KNYEW JACK CITY

Wednesday, May 23 2012

KNYEW JACK CITY | Concept to Production

Once or twice a week I sit down with a few local designers & exchange ideas & conceptualize drawings. I sat down with my boy Brian De Leon, a local artist here in Las Vegas, to go over the final designs for our KNYEW JACK CITY Collection that’s dropping at the end of the month.

Brian De Leon, originally from San Diego, has been on his grind in Vegas, showcasing his work at local art shows & drawing commissioned portraits for everyone from Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Lil Jon, KRS-One, Slick Rick, Yela Wolf, Calvin Harris, Steve Aoki & even Skrillex. If you haven’t seen his artwork, please log onto his blogspot & check’em out.

Almost all our designs at KNYEW start from mindless scribbles & random sketches. During our meetings, concepts & ideas flow from the mouths & quickly get translated on paper creating some of the first stages of what may be a possible design. Here’s some of Brian De Leon‘s drawings for our KNYEW stickers.

This KNYEW JACK CITY Collection initially started with a couple unfinished sketches I drew a few months ago. Dividing my time between DJ gigs in/out of town while overseeing the operations at KNYEW gave me limited opportunities to finish these drawings alone. After sitting in limbo for almost 2 months, I finally called my boy Brian De Leon to help me wrap up this project.

Here’s one of the first drafts I drew for the KNYEW JACK CITY Collection. The Crooked version…

Here’s Brian‘s rendition of the same sketch, totally redrawn & reworked. This ended up being the final draft we finalized for production. The De Leon version…

Once again, we’ve got my incomplete rough sketch on the right with Brian’s finished draft on the left. Loved what Brian did her hands…(not made at the work I did on her nips either).

Once the final drafts are finalized, they’re traced & vectored into Adobe Illustrator. It’s during this process when the actual design for the t-shirt starts to come together. Btw, there’s usually no paws allowed on the table during meetings.

We designate what colors to incorporate into each design & test them over different t-shirt/tank top templates. We adjust the sizing & placement for each design, making sure the composition is just right.

The sizing & placement is never really determined until the design is actually worn & modeled in person. We don’t want the image size to appear too small & unnoticeable nor too large & overwhelming. Because the fit is different on men & women tank tops, we also have to size accordingly for both prints. Our girl Jaz (aka Mama Knyewtron) made sure we got it just right for the ladies.

From concept to production, this is just a small glimpse of the process we undergo at KNYEW. Many thanks to the homie Brian De Leon for coming on board with the KNYEW Crew & providing his amazing talents for this KNYEW JACK CITY Collection.

Don’t forget Knyewtrons! KNYEW JACK CITY Collection is dropping next Friday, June 1st. T-shirts & tank tops for both men & women will be available for purchase in-store & online at 11am West Coast Time. More pics & previews coming soon…Crooked signing out!

By Crooked

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Tuesday, May 22 2012

KNYEW JACK CITY | June 1st

On Friday, June 1st, we’ll finally be dropping our KNYEW JACK CITY Collection. Men’s & women’s tees/tanks will be available for in-store & online purchase at 11am westcoast time. Me & the homie Brian De Leon have put in over 2 months of work finishing this project & we can’t wait to release this collection for all you Knyewtrons next week. More pics & previews are coming real soon! Mark the date people! Friday, June 1st…Crooked signing out!

By Crooked

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Tuesday, May 22 2012

SPKSMEN: Spring Delivery

By Jaz

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Monday, May 21 2012

MIXTAPE MONDAYS: DJ PETEY COLOGNE

This weeks entry for “Mixtape Mondays” is an all vinyl set that was recorded live at the legendary APT lounge in NYC by DJ Petey Cologne. Now closed, APT was one of the best “good music” spots in the city to hear some of the illest DJ’s in the industry. Petey recorded this dope mix of funk, classic soul & breaks when he spun a guest set at the ”Like They Used To Say” monthly party hosted by DJECLIPSE & DJ Premier. Many thanks to DJ Petey Cologne for providing us with this week’s entry of Mixtape Mondays. Enjoy Knyewtrons…Neva!

FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD HERE >
By Neva

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Sunday, May 20 2012

CROOKS & CASTLES: Summer Tees

By Jaz

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Sunday, May 20 2012

CROOKS & CASTLES: Summer Snapbacks

By Jaz

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Saturday, May 19 2012

CROOKS & CASTLES: Summer Cut & Sew

By Jaz

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Saturday, May 19 2012

DIAMOND SUPPLY CO: Summer Delivery

By Jaz

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Friday, May 18 2012

Here’s another preview from our KNYEW JACK CITY Collection dropping at the end of the month. Me & local LV City artist Brian De Leon have been working on this project for roughly 2 months now. You probably caught some of our preliminary sketches on Twitter or Facebook & the release date is creeping up closer than you think. Tees & tanks for both men & women will be available very soon so stay tuned Knyewtrons. More pics & previews are on their way…Crooked signing out!