Akumu Ink :: The Blog

Shirt Closeups

2009-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

I'm always trying to update the look of our shop to give you a better idea of the product you're purchasing. Sometimes we post items on different shirt colors without showing a preview cuz no one has ordered it yet or someone did order it but I didn't get time to take a photo because it had to be shipped out imidiately. Well here is one older shirt "When A Cat Smiles" and one newer shirt "Death's Embrace" vneck with some updated shirt closeups for your viewing pleasure :)

Christmas Shipping Dates

2009-11-10T06:23:00.000-08:00

Thinking about getting something from Akumuink.com for Christmas? Here's an approximation of your ordering deadlines for things to be sent in the post. Don't forget to give us at least 2-3 days to print your order before we can ship it out to you.

Cancer Bats wearing The Storm

2009-11-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Great way to start the day today. The boys from Meet the Storm just did a show the other night with Canadian punk rock band Cancer Bats. I don't know how it went down but the boys gave singer Liam our The Storm tshirt and he wore it on stage that night during his performance. Thanks Cancer Bats and thanks Meet the Storm!

Steampunk Museum

2009-11-08T20:04:00.000-08:00

Check out this video about the Oxford Steampunk Art Exibition, from October 13 2009 to February 21 2010 at the Museum of the History of Science, UK.

Great Japanese Movie

2009-11-07T13:22:00.000-08:00

Looking for a photo of 'Friend' from the movie '20th Century Boys' I landed on a new blog that answered all my questions. It's like a renting asian movies for dummies guide. The layout is great showing the movie cover, then an English synopsis, a rating of the movie, and finally a trailer of the movie. Simple and clear. Here's the link to the blog.

So now let me tell you about this great movie I watched because of that blog. It's called 'Love Exposure' and it's a 4 hour story that deals with sexuality and cult religion. What I love about Japanese movies is their lack of censorship to how the director wants to express his vision. There's some messed up scenes, but this is nowhere near a horror movie. I honestly have no idea what genre this would be in but it was great. Took me like 3 days to watch it but it was like watching a really good short tv series. I recommend it if you're looking for something different with a great story line.

Fall

2009-11-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

The leaves looked just like this last week before Halloween. Now they've all fallen to the ground leaving the trees bare. This is the downside to living in Canada. Every year I'm in denial that it's going to snow again. And we're not talking an inch of snow, we're talking about 3-5 feet of snow! But let's enjoy what we have while we have it, beautiful fiery coloured leaves. I wish I could hibernate like a bear, go to sleep and come back out in the spring when it's all over. Anyways here's some pics of my neighbourhood while I was walking my dog Tiny (I prefer calling him Mr.Tatas).

Another Toy Picture

2009-11-04T09:03:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice closeup pic I took of the NEW paper toy.

"The Vampire" Paper Toy

2009-10-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that jumped on the packages.

Wanted to spend a little more time explaining the limited edition paper toy. As I've mentioned again and again, this toy is ONLY for returning customers to akumuink.com just a little something to say thanks to all those who are following our blog and/or facebook. We are creating this brand for you so obviously you deserve perks that not everyone else can have ;) Just a little thank you to those of you who have been so devoted to us.

So to explain a little more about "The Vampire" paper toy. I was inspired when watching 'Blood: The Last Vampire' which was a pretty crap movie but got me totally in the zone to create this Japanese, Edward Gorey styled Vampire character. I was working on him at the same time as "The Ripper" design and really felt when working on these two that this was a style I wanted to pursue and explore further. I'm really looking forward to where we're going to go in the next few months with Akumu Ink in bringing new designs and characters to you. Happy Halloween!

The Packages

2009-10-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

So here is the thing we've been working on. The Packages will allow you to save more than 10% when buying 3 items at once. Also as mentioned in our FAQ:
Our first 50 Return Buyers* buying our NEW packages will get a free limited edition "The Vampire" paper toy (limited to 50). There will be NO reprints or exceptions for this toy. Get yours before they run out!

