05/30/14 - New Website for OverwatchApparel.com!

Mark Lim - We put up a quick website for OverwatchApparel.com but nothing works yet.

We used some dummy images and Austin put a picture of him on the site and photoshopped a fake beard to hide a cold sore. It lead to another idea that we should wear tactical beards whenever we went to gun shows to promote shirts which I thought would be pretty funny, and itchy.

I wanted the site to be a little grittier and more detailed so I did another mock up for the site this evening:

I made 3 mock ups before this, each weirder than the last and decided to go with a basic boxy layout instead of the whole crazy wide open area look.

It'll probably be easier to build since it's pretty basic and it will be easier to convert to look good on smartphones.

I'll start working on skinning the site tomorrow morning so we can have it up over the weekend.

05/30/14 - Overwatch Apparel - New Design! Tactical Beard!

Mark Lim - Austin had to explain to me what a "Tactical Beard" was because I didn't get it. I guess it's like reverse hipster? I don't know. I just know I can't physically grow one. Anyway, here's the new design:

After much googling I now understand. Thank you, google.

05/29/14 - New Overwatch Apparel T-Shirt Design!

Mark Lim - It's been a really long time since I made a new shirt but I forced myself to draw and was able to come up with something. Since we're focusing on the 3 Percenter crowd I figured you can't go wrong with Guns and Skulls.

I forgot how much of a pain in the ass it is to make screens but after getting some new equipment and materials it was actually a piece of cake.

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Ok, now I'm going to write a little note to my future self to make my life a little easier for my next shirt. Mark, when you are planning to burn a screen with high detail, 180 mesh is not enough. You need 200 mesh, dummy!

And get a red photosensitive bulb for the freaking garage so you don't trip and fall over shit in the dark.

Also, don't go crazy on the hose. You end up blowing out all the detail.

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Here's a pic of the finished shirt:

I'll send this to Austin and see what he thinks of it.

05/28/14 - My First Gun!

Mark Lim - Yes! Austin got me a gun as a bonus and it's pretty awesome. You can tell how nerdy I am by the miniature figurines and terrain in the background.

It's a Taurus revolver and it shoots .357 and .38. I don't know much about guns but I point at stuff I want to explode. I did miss 2 questions on the handgun test. Something about the safety not being the primary safety measure and I forgot the other one, probably something like not loading the barrel with black powder and filling it with rusty nails.

I didn't end up getting to take the gun shooting with the guys at the office because I was really sick. I also didn't end up picking up my gun from Bullseye Sport at the specified time because they needed a utility bill as a proof or residence but my every bill in the damn house is under my wife's name. Everything else I pay electronically so I had to call the gas company to change the name on the account and send me it in the mail.

I had never been so happy to get a gas bill in the mail in my entire life.

Thanks Austin!

05/24/14 - Overwatch Apparel Another New T-Shirt Design by Austin!

Mark Lim - Here's another 3 Percenter shirt Austin made. This time it's a pretty blocky design:

I had a little trouble printing this at first because of the large format. I ended up separating the design on to two screens instead of trying to squish everything on to one. This allowed me to make a bigger design.

I think we got 125 mesh screens for this one because I knew it was going to be such a solid print. We probably should have got 80 mesh for a bolder print.

The original design was supposed to be a washed out gray but unfortunately I didn't have that color and McLogan's Screen Printing didn't have it either.

After watching some videos on YouTube I figured the best way to do a shirt like this would be through a process using discharge ink. (google that shit, it's pretty cool)

One thing that always bothered me with my screen printing machine is how limited I am on size. If I wanted to print something super large on the shirt I have to chop it up into separate screens.

Eventually, with Austin's help, I plan on building a custom T-shirt printing platform so I can make enormous prints.

Actually, I would also need to build a giant UV light box to burn the screens too. Damn.

Anyway, my Printa 770 is a pretty decent basic machine but I can't get too crazy with it. It's made me a ton of cool shirts in the past so I can't say anything bad about it but I just feel like the machine limits my creativity.

05/23/14 - Overwatch Apparel - Austin's New Shirt Design!

Mark Lim - Austin made a shirt design for the 3 Percenters:

For those of you who don't know what being a 3 Percenter means here's a quick explaination:

This comes from FreePatriot.org

The Three Percent in 1775: by Sipsey Street Irregulars

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During the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the King’s tyranny never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists. They were in turn actively supported by perhaps 10% of the population. In addition to these revolutionaries were perhaps another 20% who favored their cause but did little or nothing to support it. Another one-third of the population sided with the King (by the end of the war there were actually more Americans fighting FOR the King than there were in the field against him) and the final third took no side, blew with the wind and took what came.
Three Percenters today do not claim that we represent 3% of the American people, although we might. That theory has not yet been tested.

We DO claim that we represent at least 3% of American gun owners, which is still a healthy number somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million people. History, for good or ill, is made by determined minorities. We are one such minority. So too are the current enemies of the Founders’ Republic. What remains, then, is the test of will and skill to determine who shall shape the future of our nation.

The Three Percent today are gun owners who will not disarm, will not compromise and will no longer back up at the passage of the next gun control act. Three Percenters say quite explicitly that we will not obey any further circumscription of our traditional liberties and will defend ourselves if attacked. We intend to maintain our God-given natural rights to liberty and property, and that means most especially the right to keep and bear arms. Thus, we are committed to the restoration of the Founders’ Republic, and are willing to fight, die and, if forced by any would-be oppressor, to kill in the defense of ourselves and the Constitution that we all took an oath to uphold against enemies foreign and domestic.

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I thought they were a cult at first but after reading about the group and what they stand for I do agree with what they have to say. I never really had a stance on guns.

Do we really need assault rifles as "hunting" weapons? Probably not. But it's pretty fun to blow up a watermelon with one.

05/21/14 - New Sketches!

Mark Lim - I was really excited about getting back into shirts so I started sketching again:

Not sure what this is going to be just yet but I'm sure it'll come to me eventually.