Illustrator Madi Dips Her Toes in T-shirt Design

June 29, 2011

Categories: Featured Designer

Now on The Tee Gazette, not only do we keep tabs on the big stores, and brands in the t-shirt world. But we also like to give kudos and exposure to the smaller artists and those people who are just starting out in the t-shirt world. Today we are shining the light upon illustrator Madi, who is beginning on her journey to turn her illustrations to t-shirt via Society6 and All Tropical.

My name is Madi and I’m a 23 year old illustrator. I’ve been creative for as long as I remember. When I was little, I’d spend hours drawing, and would often write and illustrate stories, and then make them into little handmade books all sewn together with wool. I studied fine art at school, but during my Foundation Course, I realised that my style was more suited to illustration, and I enjoyed it much more. I studied for a degree in Illustration and graduated a few years ago.

For the past few years, I have been trying to be a successful freelance illustator. Recently, I have been branching out a little, and have started selling some of my illustrations printed on products such as tea towels and pocket mirrors, and I have thought for a while that some of my illustrations would work well as tee designs. I never really got very far with the idea though, as I didn’t really have the money to get any printed. However, a while ago I found out about All Tropical, which is a weekly t-shirt design competition. The winning design each week gets their design screen printed on tees which are then sold in the All Tropical shop, and also on Asos. I thought this sounded like an amazing opportunity, and so I entered a design called ‘Flamingo Love’ which won, and will be printed soon. I also have a new design called ‘Super Squirrel’ which is currently being voted on. I have also opened a shop on Society6 which is ace because it allows my illustrations to be printed onto a number of different coloured t-shirts, so I now have a range of t-shirt designs available. Although I would describe myself predominantly an illustrator, I love having the chance to develop my work into t-shirt designs, and have learnt a lot about what buyers like just by seeing which of my designs are most popular. I love the idea of people walking around wearing my art – it’s an incredible feeling.

Flamingo Love T-shirt - Available soon from All Tropical