The legendary Derek Hess has made a name for himself not only for his ability to express his feelings through his art but his ability to convey other people’s feelings through his art. I’ve been doing a bit of research on Mr Hess and I was shocked to find out how much band’s album art he has done. He has done art for bands like Pantera, Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, NOFX, In Flames, From Autumn to Ashes just to name a few. He even designed a poster for one of my favourite bands called Coheed and Cambria. I would never have known although he has a very unique style to his art and overall design. I also found his apparel label called “Strhess” which is so awesome. His t-shirt designs are shockingly fascinating, see some here.

I am very involved with Springleap.com and I can tell you that I would love to see some more original t-shirt designs like Derek’s. T-shirt competitions like Springleap.com and Threadless could really benefit from more deep routed designs, although I love funny little character t-shirts sometimes a t-shirt with more depth can be a more powerful t-shirt design. I find that the clothing we wear reflects our personalities and I love using this method to convey my feelings to the rest of the world. Art in fashion design is increasingly prevalent but finding a completely original design is harder. This is not a bad thing entirely as we are all influenced somehow by different things and people; the same concept is true for artists like Derek Hess. Illustration on apparel is the future of clothing! People have even got his art inked permanently on their bodies, although he doesn’t take personal requests for artwork he does allow you to use his work, all you have to do is send him the information, like who the tattooist is and address etc. See some tattoos here

I wish I could have that much influence on people through design or any other art form. T-shirt design is the easiest way to have your original design on other bodies. The fact that Springleap.com is a t-shirt competition I feel that it makes it more exciting while pushing my design. Unfortunately I work for Springleap.com so I can’t enter the t-shirt competition however I have the awesome opportunity to vote for all my favourites. I’m really glad that people like Derek Hess have put their illustration on apparel, Springleap.com would be so lucky to find the next big artist of our time! If you are someone who loves art or knows of someone then what do you have to lose by entering some cool t-shirt design.

What artist or designer inspires you? I am always interested in finding new inspiration!