(Click to enlarge!)

• Aperture: ƒ/3.5
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 9 March, 2013
• Exposure bias: 6/6
• Flash fired: yes
• Focal length: 18mm
• ISO: 200
• Shutter speed: 1/2s

Here’s the cover photo

and here’s the full size 3500×3500 jpeg to download in all its glory (Opens in a new window).

And the full photoshop file with the original texture and all the colors in individual layers, download this ~180MB Photoshop file that’s rar’d up (it’s about 350MB uncompressed)

If the download link doesn’t work, I apologize. It’s my personal dropbox and it’s got a limit of daily traffic. Try again tomorrow!

And here’s the full size, but my dropbox account might say I’m way over the limit, so we’ll see:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/17761199/full.jpg

Click to enlarge
Smaller composite of the original image

My friend Joe likes to mash his name into things. Like when I pick him up and don’t let him leave, he calls it Joe-Napping.

He also likes quoting Conan the Barbarian (sometimes appropriately…sometimes not).

Therefore, for Christmas I made this beautiful image for him. He was ecstatic!! In the photo he looks super grumpy about it, but I assure you he loved it. He’s just trying to make the same stoic face as he appears in the image. Though, nothing can match that majesty. Just look at how glossy those pecs are.

the whole process took me a little while, and it’s not completely perfect, but I’m extremely happy. When sorting my images in Picasa, the Google Algorithm that does face matching guessed that this picture as well as the original Conan the Barbarian source photo I used both appeared under Joe’s name, so I consider myself successful in this endeavor

Here’s the exif and link to enlarge the cover photo:

• Aperture: ƒ/3.5
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 15 December, 2012
• Flash fired: yes
• Focal length: 18mm
• ISO: 200
• Shutter speed: 1/200s

Just a quick update, because I haven’t done anything on the website in a while besides upkeep on the back end. I haven’t taken any photos or done any big projects really, except Jonan the Jobarian, which now that I think about it, I don’t know why I haven’t put that up here. I’ll do that ASAP. As in, next year some time.

Yay! Engineering!

• Aperture: ƒ/4.2
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 13 October, 2012
• Focal length: 26mm
• ISO: 800
• Shutter speed: 1/3000s

• Aperture: ƒ/5
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 13 October, 2012
• Flash fired: yes
• Focal length: 34mm
• ISO: 800
• Shutter speed: 1/200s

• Aperture: ƒ/4.5
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 13 October, 2012
• Flash fired: yes
• Focal length: 28mm
• ISO: 800
• Shutter speed: 1/180s

• Aperture: ƒ/5.3
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 13 October, 2012
• Focal length: 45mm
• ISO: 800
• Shutter speed: 1/3000s

• Aperture: ƒ/5
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 13 October, 2012
• Focal length: 34mm
• ISO: 800
• Shutter speed: 1/3000s

• Aperture: ƒ/5
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 13 October, 2012
• Flash fired: yes
• Focal length: 34mm
• ISO: 800
• Shutter speed: 1/200s

Plain Vase

Design Etched on

Research Table

Dragon’s Breath

Shake with ice, this is enough for one-two shots depending on how much ice melts. You can try it without the ice melt, but be warned: it is NOT for the weak of heart.

• Aperture: ƒ/5.6
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 8 September, 2012
• Flash fired: yes
• Focal length: 50mm
• ISO: 2000
• Shutter speed: 1/60s

TL;DR

Placed an order with shirtpunch in April, order was half fulfilled in a month, repeated communication, no refund, no fulfillment of second half of order, still waiting.

/TL;DR

So, a few months ago (April 25th, 2012), I ordered six shirts from shirtpunch.com. It was an awesome Nathan Fillion shirt, showing him wearing his full Mal gear, pulling open his shirt to reveal his Captain Hammer tee underneath. Pretty sweet! Well, the original order took about a month to fulfill, and I only got three shirts. What gives, right? So I contacted them (May 25th, 2012), and asked hey, where’s my other three shirts? Two days later, I got a response apologizing, and asking for some info so they could look into it. At this point I’m a little sad, but nowhere near mad. I know what it’s like to all of a sudden have to fulfill a thousand orders, and I’m patient.

May 29th after a quick back and forth, they said they’d send out the missing shirts. June 19th 2012 rolls around and I e-mail them again saying “hey, what happened?” They apologized for the delay and said it was on its way…..At this point, the shirts are lost to me, the point is moot, I can’t give the shirts out to my friends like I wanted, I just want to not feel royally taken advantage of.

