Shirted Ape tags itself as consisting of custom and handmade t-shirt specialists. Beyond that, they've specialized even further and built up an impressive collection of work from some up-and-coming artists and illustrators. For people just starting out in that competitive art market, Shirted Ape gives them the opportunity to create some really interesting t-shirt pieces. Links on the website back to the artists' homepages give the participants even more exposure.
Just a year after the site's launch, Shirted Ape is already doing pretty well for itself. They have a nice, wide-ranging collection that includes sweatshirts, bags and tees decorated with a variety of illustrative styles. My favorite is I'm Giving Up Smoking by Hannah Barton, in which one smudge creature gives up smoking and the other gives up looking at the former smoker. It's a neat, expressive piece with a lot of humor. I'm also drawn to Dave Bain's Bird Tangle, which uses the contrast between the complex tangle and the geometric circle to draw interest to the serious little blue bird.
