RECKLESS HERO - CUSTOMIZED T-SHIRTS WITH 'ART

Now what plumb-faced-fool doesn't like t-shirts with stuff printed on them? Oh! Wait a minute! I just remembered someone. I once saw a politician wearing a t-shirt that had 'I don't like words printed on a t-shirt' written on it. Still. Who cares what a politician has to say, right? Or his t-shirt! I don't. You don't. And I'm sure that my artistic pals, Joe and Joe, don't either. Here, check out a conversation I had with this very creative double-act only the other day, whilst we were writing rude words on a politicians briefcase.





1) What are your origins, Chris and Chris? Plus how did you two guys first meet up?   CHRIS I: I began drawing at an early age and fell in love with comic book art. I wanted to recreate the pages of 'the Transformers', 'The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' and 'Thundercats' comics that I had. No one in my family could draw, so I started by copying and picking up little hints and tricks from various artists I followed (and I still do!) Then I discovered 'X-men' after playing the old late 80's arcade machine, and just fell head over heels for that style. It was the Jim Lee era that got me hooked. Now it's all about Joe Madureira, Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos  -- but I still love Jim Lee's work.

I met Chris J at school -- not through art -- just similar friendship circles. Then one day I asked him to color one of my pictures because he was more Photoshop savvy than me -- and we needed stuff to promote our band at the time.

CHRIS J:   I studied publishing and web design at college, but really got into comic art in my 20's when I started working with Chris. I love tech so the chance to mix the design and tech together in a tool like Photoshop really appeals to me. I love the design work of Udon comics -- guys like Jeffrey Cruz and Genzoman.

2) In your own words, how would you describe your website, Reckless Hero? And how did you come up with it’s design?   I'll be honest, we swiped one of the themes on BigCartel and made some tweaks to give it a clean look. We wanted the site to be fun -- that's why a lot of the boring descriptions you find on most sites are replaced with reckless rants.

3) Why did you choose the name ‘Reckless Hero’ to represent your T-Shirt business?   To give our work some direction we started to sharpen our skills by drawing our friends as superheroes. After a trip away with some friends, a new character came to light called "Reckless King". Matt, who the character is based on, is involved in Reckless Hero -- and we thought that this name gave a clear nod to the industry that inspired us, and it sounded fun and memorable too.

4) Who are your inspirations? Both artistically and professionally.   Joe Madureira, Chris Bachalo, Humberto Ramos, Jeffrey Cruz, Genzoman, Jim Lee, and Jamie Hewlett. All of these people have a unique style, and that's what we would like to achieve also.

5) What’s the most popular T-Shirt you've sold to date? And why do you think this is so?   Both the 'Monster Hunter' and 'Future Cowboy' t-shirts are selling well. We make all the t-shirts limited edition so we'll only ever sell a maximum of 50 of each the current designs. This is to push ourselves artistically and to give the customer something original that they know is in a limited quantity.

6) Have you had any media recognition?   We did a lot of work (and still do) under the 'Asylum Comics' banner, and have had an exhibition that was covered by the local paper. Our ethos is all about the art so we do live drawing at our stalls. Our designs have also been recognized by the bands 'Everytime I Die', 'Taproot' and 'Taking Back Sunday'.

7) What piece of music would you say best represents your style of art?   "Rocket Skates" by Deftones or "What it is to burn" by Finch.

8) Do you have any amusing stories you can share with us about your site?   Our first time trying to sell the t-shirts at a venue didn't really go according to plan. Sales were slow. Chris I got bored and drew all over the tablecloth. And Chris J got drunk and decided to sell himself with each t-shirt.

9) If you knew you had one day left to live, what T-Shirt would you wear during your last hours on this planet?   Either a Reckless Hero t-shirt or Frankie Says Relax.

Ha! Thank for that Joe and Joe. I'm sure my readers with check out Reckless Hero whenever they need a custom made piece of apparel to wear. Heck, while they are at it, they might as well check out both the Main Facebook Page and Asylum Comics Facebook Page too. Go on. Click-Click. You know you want to.