July 30th, I’m now no longer sad, just mad. I e-mail them again more along the lines of “Hey, what gives??” At which point I’m responded with a “sorry, We’ll refund you AND send you the t shirts.” Okay, I can see they’re attempting reparation. They’ve lost me as a customer, but maybe I won’t feel so damaged from the transaction.

August 24th, I e-mail them saying “So, should I just assume that you’ve stolen my money and call it quits?”

And he asks for my paypal info to refund me, to which I am still waiting. So yeah, don’t buy from shirtpunch.com ever.

I filed a report with the BBB, and they’re current standing with them is an F. That should give you an idea that I’m not an isolated incident.

I’ve given the two shirts I got away, never got the other three, and never got my money back (for at least half the order, I expected this to have happened LONG ago…). I regret buying this via paypal, because there’s pretty much nothing I can do. Paypal refuses to dispute it.

Click read more to see the full e-mail transcripts:

E-mail transcripts

[learn_more caption="From me, May 8th 2012"]
Is there a place to see order status?
Order #1981.
Sincerely,
Avinash Arora
Site: AvinashArora.com
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From shirtpunch.com, May 9th 2012"]
Hey Avinash,

Thanks for your email, as well as your patience. We ship via Canada Post’s standard service to help keep shipping costs reasonable for our customers, which should explain some of the delay you’re experiencing. Unfortunately, Canada Post does not provide us with a tracking number, so I’m unable to tell you exactly when your order will arrive. I can assure you, however, that it has been printed and shipped and should arrive any day now.

That said, however, I must apologize. Normally it takes us 3-7 days to get the shirts back from our printers and then an additional day to get them into the mail. Unfortunately, ShirtPunch has picked up a lot of media attention, which in turn has increased demand dramatically. It’s not the worst problem to have, but a problem none the less.

Due to this overwhelming demand we’re running at about 8-12 days to have the shirts printed. We’ve literally gone through two different print companies and are now partnered with one of Canada’s largest printers who are turning out the shirts and getting caught up very quickly. We just didn’t expect this type of media exposure with various celebrities and we went from selling hundreds to thousands overnight.

All that being said, the last thing I want to do is provide anyone a shirt that arrived really quickly, with sub-par quality. Above anything and everything else, quality is our number one priority.

I completely understand how frustrating this is on your end. Our competition have been in the market for a few years now and they’ve got all their kinks worked out, but they’ve also set a pretty steep standard. We’ll get there very soon, we just need to work out a few kinks on our end.

The good news is that your shirt is well on its way to you! Canada Post is slower then the average mail system, but your shirt will arrive. Furthermore, we’re in the business of retaining customers, not just having one time purchases. If you’re unhappy with your order or with the delay just let us know and we’ll fix this problem right away!

Again, I really apologize for the delay. Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at russ@shirtpunch.com should you need anything.

Thanks Avinash,

Russ
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, May 9th 2012"]
Thanks for the info! I look forward to my shirt. Reddit is like wildfire for good products.
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, May 25th 2012"]
Russ.
I’ve just received my package. There are three shirts in it, and I ordered six. Please help me figure out what went wrong here.
Sincerely,
Avinash Arora
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From shirtpunch.com, May 27th 2012"]
Hi Avinash,

Oh no, I’m so sorry! Most likely we split the shipments into two packages, but I’ll definitely check on it for you. Can you confirm the date of your order, as well as your shipping address please?

Thanks very much,
Gillian
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, May 27th 2012"]
Date was April 25th 2012

my order number was 1981, but that was the same order number given to me on my second order….which is kind of odd I suppose.

the shipping address was:

[REDACTED]
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From shirtpunch.com, May 28th 2012"]
Hi Avinash,

I did take a look at your order, and I think they definitely should have arrived together. I’m so sorry. We’re taking a trip to our supplier on Wednesday and will check to see if there are any extras for you. Can you confirm which sizes you need please?

I’m really, really sorry for the trouble, but we’ll do our best to get everything figured out.

Thanks very much,
Gillian
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, May 28th 2012"]
I don’t remember what sizes I ordered, but I have received 1 Small, 1 Medium, and 1 Large so far. I think I ordered an an additional XXL, S, and XS? I don’t remember, it was a group buy for friends. Do you have my order anywhere stored? If not, I’ll ask my friends and get a recount.
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From shirtpunch.com, May 29th 2012"]
Hi Avinash,

I checked your order. You should have received:

1 Men’s Small
1 Men’s Medium
1 Men’s Large
1 Men’s XXL
and 2 Women’s Smalls.

Please confirm what’s missing and I’ll let Russ know. He’s heading to our print shop tomorrow afternoon and will check on them for you.

Thanks,
Gillian
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, May 29th 2012"]
I got 1 small, 1 medium, 1 large. All men’s.

