that’s ten posts in the future I have to rack my brain over coming up with something creative.

Sorry, folks, I just don’t have the time....and I'm not that creative, I guess. /sadpanda

Instead, with the first four teams out of the way, I’m going to switch gears and go back to second path and just give straight up commentary on what the design means, what inspired me and what I drew on for the overall deliverable. That should make things go a little quicker. Besides, I haven’t read the books. I have no idea how the Mormonts figure in from a battle standpoint other than Jorah and his father Jeor are playing for different teams. It will get confusing. Doesn’t take much with me.

So, next up will be the Mormonts and then we will just keep trucking along through all 14 designs.

If you want to skip ahead and check out any of the designs, they are hosted on my Skreened and Redbubble stores.

The Westeros League: The Winterfell Starks

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

City : Winterfell
Colors: Grey and White
Mascot : Direwolf
Motto: “Winter is Coming”

Watch my Design It Video for
The Winterfell Starks

The Winterfell Starks symbolize strength. They symbolize legacy. The team has a long history of being there in the clutch. The last two seasons have been a sort of an up and down battle for them. Last year’s team captain, Ned “Eddard” Stark met a gruesome end with a career ending head injury at the hands of the Lannisters or was it the Baratheons. It’s hard to tell. The initial injury came from the Lannisters but the final blow was dealt by Joffrey’s offense.

This season, new captain, Robb has gone on a winning streak with his offense comprised of banner men. Even though he was dealt a loss by the Lannisters, he managed to take out the King Slayer, Jaime. But there is trouble a brewing between him and the Tully’s due to his off the field activities.

Seeing an opening, Theon and the Greyjoys struck at Winterfell, taking control of the lead for a brief moment. However he made a key error in making bold claims about taking Brann and Rickon down on the field.

The Winterfell Starks

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

White T-Shirt from Skreened: $21.99

T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case
from Redbubble: $37.20

See all of the Westeros League designs at Skreened and Redbubble.

The Westeros League: The Casterly Rock Lannisters

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:00:00 +0000

City : Casterly Rock
Colors: Gold and Crimson
Mascot : Golden Lion
Motto: “Hear Me Roar”

Watch my Design It Video for

The Casterly Rock Lannisters

During their first two seasons, the Casterly Rock Lannisters made some impressive offensive plays. They sidelined one of the Starks, Bran, effectively ending his season and perhaps his career with a spinal injury. At the end of the first season, Cersei, pulled a trick play and thwarted the Starks attempts at taking the lead, leading to Starks' captain, Eddard, to be taken out. Asked about the controversial play, Cersei said, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."

It was supposed that Tyrion, the smallest member of the team, caused the injury and the Starks took him before the league's review board, looking for punishment. It didn't go well and Tyrion returned to play, effectively leading his own crew to victory against the Starks at Green Fork. Even though the Lannisters seemed to win, it was a draw as Jaime, The King Slayer, was taken down by the Starks at Whispering Wood.

At the end of the second season, The Baratheons offense was poised to march right into King's Landing, but Tyrion's defense, using the old Wildfire package, managed to beat back most of Stannis' offense. However, in the end, Team Captain, Tywin comes up with the assist for Tyrion. Somehow, Tyrion was not credited any points and lost his starting position on the roster after the defense almost fell apart at the hands of Stannis.

The Casterly Rock Lannisters

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

Ringer T-Shirt from Skreened: $27.99

T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Hoodie from Redbubble: $43.20

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case
from Redbubble: $37.20

See the rest of the Westeros League at Skreened or Redbubble.

The Westeros League: The Iron Island Greyjoys

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:06:00 +0000

City : Iron Islands
Colors: Black and Gold
Mascot : Kraken
Motto: “We Do Not Sow”
After two seasons of play, the Greyjoys continue to make the same errors in strategy. They play possum all season, then make a playoff run, only to be defeated.

In their first season, they kept a low profile and didn’t make too many waves. During season two, they reacquired utility player Theon. This little hothead came from the Winterfell Starks and quickly turned on his former team in a show of force in Stark territory.

Now, trying to lead an offense consisting of some rag tag players, Theon is making an end run around the Starks, led by team captain Rob. The Starks are in it to win it, and Theon, knowing their strategy thinks he has a shot at proving his worth to his team and the league by overthrowing the Starks run for the championship.

In a late offensive push, Theon makes a rousing game speech to his team but it falls short and he gets taken out of the game by his own teammates. The replay tells a somewhat different story, but in any case, Theon loses his hold on the Starks lead and ends up sidelined at present.

The Iron Island Greyjoys

Available from Skreened and Redbubble

T-Shirt from Skreened: $26.99

T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case
from Redbubble: $37.20

The Westeros League: The Storm’s End Baratheons

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 21:04:00 +0000

City : Storm’s End / King’s Landing
Colors: Black and Gold
Mascot : Crowned Stag
Motto: “Ours is the fury”

Watch my Design It Video for
The Storm's End Baratheons

After two seasons of play, the Baratheons still hold the title, albeit in name only.

In their first season, team captain Joffrey was thought to be a career Baratheon but it came out that he is probably going to be on the Lannisters due to free agency and some personal conduct violations. This led to a controversy that has been raising questions over his capabilities and qualifications to lead his team.

During his reign, he’s proven he’s young and dangerous when he gets riled up and has been known to be quick to overreact.

However during his career with the Baratheons, Joffrey survived a couple of tough opponents some from within his own ranks. The visiting Winterfell Starks made a late run and Joffrey permanently ended the playing career of former team captain, Ned “Eddard” Stark.

This season, backup Stannis made it clear he deserved to be in charge and even took out his own competition, Renly for the starting position. His public attacks against Joffrey’s stats led to a fiery match up as Stannis tried to prove he was the man for the job. In the end the Lannisters marched in and dismantled his offense rather effectively, leaving Joffrey with the starting job.

