Art Poll Results

I have decided the art poll is now closed. I never set a deadline, and I figure now is as good a time as any. If you didn't vote before now, I'm sorry you missed it. You should check this site more often.

As of 4:58 PM EST, the results, excluding my votes, were as follows:

Champ 4
Bunny Head 3
Medusa 5
Bad Dog 0
Goddess 4
Red 6

As you can see, it was close. But, based on this poll, I will be making Red, Medusa and Champ.

In case you're asking yourself, "Champ and Goddess got the same number of votes - why did you choose Champ over Goddess?" The answer is because I voted for: Champ, Medusa and Red.

So, what have we learned?

1. I need to set a deadline before publishing the poll so I don't seem like an ass.
   
2. In the case of a tie, the decision goes to the ones I voted for. (It's good to be the king.)
   
3. I should not vote in my own poll because it throws off the numbers.
   
4. Bravenet.com polls suck!
   
5. Your opinions do in fact matter.
   
6. If you don't like the results, you should have gotten your friends to vote too.

Personally, I learned it's especially sweet when your opinion agrees with mine.

For the designs that didn't get chosen, there is always a chance that they will get made at a later date. At the moment, my budget can only afford three designs. That's the unfortunate reality of the situation right now.

Kevin's Fine! Yet, Everything is Not O.K.

Let me say first that I got word from Kevin today that he's a-ok, which is a huge relief.

However, I still have not heard from another one of my artists. His name is Jason Cooper (winged heart and "third eye with hand"). He lives in Meridaian, MS. Blame it on my poor geography knowledge, but it didn't dawn on me until yesterday that he was also in the path of the storm too. I have tried to contact him via email and phone, but I have gotten no response. It worked last time, so please send your prayers and good wishes to Jason.

As for Kevin, he had been staying with his brother, I believe, while he was working in New Orleans. No word yet on the extent of the damage, but you've seen the pictures - it's pretty extensive.

Kevin's headed back to NYC, where he lives. All of his stuff is there, including his computer. He brought what he was working on with him, including a CD with the Springheel Jack files, so I will actually now have Kevin's undivided attention for a while, seeing how the rest of his clients are dealing with the clean-up.

Just for the record, this is not the way I like to receive my good fortune. My heart goes out to all the people who have been affected by Katrina. In fact, I plan to make a rather substantial donation to the Red Cross. If you're wondering how you can help too, I encourage you to do the same. It's the best way.

Beta Testers Needed

Hey, who wants to go shopping? Well, not really. I need people who are willing to help me out by testing my site.

If you email me, I will set you up with a fake credit card number and you can order whatever you want. All I need you to do afterwards is to tell me about your experience. That's it.

Open Thread

I have to pick three of Kevin's designs to make into t-shirts. I have alluded to my favorites and least favorites, but I want to know what you think.

Take the poll below. Vote for upto 3 designs.

You can also use the comment section to let me know how the images might be changed to make them better. For example, I am thinking of changing Champ, from monochrome, to a more "realistic" color scheme.

Send Good Thoughts

Kevin lives in the Big Easy. Please send him and everyone else in New Orleans good thoughts as they ride out Katrina.

New Colors, Same Art

UPDATED Changed title, art order and added info about the art [8/29/05 8:59 AM EST]

Red
Without a doubt, Red is a favorite of mine. I really like the minimalist color scheme. At the moment, Kevin and I are thinking the white, red and black will look really good on dark colored t-shirts.

Goddess
Neither sure of what to do with her skin color, nor pleased with her hair, Kevin wants me to decide if Goddess makes the cut before he invests more time into getting it right. To be honest, I am on the fence about her. I will post a different thread where you can let me know which shirts you think I should make.

Bad Dog
Kevin doesn't know what to do with the gums and ears, hence the lack of color. However, Bad Dog is my least favorite. I don't think he's original enough or interesting enough and, as Al likes to point out, I have an awful lot of animal shirts already.

