A few months ago, I made a shirt for an organization in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico involving a design and illustration of some brown pelicans, one of my favorite creatures. The other day, I received one of the shirts and thought I’d share the results here. The printing is beautifully crafted (by Graphique) and the fabric is high-quality (Alternative Earth). Without further ado:

Process: After conducting some light research on pelecanus occidentalis (science!) and discussing desired results with my wonderful client, I sketched some fairly straight-forward creatures. There ensued a round of revisions. The final sketches were then Sumi-inked, scanned, transformed into vectors (which I think is always a little sad) and handed over to the screenprinters. We decided on a cream color along with black, and the two typefaces are H & FJ’s Archer (overused, though delicate and determined) and Emigre’s Base Twelve.