Designer Spotlight: Emptees Profile: SEIBEI
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Click here to see what is going on around here.Today's Profile: seibei
seibei aka David Murray lives in Hyde Park, NY, and has been an Emptees member for about 1 year. He is the designer/printer/illustrator behind SEIBEI. He was a Japanese Literature major at the University of Virginia, and has since used that pricey education to print his drawings onto t-shirts.
Interview
Why did you decide to start designing tees?
seibei:Like most of my artistic endeavors, I started designing tees to make my friends laugh - my first real tee was just a simple logo that said "Mike Gifford All Stars" that I wore to get a laugh out of my good friend Mike and our group of friends. I had been interested in screen printing for a long time, and ended up teaching myself a decent amount before realizing that I wouldn't get anywhere unless I worked with professionals. I got an entry-level job at a print shop and learned more in the first week than I had in four months of goofing around. I've been a professional printer for a few years now, and still print my own work.
Where do you get your inspiration?
seibei:A lot of my inspiration comes from my friends, or my weird collection of experiences and stories. I grew up on comics, smart people books, and loads of Nintendo, got a degree in Japanese Lit, have traveled all over, and am lucky enough to be friends with a bunch of weirdos and rogues. Sometimes it comes from a simple idea or some human element I want to portray, or sometimes it's just "I want to draw a guy on a horse."
How quick of a designer are you?
seibei: Ideas will come to me and bounce around for months before it all settles together (for instance, I came up with the "Thriller Was A Documentary" slogan months before realizing how to pull it together as a design), or sometimes a design will go from idea to finished product in five hours or so. One of my best-selling shirts, the Sandwich Dinosaur, was just a one-off I made to test a press I'd built (I was working at a sandwich shop at the time) that I drew directly onto a screen in about ten minutes.
What is your favorite blog?
seibei: Does Achewood count? I read a shitload of blogs, but Hide Your Arms is my favorite tee/clothing one - I think Andy and I are on the same wavelength taste-wise.
Where do you buy your t-shirts?
seibei: Since I'm still printing all of my own stuff, I will inevitably get ink on a shirt if I wear it too much, so most of my best tees are rarely worn. Because of this, I almost never buy tees. I trade with friends who have their own lines from time to time, but as much as I like them, I rarely wear them, because I don't want to ruin them right away. I'll also buy a tee or two at whatever craft show I'm working, and concerts.
Favorite movie of all time?
seibei: A Christmas Story holds the most sentimental value for me, but now that I really think about it, probably Tampopo. I miss Japan, I'm kind of crazy about food, and it happens to be an absolutely perfect movie, so there you go.
PleaseDressMe's Favorite seibei Design: Sandwich Dinosaur