I Was Just Joshin' Ya

Without further ado, it's time for: New Art Tuesday!

(Yea?!?)

Bunny Head III: Back in Training

Monochrome Champ

New Poll Tuesday?!?

And, now for something completely different: A poll!

Why is there no new art on New Art Tuesday?
	Yes, we have no bananas new art today!
	Socialism doesn't pay the art bill
	Tommy was too busy messing with polling software to bother with adding art
	Tommy doesn't love us any more
	This is not the blog your looking for. Move along. Move along.

A Perfect Circle

I was reading an article today on the ol' Daily Kos, which was describing the world of the future. No, not the one where apes have replaced humans as Earth's dominant species.

No, I am talking about the near future, the one we have glimpsed with things like wikipedia, google and Linux. The world of which I speak is the one where power is not controlled in the form of a pyramid but in the form of a sphere. I am talking about a world where information and the means of production are open to all and those with the most to contribute are at the center of that sphere.

Ok, I know by now you are wondering what liquid I have been drinking and if you can get a cup. The answer is: Tangueray and go get your own. Seriously, I live in Florida. How am I going to get it to you? But, that is really beside the point. The point is that I believe that this far off and fantastic tomorrow can a exist. I believe in a future where giant humanoid robots attack prime ministers. But, again, I digress.

Here's the point: I believe in future where smart, passionate people control the means of production. I also believe that future will be 10X better than the world we have today.

In keeping with this philosophy, I would like at some point to open up Springheel Jack to everyone who is a fan of Springheel Jack. And, I am not just talking about having a blog or a message board where people can post their opinions. (Though, those things are likely to be a part of it.) I am talking about handing over some of the reigns of this little enterprise to you, the users.

In my perfect future world, you will decide which shirts get made. You will pick the art that will go on the shirt. You will choose the colors, the types of shirts and the sizes offered. And, you will decide on the number of t-shirts sold.

In the future, this will all be done at a price that covers the cost of production and nothing more. Shirts will be sold at no profit. And, in the future, the smart and the passionate people will figure out ways to lower the cost of production even further, thus making the shirts even more affordable.

In my perfect, future world, we all benefit from the sharing of the means of production. No one benefits over the others because they "got there first" or owns the means of production.

If this sounds like communism, it's not. People would be paid based on their ability. Those with the most to contribute would be paid the most.

Granted, I am not sure how any of this would work. I am talking about the future, after all. But, if you have some ideas of how this all might work, or how certain aspects of it might work, I would love to hear them.

I am not sure if I have said this before, but one of my goals with Springheel Jack is to allow everyone to look inside the company, at its inner workings. (Sometimes I am good with this; sometimes I am not.) It's not a big leap to say that if people have invested themselves into something, they will care more about it. So, I have both idealistic and practical reasons for wanting to open up the company. Whatever the reason, I believe the consumer will be better off if their voices are heard and they have more choice in the decision process.

Those are my thoughts for today. I am sure there will be more later.

Good night.

Springhead Jack

Or, Springhell Jack. Either is fine. Don't trouble yourself to get it right! UGH!

I know it's not entirely their fault. This is what I get for not choosing to name my company after something common, like "Apple" or "Biscuit". And, my Chicago accent doesn't help either. More times than not, I can barely tell if I am saying "Springhill" or "Springheel". And, that doesn't even take into consideration the two diffrent spellings of the word "heal"/"heel".

How do I get people to understand me? I spell it out, "H-E-E-L". I say things like, "'Heel', as in the 'heel of your shoe'." Apparently, these things don't always work. Either that, or people just type/hear/write whatever the F' they want.

What's a boy (with little patience) to do?

More New Art

More from Jason Cooper. We're leaning towards the eye with the hand. We're thinking about a red hand, with yellow flames around a blue eye. But, what would you do?

Third Eye of the Dead

Third Eye and Hand

New Art Tuesday!