*Return Buyer to www.akumuink.com, not from conventions. To be a Return Buyer* buy any item from www.akumuink.com and you will be able to get the paper toy with your purchase of any of our NEW packages.

Package 1: This package allows you to get any 3 of our tshirts including vnecks for less than 20$ per shirt!

Package 2: Is something we came up with where you save EVEN MORE money. The deal is you get 2 great shirts of your choice, and let us pick the third one for you. We welcome suggestions within 12 hours of your purchase, can't promise that you'll get what you want but at least we'll have an idea. (I know this stuff isn't mentioned on the site but that's the beauty of following out blog :P )

Package 3: Save approx 16$ or more (That's like free shipping to Canada and US, or half the shipping cost International) with this package. You get to choose 2 awesome tshirts (vnecks included) plus you get one of our mighty AI hoodies, AND a pinpack! What more could you need?!?

My Old Portfolio

2009-10-28T18:20:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share some stuff from my old portfolio (as I don't think I really need a portfolio anymore). Before getting totally into Akumu Ink I have been producing work as a 2D and 3D illustrator. For those who don't know, I draw all our designs by hand and none of these designs have been outsourced to anyone else.

Just wanted to show you some of my sketches and some of the children's books I've worked on from my portfolio. All the children's books shown here were done in 3D. You can probably find them at any big chain store that would sell this kind of stuff like Chapters, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Amazon, etc. Not all of my books are so if you do see any books that have cars with eyes done in 3D that resemble these, chances are I worked on it.

Let me know if you spot them :)

The Ripper Closeup

2009-10-27T06:11:00.001-07:00

I think this is one of my new favourite designs. Based on Jack the Ripper, a serial killer from 1888 in London who was known for murdering prostitutes. Yes there are fleures de lis in the pattern making it French and not British, I decided to take a artistic approach and just have fun more with the silhouette. The create something that looks really awesome from close as well as far away. I think even the choice of making this a GOLD print is like having the dim street lights just outlining this deviant murderer enough. Hope you like this new design :)

The Wolfman

2009-10-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually a big fan of monster movies but this one looks awesome. I really hope the movie itself will look and feel as good as the trailer does. Fingers are crossed.

New Items, New Pics

2009-10-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

Images of the NEW items we just added to the webstore:

New Paper Toy News

2009-10-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

So excited about the new shirt. Coming out Thursday! You're going to love it.

Also let me explain something to all of you who have bought something from us before. If you have bought something from akumuink.com we have a special treat coming for you. In less than 2 weeks we will be offering a new limited edition paper toy (limited to 50) that can only be purchased when buying a certain new product.

If you have not bought anything from our online store and would like to get the paper toy, hurry up and get something before the toy is launched. They will be going fast!

Slay the Kid

2009-10-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

Our boys from the Netherlands pulled through with this one! Meet the Storm's newest video for their song "Slay the Kid" features 3 of our tshirts: The Skeleton Key, Tokyo Massacre and Sip of Death can all be found throughout this video. It's a great performance video with an awesome party atmosphere. Good job guys and keep this sound coming!

Some New Videos

2009-10-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

Converge's new album is ridiculously brutal. One of the driving sounds inspiring my new designs. But the video is left to be desired. Would prefer more band performance shots. That never gets boring.

Second is Horse the Bands insanely awesome new video. New album is amazing. If you love Nintendo sounds and you like brutal music, here is where they combine to make perfect oneness.

As for as popular music goes I'm really liking this New Jay-Z song. The video has a great Mad Max feel to it. I would love if the director and costume designers of this video worked with Anne Rice to make a movie of one of novels. Cuz that last Lestat movie was garbage but would look good with this video's style.

Big Last Chance

2009-10-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed removing the Till You Die design so much that I'm going to do it again but for 5 prints. Within the next 2 weeks these designs will be gone forever. If it's in the RIP section right now that means it's your last chance they'll be gone on Halloween. So if you've been wondering if you should get any of those designs stop thinking about it and just do it!

