Hi there⠉̮⃝ I’m Tsushima from the PR department.
If you see a suspicious-looking guy with blue hair in the parking lot talking to stray cats in a silly voice, asking, “What are you doing~~?”, that’s me.
A cat I spotted the other day on a day when it was still hot. It was pressed right up against a metal parking stop to cool off. So cute.
Here’s the new TCGAKKI original-design T-shirt we just released. What do you think?
I think they look pretty cool.
There are two new designs: “Fuzz Man” and “You Can Fly,”
but this time, I’ll show you the process of creating the “You Can Fly” design with step-by-step photos.
First,The process of creating this new T-shirt design began when Mr. Tsushima thought to himself while working,
“I’d like to make a new T-shirt design 🙄”
while he’s working.
As for the timing, he usually gets started when things have settled down with YouTube videos and other PR work, thinking, “Now’s my chance!”
Since he doesn’t start with a design in mind, he begins by simply thinking it through.
And then, he usually hits a wall.
When that happens, the first person I visit is this guy.
This is Nihei, “the guy at TCGAKKI who’s the toughest in a fight.”
I have tremendous confidence in Nihei-kun’s ideas and sense of style.
So, I hand him a pen and paper and ask, “Draw something.”
He drew something right away. His sense of style is as brilliant as ever.
I’m not being sarcastic or anything—I’m genuinely a huge fan of his art.
Once I ask him, Master Artist Nihei quickly sketches out a few pieces.
Of course, some are based on secondary ideas, but he’s a rare guy who can sometimes suddenly conjure up an idea out of thin air.
Personally, there are designs here that I’d love to print as-is, but that would make them completely nonsensical as T-shirts sold by a music store, so I’ll hold off.
But this time, I’d like to take some inspiration from this.
Amid all this, what caught my eye this time was this:
“You Can Fly”
He might have just casually drawn a picture of a bird and added some text, but I immediately thought of
“Flying V”
—a rock-style guitar model.
Wouldn’t it be cool to add the words “You Can Fly” and have the V take flight???!!!
Inspired by Master Artist Nihei, I’ll get started right away.
First, I cut out an image of a Flying V and printed it.
Since the guitar illustration is key this time, and since I can’t draw cool-looking stuff freehand, I tried something like tracing using whatever I had lying around.
Using the light from my tablet, I traced the guitar image onto a sheet of paper I’d placed on top of it.
With the exception of “Menbo,” all the designs on TCGAKKI’s original T-shirts are drawn by me using a sign pen or brush pen.
By the way, “Members Wanted” was written by Mr. Koyamauchi, who, as you know, has beautiful handwriting and experience in calligraphy.
I don’t aim for precision—I just sketch quickly with a pen to give it a warm, hand-drawn feel.
I also drew a few accompanying words.
All done! 🎸
This time, I borrowed Store Manager Matsui’s oil-based marker.
I’ll scan this and edit it. I’ll adjust the size and placement of the text and design to get it just right. Once I’ve tweaked the texture, I’ll cut out the background and export the file. I’ll submit it to the T-shirt shop and wait for it to arrive.
And with that, it’s done!!!!
It looks pretty great!
This time, I chose a T-shirt in a color called “Sumi,” which is kind of like charcoal gray.
I went with white for the design.
The process and quality—using scrap paper and a pen—might get me in trouble if a professional designer saw it, but the T-shirt shop always prints it up looking cool in the end, so it all works out.
As you can see, every design is created by the familiar staff at TCGAKKI, who bounce ideas off each other and put their creativity to work—so please be sure to check them out!
They’re also available in-store, so pick one up as a souvenir when you visit!! Click here for our online store
Thank you for reading!!
Tushima⠉̮⃝