These should look very familiar. They are inkings of sketches you have already seen. By the way, I should have mentioned the name of the artist about 3 posts ago. Kevin Thayer drew these bad boys. He' s clearly very talkented, but here's something you might know: He made the t-shirt that inspired this little venture. The shirt is of a monkey screaming with a key pierced to his tounge. Man, that's esoteric.

Tell me what you think of the art. Are they improvements on the originals? Am I the only one who can't wait to see these in color? Especially, Red. Mmmm...Red...

Champ

Bunny

Bad Dog

Medusa

Goddess

Red

Tag, You're It!

Springheel Jack had a new milestone this week: Tags! The tags will be sewn into the shirts to make them look a little more professional. I have to say, it was really cool to see my logo in fabric. It felt a lot like Christmas.

Front:

Back:

The backs of the tags are supposed to be fortunes and will change periodically. To start, I am making five phrases, so collect them all!

Big thanks to Kyle for all his help in making the logo for the tags a reality. Thanks to Barb and Chrissy for the inspired fortunes.

I have about $3K of t-shirts sitting in my closet now. That's weird to think about.

We are also getting closer on the website. A lot of the functionality, including the shopping cart, has yet to be added, but you can get an idea of what it will look like.

Note: The website will probably get wholesale changes at some point. I hired my IT guy because he could build me a website with a shopping cart, not because he was especially gifted at graphic design. My primary focus was having a functioning site. I will probably hire someone else to make the site more fun.

The shirts and the tags are being lined up for production within the next 10 days. Once the tags are done, they must be sewn in and pictures must be taken for the website. The website should be good to go by then, so I am predicting a late August launch, most likely with little fan fare. I will want to work out any obvious bugs before marketing the site heavily.

New Art...er, Thursday

Sorry. I have been really busy lately. More on that later.

Now, it's time for New Art:

SHJ Mask

Soul Crash

Goddess

Bunny Head

Red

Champ

New Art Tuesday

Don't know if this will become a regular feature, but here it is: New Art Tuesday.

These are sketches that might one day become art for a shirt. The drawings are still rough, so don't be too rough on them. They were created by an artist named Kevin Thayler. Your thoughts?

Death

Dog Head

Bat Heads

Medusa

Call For Miz Family Fest Volunteers

It's that time of year again. Misericordia, where my brother lives, is having their annual Family Fest on September 11, 2005. I will be in town, volunteering my time for this good cause. If you're interested in volunteering as well, please contact me at ctrosejr@yahoo.com. Or, you can just post a comment to this blog.

There are FOUR ways in which you can help. The first is to come to the Fest and have a great time. Come, buy some food, play some games and just enjoy the feeling of knowing you're helping people by having a good time. How easy is that?

Or, if you want to help a little more, you can make lemon shake-ups with me. (You know, those fresh squeezed lemonade drinks you get at state fairs and carnivales.) Help squeeze lemons, shake cups and get sticky. Seriously, this is a lot of fun.

You can volunteer for the following times on Sunday, September 11th:

• 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.


• 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.


• 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.


• 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.


• 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

If you don't mind getting sticky, this is a great way you can help. If you want to volunteer at the same time as me, I will be there in the morning, 10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Another way in which you can volunteer is by helping with setup. Either:

• Friday, anytime between 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.


• Saturday, anytime between 9:00 a.m - 4:00 p.m.

Lastly, they need help with clean-up. (They really need volunteers for this.)

• Sunday, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
  

For those of you who don't know, Miseriacordia is the best assisted living care for mentally and physically disabled children and adults living in the the State of Illinois. (Of course, I'm a little biased, but seriously it's the best.

In order to provide the high level of services they do, Misericordia generates most of their operating budget from private sector donations. Usually, this takes the form of fundraising events, such as Family Fest and the anual Dinner Dance.

So, for all of you Conservatives, Libertarians and Bleeding Heart Liberials, here is a group, doing great work in their community, that limits their dependance on tax-payer money. But, of course, to do this, it requires the support of people who believe in their mission. Or, people who can be guilted by their friends into volunteering.