Lead guitar does not like my tee shirt design.

[madbass6]

it Sounds like
A. a poor excuse to get a band member you're having issues with fired!
or
B. an extremely poor excuse for you to quit a band your sick off !

Either way pathetic !
Unless you're a J.R high school Band both your behaviors is totally unacceptable!
Grow up!

 

[njones89]

I think it's cool. I could see it on a charcoal grey or smoke grey with the forge itself in red or black.

I paint as well as play bass. My advice is to never be offended by anyone's opinion of your art. He may of thought the design was awesome and got jealous for whatever reason. He is a guitar player after all. I bet he got in his car and punched the steering wheel while calling your design sh*+.

Thanks man. I appreciate all the comments about my art, by the way... just don't want to spam with double posts. I agree that an artist should not be offended of anyone's opinion of his art. This is not exactly what I am offended by. I just feel like the guy doesn't respect me. I have been feeling that way for a while, and this just made it obvious. I am just tired of it and snapped because I am having a bad day. When I explained that, his response was "lol poor you" which reconfirmed my suspicions. He plays an 8 string anyway, if I quit, he can just play the low parts with all the leads...

 

[pcake]

neither my husband - a metalhead for years - nor myself buy or wear white tshirts. neither do my son and daughter (both over 35, not metalheads).

maybe the guitar player's opinion was based on something as simple as that, and he's got social skills issues.

btw, does your band play metal?

 

[njones89]

neither my husband - a metalhead for years - nor myself buy or wear white tshirts. neither do my son and daughter (both over 35, not metalheads).

maybe the guitar player's opinion was based on something as simple as that, and he's got social skills issues.

btw, does your band play metal?

I am not sure what he formulated his opinion on, but if it was that simple, it would have been great knowing at the point of departure, not now when it is effectively too late...

The genre is "alternative/progressive", you know, nonconformists who conform by selling and wearing all black apparel. We have played at metal shows and get comments like "less singing, more harsh vocals" and "yeah you guys do that thing that falls somewhere between rock and metal". I think LG wants it to be metal, but can't accept that it simply does not fall into any particular genre.

 

[Korladis]

I am not sure what he formulated his opinion on, but if it was that simple, it would have been great knowing at the point of departure, not now when it is effectively too late...

The genre is "alternative/progressive", you know, nonconformists who conform by selling and wearing all black apparel. We have played at metal shows and get comments like "less singing, more harsh vocals" and "yeah you guys do that thing that falls somewhere between rock and metal". I think LG wants it to be metal, but can't accept that it simply does not fall into any particular genre.

I still think the design would look cool on a grey shirt.

 

[njones89]

I still think the design would look cool on a grey shirt.

I think it would too. Red would look sweet as well. I made a joke of pink ones, too, for breast cancer awareness month. "All boobs matter." He wasn't a fan of that idea, even though it was a joke.

 

[Member8675309]

Thanks man. I appreciate all the comments about my art, by the way... just don't want to spam with double posts. I agree that an artist should not be offended of anyone's opinion of his art. This is not exactly what I am offended by. I just feel like the guy doesn't respect me. I have been feeling that way for a while, and this just made it obvious. I am just tired of it and snapped because I am having a bad day. When I explained that, his response was "lol poor you" which reconfirmed my suspicions. He plays an 8 string anyway, if I quit, he can just play the low parts with all the leads...

Well, definitely don't have a sit down and tell him your feelings. That doesn't work.

My advice is to make sure you hand out the bands promo tees personally. What you need to do is scribe a little message on the tag along the lines of "*%#+ You Todd" or whatever his name is. It's petty, but I have no qualms about it. Or, just ignore the drama. I started that whole zero fs diet, and it's pretty sweet.

 

[pcake]

I am not sure what he formulated his opinion on, but if it was that simple, it would have been great knowing at the point of departure, not now when it is effectively too late...

