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As the title of this post suggests; reMIND T-shirts are almost ready. I’ve been fighting the designs for nearly 2 weeks but I finally found something I wouldn’t mind wearing to the store. My problem with most comic related t-shirt designs are they either look too cheap or too geeky. Not that there’s anything wrong with a geeky t-shirt of your favorite geeky character geeking out. I just always told myself that if I ever made a t-shirt, I’d make one that not only represented the art and characters but also I wanted it kinda hip. When that bright idea first crossed my mind I wasn’t thinking of how hard it would be for me. I never considered myself a designer even though I’ve worked at a great many motion design studios. But anyway, I suppose I should let the work speak for itself instead of forcing your to believe that I did a good job.
Here’s what I came up with.
I know what you’re thinking. It took you that long to just use the same drawing as the cover? Yes it did. I am ashamed of myself too. Here is a Photoshopped stud wearing it. (It’s not me) The colors are slightly off from the image above but it will be somewhere between the two when it’s the real deal. I’ll also have written on the back “reMINDblog.com” or something. Don’t worry, it will be small.
T-Shirt Pre-Orders start now!
Since reMIND is a fairly new thing and anyone buying a shirt (at this stage) is a real TRUE FAN, I want to give anyone who orders a TRUE FAN deal, but here’s the catch.
For 10 dollars, I’ll send you a shirt with free shipping along with some fliers to stick up in colleges, comic stores or work bulletin boards(whichever you frequent most). I might throw in some more stuff if I can get it together in time. I’ll call this bundle, the GORILLA PACK!
Why the Gorilla Pack, you ask? Simple. I was trying to figure out which colleges and comic stores I should do gorilla marketing at on the weekends but I had no idea where to start. The weekends are the only real time I spend with my 18 month old son so it became increasingly hard for me to wrap my mind around it. Not to mention, I still need to finish pages to keep the blog going and this consumes most my free time as is without road trips. I’ve never been to the colleges around here either so knowing where to quickly post up fliers would be a challenge and a lucky guess.
I realized, if I could just get fliers to people who like reMIND, they might hang them up where they normally visit. Not only could I get fliers in places that I could never go, they would also be placed in the right spots. If you know a comic store owner then the chances of making an impression on them would be much greater than me rolling in off the street trying to peddle my product. If you go to college, not only are you helping me by wearing my shirt but you know the exact hot spots to hang a flier. As far as work bulletin boards, you know I’d never be able to even get close.
I think it’s a good deal. I mean, most webcomics charge $15 or more for shirts plus shipping and handling right? You could always throw away the fliers and get a cheap T-shirt. But in the end it’s still free advertising for reMIND and I need as much help at this early stage as I can get. Everyone knows word of mouth advertising is the best.
So here’s the Pre-order button. (US)$10 a piece. I can only send to North America for this deal. They should be ready to print in a few weeks so order quick before I realize how much it’s going to cost me to send these. Oh yeah, and if you really want to give me more money for a shirt, feel free to donate more. I’ll keep you updated on the ship date.
[EDIT] Pre-orders have closed (no more Gorilla Packs)
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Hi there! I'm trying to pre-order your shirt, but the Paypal button just sends me to my account, I'm not seeing the details of this particular transaction-anyone else having this issue?
Rafael, Thanks for the heads up. It looks like you are right. It just sends me to my account too. I'll try to fix it as soon as I can. Thanks again.
FIXED!
I think anyway.
I changed the "Buy Now button" to "Add to Cart" and it worked for me so test it out and let me know if you are still having problems with it. I think I pasted the code incorrectly.
a big thing about selling art prints its archival-ness. A lot of laser and cheap processes with fade and have crappy color. You could look into something like a Giclee process (a lot of pro photo labs offer these services but the one off costs could be a lot) or you could invest in your own photo printer and run them off as you need. There are all kinds of art inkjet papers out there for you to use. There are only a small handful of inkjet printers that are considered archival (i believe they use pigment ink) and you should look into those. Epson and Canon are the best. I prefer Canon because they are more efficient with ink.
The good news is you could offer your prints like an item at a restuarant…the more details you give about the ingredients the better! (i.e. printed on archival 100% cotten rag paper blah blah blah)
I forgot where you live, but if you are in the LA area there are a lot of stores you can check out to figure it out. Feel free to contact me and i can give you a list.
As a general rule, glossy paper tends to get deeper saturation esp in the darks, but people tend to hate it because it picks up glare, fingerprints and dirt.
Matte is fine arty-er but you get dulled down colors.
They have something called a Pearl finish which is halfway between matte and glossy, and that is usually universally loved.
Texture is ok, but unless you really want that as an effect to add to your art i'd avoid it. You'll tend to get better print quality with less texture anyways.
hope it helps!
Now this is the kind of info I was looking for. Very helpful. It seems to me that a Epson or Canon printer is looking like a good idea. I had a nice one years ago but sold it because I never used it. I'll also look into the 100% Cotton Rag Paper since you mentioned it in your comment. Once again, this is great stuff. 100% appreciated!
I'd love to get a list of the stores in LA too. (That's where I live)
glad you liked it. I can email you a list maybe tomorrow. There are a lot of options, and its fully possible to go crazy spending way too much. Cotton Rag is good but its $$$ and may or may not be needed. more later…
You wouldn't believe it. I was just given a sweet Epson printer that can print really nice prints. I need to buy the archival quality ink now and figure out the paper but I'm one step closer to getting this ready.
I look forward to getting your list whenever you can get around to it. Thanks again for the knowledge, ck!
Hey I'm trying to get one, it's tacking on the 3 dollars for "shipping and handling" is that right?