So the two women’s shirts and one XXL are left. Thanks for taking care of this.
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, June 19th 2012"]
Any status update on the missing shirts?

Avinash Arora
GeekGlassware, Founder and CEO
AvinashArora.com
GeekGlassware.com
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From shirtpunch.com, June 21st 2012"]
Hey Avinash,

Thanks for your email. As you’ve noticed, your order arrived incomplete. The good news is there’s no need to worry! The deal we’ve structured with Canada Post has reduced our shipping time from 2 – 6 weeks, to 5 – 6 business days. The only stipulation with this deal is that we need to meet the guidelines for their Small Business Packet, which requires us to ensure every package is under 2cm in height. This means we need to ship orders separately to ensure that they take advantage of this new method.

Now, on the off chance that the rest of your order doesn’t show up within a few days of receiving the first shirt, please contact us right away so we can get to the bottom of things.

Thanks very much,
Gillian
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, July 30th 2012"]
Russ,Gillian, whoever.

I am STILL waiting for these shirts. I expect some sort of tracking number by the end of the week or I will be filing a complaint with the BBB, and disputing this charge with my credit company. Numerous attempts to correct this situation have all failed, and I am extremely frustrated.

Avinash Arora
GeekGlassware, Founder and CEO
AvinashArora.com
GeekGlassware.com
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From shirtpunch.com, July 30th 2012"]
Hey Avinash,

My apologies that this is still outstanding. I can’t forward you a tracking number as one doesn’t exist.

I can, however, have re-prints sent out in addition to offering you a refund on the three shirts that were not delivered.

Would that be acceptable?

Russ
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, July 30th 2012"]
Yes, I suppose that will be acceptable.

Avinash Arora
GeekGlassware, Founder and CEO
AvinashArora.com
GeekGlassware.com
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, August 10th 2012"]
You mentioned previously shipping is around 2-5 days, it’s been ten business days since our last exchange. I honestly can’t understand how I’m being ignored so severely.

Avinash Arora
GeekGlassware, Founder and CEO
AvinashArora.com
GeekGlassware.com
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From shirtpunch.com, August 11th 2012"]
Hey Avinash,

It takes upwards of 3-7 days just to make the re-prints and then they need to be shipped. We’re not ignoring you, it’s just that there isn’t a lot we can do while we re-process this order and have it sent out. My apologies on the delay.
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, August 24th 2012"]
Is it safe to assume that you have totally screwed me yet?
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From shirtpunch.com, August 24th 2012"]
Hey Avinash,

Please forward your paypal and we’ll refund this order. Our apologies on the mix-up.

Russ
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="From me, August 24th 2012"]
[REDACTED] is my paypal address
[/learn_more]

and I’m still waiting. I’ll update this if they ever refund me.

I strongly recommend it, it’s a ton of fun!

get it on the App Store now!!!

and a shameless link to his website

and here are some screen caps:

I did a scale check to see how they stack up. I knew the order of size would be Millenium Falcon at the smallest, Firefly at nearly double the size, and BSG would be the proverbial tractor trailor. I had no idea it would be THIS extreme until I started actually looking up the number. From the best resources I could find, this is an image of the scale (click to view full size):

Holy cow!

First we start with the sketch, and there were lots of ideas going back and forth. General guidelines and feelings, but for the most part the client was receptive to new ideas and was willing to leave a lot of the creative elements up to me. I enjoyed this project quite a bit, mostly because of the people I was working with.

First we started with sketch work the client had done previously, ideas he had, thoughts on the topic. I asked him what his goals were, what kind of feelings he wanted to evoke. Asked him what styles he liked, showed him a few varied examples to get an idea. Fortunately, his ideas were mostly simple, elegant, and clean designs. I enjoyed that.

Essentially, this was my feeler image. I wanted to see if he would like this at all and see if he’s okay with the direction before I proceeded any further. His feedback was as expected, he liked it but it felt bare and missing something (truth be told, it’s missing a LOT). You can see the beginnings of a ligature, but I threw this together after only a few minutes to see what he was into. When he gave me the go ahead to continue in this direction, that’s when I started the real work.

As we can see here:


And then we went through a few revisions, some mine, some his, and settled on the final:

and a textured sample for an actual label (Also seen as featured image):

Hope you like it!

• Aperture: ƒ/6.7
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 12 May, 2012
• Focal length: 50mm
• ISO: 200
• Shutter speed: 1/180s

• Aperture: ƒ/6.7
• Camera: NIKON D90
• Taken: 12 May, 2012
• Focal length: 50mm
• ISO: 200
• Shutter speed: 1/180s