Mens Tee

Womens Tee

This was the first on the alien abduction phenomena. I think everybody knows what that’s about more or less. My first thoughts were of the title sequence for the mini series Taken where the guy gets lifted up, but I didn’t want it to be as serious as all that. I thought another way to go would be a kind of comical pose.

My original sketch for the floating guy

So the first thing was to sketch out a blocky kind of guy. I knew it was going to be small and in shadow, so I needed a simple form that you could tell what was going on by the limbs flailing about in an awkward position. I could have used a stick figure or simple shape for a person, but then it feels kind of cold, like the guy is asleep or paralyzed or in a trance or something. I was going to make him completely black in shadow, but have two white dots for eyes. So either he is awake or it’s a reflection off his glasses. I think that gives it a more lighthearted feel to it. I don’t want all the designs to be downers.

To make the ufo I tried several methods, but its just an illustrator graphic. Although I do have a 3d model of it if I should need for something someday.

The other issue is with color. The ships usually seem silver, or metallic in color, so gray seemed like the obvious choice for that, and knowing that I’m getting charged by the color why not just limit myself to four colors (or four shades of gray in this case).

The final image.

Mens Tee

Womens Tee

Do most people know that the Men In Black are a real thing or does everybody assume it was thought up for the movie? If you don’t know, reports of men wearing black suits, white shirts, black ties and black hats, showing up and intimidating people about UFOs have been recorded since the 1950′s. Even my old Time-Life Books series from the 80′s Mysteries of the Unknown has a page on the MIBs. I think they do exist and these witnesses probably have encountered some being, but I couldn’t say if they are extraterrestrial in origin or if they are government agents or just weird hoaxers. Even Dan Aykroyd mentioned a strange encounter when he was filming a video series on UFOs.

Its much more likely that these guys are government agents. They do take humanoid form, and every aspect of their strange behavior could just be a put on I guess. But why? Maybe the point is to be confusing. Government guys show up and threaten somebody who’s been talking about experiencing something paranormal, maybe acting like a robot or putting on weird white makeup and shaving all your hair off is all part of the plot to make these people seem crazy. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. They freak the witness out, AND if they do tell anybody what happened they just look even more looney tunes.

Outline view of the vector graphic.

This design is patterned after the neighborhood watch signs. If you don’t live in the us, or maybe have never seen the sign, some neighborhoods have these signs for “neighborhood watch” up on some of the residential streets and they look just like this, with a sort of cartooney style shady guy in all black lurking around. It’s supposed to serve as a notice to all shady characters who might read the sign to stay away, this is a neighborhood where people look out for each other, and any suspicious types will be monitored closely. I wish we had that for secret government henchmen too. I gave the character a sort of slanted grey alien eye to tie in the E.T. elements too.

The finished design.