HHAHAHAH oh man. NO that's wrong. I really need to get this thing fixed. I don't know why I can't get it working right. Let me try again and see if I can get it to not add shipping. If I can't then I'll just lower the price to $7 so that with shipping it's $10. Oh man.
let me know when you think its fixed and I'll try again.
Okay, It should be working correctly now. I had to override the shipping preferences in Paypal for this specific order. For some reason it tries to use my standard shipping preferences even thought I made a button with zero shipping costs. Strange.
Please let me know if it still give anyone problems. I'll get it working right eventually. Sorry for the lame attempts so far.
Awesome, it worked! Am I the first to order :D
Yep. You're the first to buy a reMIND product! Thank you!!!
I'll keep you informed when you should be getting it.
Oh hey! I got my shirt the other day :D
Hope it fits and hope you like it.
Uhmm… I know that people in cali are all skinny and only eat sushi and salad, but I am from Chicago and we have food that sticks to your ribs. Point being I need a size that doesn't show off my belly button. If not I understand. I still have the very first Brubaker shirt and that's what matters :)
Whale! I don't think I can find shirts that big. ha Sorry. Bad joke.
Just let me know what size you want in the comment section of your order. I'll make an extra special one for you! Plus I need to come crash at your place during the Chicago con next year.
Sweet thanks. Oh yeah you can crash with me anytime :)
I'll buy a shirt. (preferably without a remindblog.com label on the back, personally, if someone needs to get that close to my back to see what it says I'd rather they just ask me what the hell Remind is and I'll tell them, strike up a conversation and sell them on your awesome book even better than them trying to remember what the hell the back of that guy's shirt said.) Also, Burning Inside is screening at the CT Film Fest in about a week and a half. If you have fliers already I'll be happy to pass them out with my fliers at the fest (I'll be attending all week), quid pro quo, the first con you go to you pass out Burning Inside fliers. Deal?
P.S. I highly recommend you take a look at http://www.iprintfromhome.com they do an AWESOME job on my wife's photos and they have a TON of options for printing. They are really quick, and well priced. You would actually be able to order the print when a customer places an order with you and still deliver it to the customer in a reasonable amount of time. They also offer a TON of different sizes. Definitely check them out. You'll be able to offer your fans a lot more options than you probably can with the epson and you won't have to invest up front in inventory, stock or supplies. And did I mention they do an awesome job?
I really like your offer. I don't have any fliers printed yet and the next con I go to will be the San Diego Comic Con. I'm just going to walk around with a back pack and fliers and stuff. Is that a good trade still?
I guess I should get busy printing some sweet reMIND fliers. How many do you want to take? 100 , 500? (I'm thinking half pages 8.5 x 5.5)
As far as a shirt. Ha That's a great point. I still haven't decided what to put on the back. I kinda want to just put the vertical title down the top center of the back. That could look cool I think.
I think your right though about the website on the shirt. I've read that you should always put one on shirts you sale but it just seems cheap to me. As long as someone can see then title then they can easily to an internet search and find it. So maybe I'll just put "reMIND(big and vertical) a graphic novel (small)" on the back instead.
Now, as far as Iprintfromhome. That looks like a great site. The prices are great for photography prints too. But when I look art fine art prints it gets kinda pricey. I think I'll send off for a sample and see what it looks like. This is great info though. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again Nathan!
Email me about the quid pro quo though. I'm in!
Ah man… I really want to get one of these but I live in the UK. Is there a reason you won't send them outside north america?? I don't mind paying more for the shipping if thats the problem?
Dan, You drive a hard bargain. SOLD!
I was only shipping to US because I didn't know how much the shipping costs would cost me elsewhere. BUT if you want one then I can't just say no. How bout we do this:
Click on the Donation button on the left side and donate whatever amount you think will cover my price AND the extra shipping amount. So if you think it would be an extra $5 then donate $15. Just make sure and write in the Comment section of the transaction that you want a Gorilla Pack , what size, and put your address in there too.
Once I get a better understanding of how much it costs to send to specific places then I'll add that feature. Thanks for letting me know and for wanting a shirt!
Does it ship to Korea…lol
I’ll send to anywhere I guess. I’m just glad you want one. Here’s how to order a shirt from out of the US.
Click on the Donation button on the left side and donate whatever amount you think will cover my price AND the extra shipping amount. So if you think it would be an extra $5 then donate $15. Just make sure and write in the Comment section of the transaction that you want a Gorilla Pack , what size, and put your address in there too.
Merch is GOOD! Spread (sorry) Pages are GOOD!
Looks like things are really picking up! Glad to see you building great momentum here.
Thanks Drezz. It's also great to see your new webcomic starting! It's looking good!
Hey, been following your blog for the past few months, but haven't commented yet. Now that there is a T-shirt though … I'd like to get one, but I want to know if you have any idea about the sizes. I've spent too much money on "medium" concert tees that are napkin-sized after only one wash (how I miss the days when that Tool shirt fit me … sigh). Back to the point of this comment: any idea on how normal-sized the shirts will be? A vague question, perhaps–I'm not too worried if you don't know.
Great question, especially since my photoshop version of the shirt looks skin tight on that dude.
I believe THAT image of the shirt is a fitted T-shirt but the shirts I am going to print on are just normal fitting T-shirts from American Apparel. I'm not sure how to they will fit either. But if you get one and wash it and it doesn't fit anymore, I'll let you exchange it for free. I just want people wearing 'em so I'll do what I can to make you happy.
A+ for customer service. Just placed my order. Keep up the good–no, AMAZING–work.
woot, getting a t-shirt!
my first ever comic blog merchandise purchase.
Can’t wait to be the first person in Lancaster, UK to have a reMind t-shirt.