The genre is "alternative/progressive", you know, nonconformists who conform by selling and wearing all black apparel. We have played at metal shows and get comments like "less singing, more harsh vocals" and "yeah you guys do that thing that falls somewhere between rock and metal". I think LG wants it to be metal, but can't accept that it simply does not fall into any particular genre.

i'm confused. you say your non-conformists wear all black yet decided to make white tshirts. and since you say the audience wears all black, not sure why you think the guitar player wants to have black tshirts because he wants to be metal.

 

[Korladis]

i'm confused. you say your non-conformists wear all black yet decided to make white tshirts. and since you say the audience wears all black, not sure why you think the guitar player wants to have black tshirts because he wants to be metal.

Indeed.

I don't wear white shirts.

I have black shirts, blue shirts, grey shirts, green shirts, brown shirts (including tan), but I can't see myself ever buying a white shirt.

 

[LowActionHero]

I mean, to be fair, I wouldn't buy a white t-shirt. Even though that's a really cool design.

I have to agree - I do like the looks of white shirts, but I can never keep them clean, they are accident magnets for me, to the point that I very rarely buy one.

Nice to have another option besides black.

Second the cool design!

 

[njones89]

i'm confused. you say your non-conformists wear all black yet decided to make white tshirts. and since you say the audience wears all black, not sure why you think the guitar player wants to have black tshirts because he wants to be metal.

Sorry, I was being somewhat sarcastic in that post. We play different kinds of shows, which also include metal shows. The audience can be various crowds, but sometimes they are the all black wearing crowd. We do not get much support from local metal fans because our music simply isn't that heavy (but does have heavy parts and some screaming). Our best positive response was at a random bar show. I think white, or any other color would probably sell better, as long as the logo and text stays black, anything should work. Having to modify the design, like inversion to white, would take more effort on my part to make it look good... but as I have stated previously, I would have been more than happy to oblige if I was approached politely and in a timely manner.

The reason I was sarcastic is because the guitarist is one of those people that thinks we have to all wear black clothes, and the apparel has to be black (or dark) to be taken seriously as a band. I firmly disagree with that notion, and I think it takes away from the originality that makes us stand out. I just don't understand the reasoning behind that, and we can't really talk about stuff like that... he isn't a super approachable guy and tends to be very opinionated and outspoken on everything that is relevant to the band (at least).

 

[interp]

Forgive me for being blunt, but the key to happiness is to never concern yourself with anyone else's opinion of you or your work. You like it, no one objected, end of story.

If the design is rejected, so be it. Move on and don’t do this sort of work any more if your own self esteem is so closely tied to others' opinion of what you do.

 

[danbones]

hi there. my response is as a gigging bassist and as a professional illustrator.

first off, communication is essential. respond to your band leader, talk to your guitar player. think about what you want and voice it honestly. don't hold any of this in to yourself, its immature and unprofessional.

second, you're in the world of commercial artwork now! its exciting, its very rewarding, ITS ALL REVISIONS. keep drawing, keep designing, get ready to have your guitar player be the easiest client you'll ever deal with. unless you have a killer design portfolio to begin with, your bandmates are only ever gonna give you "thats cool" when you ask for opinions. they'll make changes once you show them something. its always frustrating, but moving forward, take five minutes to go be alone and kick something a swear a ton, and then come back and recognize that they're probably right.

third, BBQ season is over. no one is buying a white shirt until may, metal or not.

finally, who is fronting the money for these shirts? if its band funds, then you're stuck in hell listening to everyone's backseat art direction. if its you fronting the cost and repaying yourself from shirt sales, DO WHATEVER THE shag YOU WANT. initiative supercedes creative control. get it done, recoup, print them in black on the next run. be the band member getting goals accomplished and tell everyone else to get on your level.

print the shirt you think looks the sickest. you got this.

 

[MojoPenguin]

I'd be down for that, but I have already been criticized for wearing a yellow shirt onstage.

Isn't Rock about expressing yourself. I mean everybody loved that guy even in yellow

 

[el murdoque]

If I quit a band anytime I've put a couple of hours (or a fair amount of money) in and had the feeling that one of the members did not appreciate it enough, I would have ran out of bands to join a decade back.