The Storm's End Baratheons
Available from Skreened and Redbubble

T-shirt from Skreened: $25.99

T-Shirt from Redbubble: $24.54

Hoodie from Redbubble: $47.40

Sticker from Redbubble: $2.40

iPhone 4S/4 Deflector Case: $37.20

Upcoming Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 16:26:00 +0000

Howdy all.

It's been awhile since I threw something up on the blog...

wow... that just sounded horrible...

Yeaaah, anyyywaaay, just wanted to let you know that I'm putting together 15 super posts devoted around a new line I finished up a few weeks ago. The Westeros League has 14 teams based on houses from the popular series, A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin.   For those of you who have HBO, it's the Game of Thrones show.

I approached each design like a professional sports team in the United States. I didn't want to limit them to a specific sport so that everyone could enjoy them. Each desin will detail an individual team/house using the name of the city or location of the house and the house name. The sigil makes up the mascot portion.  14 teams make up the league, so expect 14 posts with a 15th devoted to linking to all of the designs.

For now, each design will only be available on apparel from my Skreened shop and apparel, stickers, and cases (iPhone) through my Redbubble store. But that will give you plenty of options if you'd like to pick on up for yourself or a GoT fan in your family. Remember, Winter is Coming.

After all 15 posts go up, I will be doing a giveaway to sort of bridge the Halloween and Christmas break. I know I usually do a Halloween giveaway but I think given the amount of work put into this set, I should focus on promoting the hell out of it.   Fear not, the giveaway, will be rather epic.   At least, I think it will.

Coming at ya, beginning this week.

Help Support Captain Feline on Kickstarter

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:09:00 +0000

OK.Reaching out to anyone who’ll listen on this.

Indie shirt companies are what’s going right with the world. It’s not a big corporation sucking the life out of its employees and not rewarding their hard work. It’s not a huge conspiracy to mask some political gain. The pureness of the indie brands is that it’s a person or a handful of people committed to something they love to do, regardless of failure or success. They care about their work and they care about their fans and customers. They also care about their peers.

A few years back I was a struggling entrepreneur and blogger. Let’s face it, I still am. I started putting some designs up on some Print On Demand sites just to see if they’d sell. They did… a little.    Then, the community of shirt designers stepped in and noticed. And, we’re not talking a friend of a friend of a brother’s former roommate. We’re talking folks from Spain, England, and Australia.    I started seeing some tweets and shares, of my stuff, around the net. Their kindness and welcoming attitude paid off in brand awareness. Soon, I was getting mentioned in Podcasts and on their sites.    Eventually, I was being asked to participate in giveaways.    I felt like part of something great.    That’s what being a part of the shirt design community is. It’s being a part of something great and exciting and stimulating. Nothing smells so sweet as the blood, sweat, and tears on your hard work. Looking at that finished project and just sort of smirking, as if to say, “FUCK YEAH!” Pardon the expression, but “FUCK YEAH!”

So, because that community was so inviting and supportive to me, I pledged to help a Kickstarter project for one of those businesses that I’ve benefitted from over the years. I am paying back a fraction of the rewards I’ve reaped from being part of their world. And I’m not even part of their world, really.    These folks do so much more than my lazy, cheap ass, hack of a shirt designer.     There is some pure talent and creativity in this work and I am giggling at the work because it is pretty awesome.

Take a look at their work over at Captain Feline.

Here’s the gist. Amanda and Dave of GritFx shirts have taken the leap of launching a full indie brand line of shirts. It mixes iconic characters or scenes from pop culture with cats. Imagine the following visages as anthropomorphic cats; Frank N. Furter, The MIBs, Gandalf, Ripley and Newt, The Usual Suspects, The Bride from Kill Bill, and even Easy Rider…. CATS ON MOTORCYCLES.

They are in the hopes of raising the funds needed to launch, maintain, and improve the brand through Kickstarter, and you even get some awesome swag if you pledge.I’m getting a shirt, some postcards, and some comfort in knowing I helped make this awesome idea a reality.

Better hurry, their deadline is around the last week of August, so GET TO DA KICKSTARTA! GO NOWWWW!

The Non Runner Sticker

noreply@blogger.com (Mongo) — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:36:00 +0000

I featured this as a prize in the Spring Giveaway and it has become one my top sellers in terms of sheer volume. The downside is I make about $.50 off of each sale.

What the hell is it?

OK, here is the back story…

I spend a lot of time in traffic gazing at stickers, magnets, and decals on other cars. A lot of them are stickers that read "26.2" and "13.1". At first, I had no idea what that meant. Eventually, logic sort of crashed through my thick cranium and I realized these were people who ran marathons and half marathons... or at least they claim to run them.

To that end, I thought, "Let's be honest. There are tons of lazy people, like me, who wouldn't run unless there was a zombie horde chasing us. What about boasting our achievement?" So, I came up with the Non Runner sticker.

Much like its more athletic cousins, it's an oval sticker that sports the distance accomplished, which in this case is 0.0 and reads, "I don't run" underneath.

You can get your testament to taking it easy at Redbubble for $2.40 each.

Clear or White vinyl stickers available at Cafepress for $5.99 each

or a four pack for your lack of six pack can be bought at Zazzle for $5.60 each sheet.

Storm’s End Baratheons	Iron Island Greyjoys	Casterly Rock Lannisters

Bear Island Mormonts	Eyrie Arryns	Winterfell Starks

Sunspear Martells	Riverrun Tullys	Valyria Targaryens

Night’s Watch Rangers	Frostfangs White Walkers	Highgarden Tyrells

Clegane’s Keep Mountain Hounds		Cape Wrath Seaworths