Stereotypes are as common in society as anything else. The recent outcry over police brutality came to mind and we decided to create a shirt poking fun at this issue while incorporating a common stereotype. You can take a Bite Out Of Crime this March in S-XXL in Heather, black, and white!

The Counter Balance Social Media contest is on and week one’s winner are…

Mostafa Qasemi

Don Rocky Nipay

Tyson Barton

Next week will have a new set of winners for CB gear and prizes all you have to do is like/follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter then email your name and address to contest@counterbalanceclothing.com for your chance to win!

Is a tribute to the state of our origin.  Counter Balance hails from the warm beaches of San Diego to the City by the Bay, soaking in California in all its glory. The Golden State of mind applies to us all.  It is the belief that each of us can do and be anything we aspire to, coupled with the determination to fulfill your dreams. The Detailed Brain and state of California are gold Foil Stamped for that extra pop! These will be available in S-XXL in black.

The second Making of design will be the “Old School” design releasing in our Spring 2012 line. 

Inspired by the old Santa Cruz art of the 80’s and early 90’s, we wanted to pay homage to the Agro style of that era.  We chose the Dinosaur to represent the old-school nature of the design and have him shredding it up like the pools and hills back then.

The idea of this design came about from the old Santa Cruz skateboard designs I had been a fan of in my youth.  Jim Phillips is a very talented artist who has an awesome style that really makes his characters flow and look like they are rocking out. I wanted to incorporate the old school skateboard with a dinosaur in the same style as Phillips. I started off by sketching out the initial line design of the T-Rex in full.  Now that I had positioning down I spent a bit more detail on the parts visible behind the skateboard; his head, arm, hand, stone tool, and legs.

After the initial sketches are scanned into the computer I set up a new layer to trace the character with the pen tool. I vector the old school skateboard and add the T-Rex parts that are visible behind the board.  With the initial line drawing laid out in illustrator I can now vector the parts of the T-Rex and move them to fit the design. Now that the line drawing is finished I could now add detail and shadowing to the old school character.  

Using the vector line drawing as a stencil I added shadowing to accentuate the T-Rex.  Once the light source is defined the shadowing is used to show the dinosaur is behind the board and to add detail. Hatch lines and additional detail are added to finish off the Old School character.  

I wanted to Old School T-Rex to be popping out over a cracked rock “Old School.” I picked a block font out and drew it to fit the length of the character. With the lettering laid out I added the stress lines and cracks to create the look of rock.  

With the font scanned into the computer and added to illustrator the process began to create the font into a vector.  I always use a bright green when tracing my art so I can see the difference between the art and the vector lines. The Vector Font could now be placed to any size to accommodate the T-Rex and not be distorted. 

The final touches were placed on the Old School font with some color to add depth and heavier strokes to add boldness.  Once the T-Rex was added in front of the Font and given the same finishing treatment Old School was complete!

The Final design was mocked on our shirt templates and ready to be sent to the printer for screening on our shirts. An outline color was used for darker tees to pop on the shirt completing the process from an idea to a physical piece of art you can wear.

Thanks for taking a look and check back next week for the next Making of design to see the transition of a design, “from our synapse to your back.”

Freedumb Of Speech draws inspiration from Immortal Technique’s, “Freedom of Speech” song. A puppet is controlled by a puppet maker, to move and do as it is ordered to do.  When the puppet stands up and cut’s the strings that subjugate, it becomes truly free. Freedumb Of Speech will be available in Black, White, and Red tees in sizes S-XXL.

Thats right, Vengeance Dog and Counter Balance have a box of shirts, hats, belts, and a secret electronic device to give away to 5 lucky people a week!

We decided to give back to you guys but need your help in promoting our 

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM – If you have one we are at counterbalancec

TWITTER

All you have to do is Like/Follow us and email your name and address (to ship your product if you win) to

contest@counterbalanceclothing.com

The contest starts next week so get on there and spread the word with the above picture. Post it, re-tweet it, or instagram it to get the word out! 

We have a box of shirts, hats, belts, and a secret electronic device to give away to 5 lucky people a week!

We decided to give back to you guys but need your help in promoting our 

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM – If you have one we are at counterbalancec

TWITTER

All you have to do is Like/Follow us and email your name and address (to ship your product if you win) to

contest@counterbalanceclothing.com

The contest starts next week so get on there and spread the word with the above picture. Post it, re-tweet it, or instagram it to get the word out! 

The second in the Counter Balance gun series.  We wanted to take something violent like the handgun and counter balance it with a tool of creation and art.  The concept of power coming from the barrel of a gun lives in this design through art, a powerful method of expression.   Weapon of Art will be available in S-XXL in Black, White, and Turquoise colorways.

First up is the Battle Of The Bay design released in 2010, playing off the 1989 Giants and A’s world series game and taking each teams mascots into a no holds barred boxing match.

This first image shows my initial sketch of Stomper and Lou Seal slugging it out.  Each idea I have is followed by hours of research on the internet through images and related art books if I can find them. All of this reference is placed into my workspace on an illustrator document or on an artboard. In this case I needed images of what the mascots looked like and images of boxing to get the pose of them striking each other at the same time so that neither side was necessarily “winning.”

After the sketch is scanned into my computer I open it up into illustrator and use the Pen tool to trace my drawing.  This allows a sketch or artwork to be vectorized and crisp so it can be adjusted without distortion for different purposes. Another benefit to this process is the ability to adjust sizing and placement of aspects of the design whereas the original art would have to be erased and redrawn.  When the original drawing is placed in illustrator it is placed on a separate layer and locked. I choose a bright green line stroke each time so it pops from my artwork. 

When I toggle the original artwork off on the separate layer this is the vectorized line version of my dueling mascots. With the frame of the design complete, detail and color can now be added.

At this point each vectorized piece of the design is colored accordingly based on my images of the mascot’s uniforms and detail is added to the cleats, jerseys, and light shadows.

With the Mascot’s now completed I created the old 1989 World series badge with the bay bridge. Outlined it white for darker colored shirts the design was now completed for production.

This is the final phase of the process and a long journey in a idea to be a physical garment, sometimes taking a year to see the light of day. 

Hope you enjoyed this look into the creation of a Counter Balance design and I will post more making of designs each week.