 

[guy n. cognito]

Honestly, it sounds like both of you overreacted, and both are holding firm on untenable positions. White metal shirts?

 

[dxb]

If you intend on selling them, I think the band t-shirts should ultimately be designed in whatever way makes people want to buy them the most. I agree that black shirts are cliche and boring but if that's what sells, then that's probably what you should do.

I personally dislike black shirts with white printing, but black with gray can be very subtle and cool, or even black with blood red if you really want to go for a grim metal look. I would also look at olive drab or dark gray shirts as well.

I like white t-shirts in general but agree with others that they likely won't appeal to metal fans. An exception might be if you were doing a white shirt with a full-color graphic like an album cover, similar to those old Metallica and Iron Maiden shirts you often see people wearing

 

[Klonk]

Cool design.

 

[mellowinman]

I need a place to vent this so I can carry on with work... but I am curious how another bassist might handle this...

I took up the role of arteest with my band, and I designed a logo. The band recently agreed to invest in some tee shirts because we have a decent gig coming up - opening for a big act. So I de-facto ended up with the responsibility of designing the tee. I put in several hours of work on this thing. Multiple times while designing both the logo and the tee design, I asked everybody's input. All I got was a "yeah, cool" or a "that looks really awesome". Of course, I didn't get any input from the lead guitar.

Today our drummer started getting quotes. The shop showed us a mockup of black ink on white shirts (the way I originally designed it) and black ink (with white outlines) on a black shirt. It is obvious to me from a design standpoint which design to go with. But since black iz da best coller fer metal, the lead guitar said the black on white design "blows" and he hopes it will sell. I got pretty mad, because he waited until the very last minute to give this input, and at last practice, he said it "yeah, it is good." It's not like I can go back and edit the design without putting in a few more hours of work. So I sent a pretty nasty reply, also mentioning that I am having a bad day and I don't need this right now. He said "lol poor you". So I left the group conversation.

I feel like that guy doesn't respect me, he seemingly ignores me a lot (this seems to be proof of that), and he is already difficult to work with because he is opinionated and outspoken on many topics. I sent a couple messages to the singer/bandleader, and he called me, but I don't feel like talking, and I have work to finish anyway. I am considering quitting because I feel like my contributions are not really valued or appreciated. It may just be that I am having a bad day, or this might be the last straw for me. What do you take of this situation?

Stop being so sensitive. You're not going to sell white t-shirts.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I'm in agreement that the white shirt idea won't be the most profitable. Lots of people won't wear white shirts. Most people who do wear band T-shirts want to wear black band T-shirts. Just think about how many people you see walking around with white band T-shirts. Is it cuz nobdoy sells them? Or cuz nobody wants them? Or cuz nobody sells them cuz nobody wants them ?

I missed what the problem would be making it white on black? I think that would look awesome with your design. Even better than the black on white. I think too if possible, you should post a pic of that here.

If not that, I think the grey is a great compromise.

He said "lol poor you". So I left the group conversation.

This is what got me more than anything else. That says a lot about the guys attitude and your relationship. I'd suggest having a talk with him regarding that. I've been surprised more than once when I confronted people nicely on the way they talked to me. I have a really good friend right now (one of my best) who used to fool around a lot with sarcasm and just trying to be funny when I didn't think it was funny. I told him, he apologized, and he never did it again. He might be the rare bird with that, but he taught me that it's possible.

I'll add that my solution to all this stuff is to always have other bands happening. Bands aren't marriages. If someone wants to be successful on any level I always think it's best to be in as many bands as possible. It makes it much easier to roll with the BS, opens lots more doors in many different ways, it's a great way to learn and expand... I could list endless reasons why it's a good idea to find other bands but I gotta run....

Good luck!

And I'd love to see what white on black looks like. And not the thin outline thing - I agree that would destroy your design, which I think is great, btw.