Working on a new tribute to for the theme park collection! This one is actually a commission.

 

Back in January I had the idea of roller coaster car enamel pins on a lanyard track - and I finally found the motivation to get them designed in April. 

I'm funding them via Kickstarter - because honestly, I've no idea how many people will want these. But I hope people dig them as they were quite a challenge to design and I've spent quite a long time figuring them out!

Finding good reference images of the coaster cars themselves was tricky, I ended up asking a friend for screenshots from the simulator game No Limits. Then I had to work out the smallest I could realistically have the detail and warp certain elements to make sense as a pin. And I used this project as a way to force myself to learn Clip Studio, too. So the whole process took longer than it should, for sure.

But the Kickstarter is now LIVE! Click HERE! It runs until May 31st 2021.

Phew! My recent roller coaster Tribute artwork is done!! I struggled with this one. I must have redrawn the train head 3 or 4 times to near completion before deciding I hated it and starting over. I thought the rockwork was going to be the worst, but that part was ok!

As with all my artworks for the Theme Park Collection, you can find them on t-shirts in my store over on Etsy.

 

Sketch for my next roller coaster tribute...

 

A silly idea for the Theme Park Collection I couldn't get out of my head! I love old Arrow coasters, but I've always found the hard angles of the track profiling to just be... Funny. So here's a design appreciating that! 

T-shirts are available from the Theme Park Collection store!

Phoenix joins the Theme Park Collection!

I had a lot of trouble with this one. I knew I wanted to do Phoenix, but I couldn't come up with a concept I really felt conveyed the ride experience. In the end, I went along the "keep it simple" route rather than anything else. It is - after all - a very simple ride experience. Outstandingly pure.

Available from the Theme Park Collection store.

Earlier this year I ran a Kickstarter for some acrylic pin badges that was essentially a way to judge demand and guarantee enough sales. Lots of people ask for pins, but in my experience people often say "if you make x I'd buy it in a heartbeat!" and then don't when you make x available.

The Kickstarter went ok - I made the goal and funded the pins and had enough leftover to put them in the store and see how they would sell organically. I'm sold out now!

So that's great and gave me the confidence to run another Kickstarter that improved on some things from last time. The campaign is at the time of posting this still live, so check it out!

One of the inherent problems with the Theme Park Collection in general is that because the designs are based on specific coasters, each one has a limited audience. And so, with pins, everyone wants a different one. And it's just not possible to offer them all, knowing that some just ain't gonna sell. I asked followers on Twitter and Dragons and Nemesis won out by miles. I know that's going against my own advice, but in this case I had already kinda decided would of the new pins would be Dragons... Nemesis felt like a risk. It's not a popular shirt design at all, but I could kinda see how it might be a popular pin. My store gets a lot of hits for "Alton Towers" but I just don't think people like my take on Nemesis. Me drawing attention to how it looks like a giant vagina is apparently not appealing as a big design on a shirt - can't imagine why.

My optimistic stretch goals almost certainly won't be met - but I have the incentive this time of offering backers the chance to vote for the next design to unlock. I'm doubtful, but hopeful, that when I announce the first poll winner tomorrow I may get a few more people on board with the campaign. 

 

I guess I never shared the sketches of these! I decided I wanted to make a bunch of designs for the Theme Park Collection that, rather than be about a specific ride, were more general celebrations of the industry. I wanted to order them as stickers to flesh out the Etsy store first, but they're also available on Teepublic and Redbubble on a variety of merchandise! 3 of these stickers were pre-existing designs but I figured it would be nice to share them here anyway as I like how they look!

A commission for a friend who's starting their YouTube journey! They wanted an avatar of themselves, a title card, a profile banner, etc. Turned out pretty cute!

Some more pin photos! I'm very happy with how they turned out. They're now available in the TPC Etsy Store!

 

My pins came last week! I'm so happy with how they turned out. I'll have more pics and the leftovers will go in my Etsy store eventually!

I've been working on this for a long time... 

Had a bit of a mental block with it, but there comes a point where you have to just push yourself to get on with it.

I like how it turned out!

A tribute to the "Wacky Worm" coasters that are found all over the world. They always look a bit high and a bit creepy, but mine is somehow worse on both fronts. Available on T-shirts from my Etsy and other merch via Redbubble!

I've been umming and ahhhhing about doing this for so long, but I had some time yesterday to sit down and dedicate to getting it up and running. 

My first Kickstarter campaign - I'm raising funds for Acrylic Pin Badges!

The campaign ends on MArch 25th 2020 - if you're reading this in the future, you might still be able to pick up a pin from the Theme Park Collection store, if there are any left!

A relatively old scribble, but this is the sketch for the next coaster tribute... I've only managed to get one design out this year for this project as my focus has elsewhere. But I'm hoping I can get this done by the end of 2019. This is my call to accountability!

The Fury 325 roller coaster tribute is complete! Available on tees here.

Been been a hot minute since I worked on a new coaster tribute. I got to ride Fury 325 again last week. It deserves a tribute for sure. Great aesthetic and incredible ride... I think it’s actually my favourite coaster. Here’s a rough for the time being.

Finished Montu design! Available from Etsy, TeePublic and Redbubble!

Drachen Fire tribute is finished! I think this one might actually be my favourite so far. :) Available on Etsy, TeePublic and Redbubble!

Sketching up the concept for a Drachen Fire tribute!

And Beast is finished! Available over on Etsy for those who want tees or posters.

Struggled a little towards the end with this one trying to make it look balanced, but the solution seemed so simple once I put the date up there. Just goes to show sometimes you just gotta move stuff around until it looks cool.