Teaser

2009-10-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a teaser of our new design coming out next week. Hopefully it's enough to wet your pallet :P Yes it's a gold print, and this is one you're going to want to for sure have in your closet. If you guys like this design then I promise to deliver a lot more stuff soon. Anyways that's it for now, going to work on the new item for returning customers.

Little Update

2009-10-12T17:42:00.001-07:00

So we've tried to add a new design almost every month since we've started the Akumu Ink brand almost 2 years ago. We have kept a lot of the older stuff but also gotten rid of a lot of older items. I'm currently working on creating a better RIP section that will show a graveyard of all our past designs.

Also before the end of this month we're going to introduce a bunch of new designs as well as remove a bunch of older designs. And we're going to be making something special for a limited amount of return buyers in preparation for the holiday season.

That's it for now. Looking forward to much to come.

Till You Die Last Chance

2009-10-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

In less than a week this design will be gone! Yes by October 15th this design will be gone forever! Don't wait till the last minute, there will be no mercy so act now! It's your last chance to own the Till You Die design. One of the original designs we started the with.

The Akumu Ink Label

2009-10-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post our newest label and give you a little tour of its features. As you know we're always tweaking our products to improve on the quality and packaging. I want to point out that on the back of the label you can find our website for those of you who forget it. Also of course we're proud to mention we are from Montreal above all, Canada's fashion capitol. And below that our washing instructions that include the "Wear it to death!" slogan which we found to be a cute little addition which you wouldn't find on standard manufactured shirt labels. Lastly we decided to keep the "American Apparel" labels beneath our own to show that we're not just using any cheap tshirt, we're clothing you with the best we can afford.

Bigger Pictures.

2009-10-08T14:20:00.001-07:00

What do you think about the big pictures? Does it improve or take away? Let me know if you like it or not so I can adjust it :) Thanks everyone.

Art Books

2009-10-08T08:25:00.001-07:00

I'm not big on buying things but I do love art books. I used to collect 3D art books when I started working as a 3D artist but recently I've been gathering inspiration from artists that worked with KidRobot and other popular artists from today's art scene. Here are two books I just picked up: on the left the CandyKiller Compendium on the right Tara McPherson's Lost Constellations. I like surrounding myself by art that inspires me to create more art.

I'm now looking to get a book by Takashi Murakami but he's got so many books out there at so many different price points it's hard to choose which one would be the best. If you have any books by him let me know ;)

Viva Las Vegas

2009-10-06T13:25:00.001-07:00

So we left Montreal where it had been schedualed to rain and be cold all weekend to arrive in sunny and warm Las Vegas. It was a total slap in the face (a good one). So here we are arriving at the convention center Friday morning ready for The Biggest Tattoo Show in the World.

Can you see the crowd next to our booth not looking at our booth? Do you see the guy with the sunglasses right under that bright light? Yeah, that's Sylvester Stallone doing an interview right by our booth. How awesome is that?

Here are some other photos we took on our way back to our hotel as well as of the show itself. See you next year Las Vegas.

Best Feedback Ever

2009-10-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Looking through our Etsy feedbacks I read this most amazing response "When this item arrived, a storm was brewing outside. I brought the package inside. I went to open it... Lightning crash. "This hoodie is made of greater stuff than mere men can think of," I said to myself. I pealed back the packing paper, and there the article of clothing rested. I wearily reached in for the hoodie... and the power went out. In an act of bravery or cowardice, I still haven't decided which, I slipped the hoodie along my body. My god, the power it held in its fibers was awesome. Strike that, I have no god but the one who fashioned this holy relic."

That is the best most exaggerated way to say thank you that I could ever expect to hear from anyone. Thank you so much for loving our items I came up with a really cool idea for this month's design. We're working hard to give you the brand you deserve ;) You can read the comment here.