Go Ape! Planet of the Apes T-shirt Illustration Progress Shots
I recently commissioned Jared Moraitis of BeastWreck to illustrate a Planet of the Apes-themed design for a t-shirt to sell here on GnarlyMagazine.com so I can raise enough money to buy a fuckin' speedboat and beach bungalow in San Diego. If not that, then at least another kick ass design to offer my awesome customers.
I was very specific on what I wanted, which was Cornelius from the original Planet of The Apes, riding a chopper, with the words "GO APE!" somewhere in the design, all while having a 70s vibe.
Take a look at some of the progress photos that Jared sent me along the way, from initial idea sketch to my final color version selection.
Concept 1
Concept 2
Concept 3
Concept 4
Concept 5
Concept 5 was the one I liked the most. I wanted Cornelius to be riding a chopper with ape hanger handlebars, so it tied in with the "GO APE!" theme. I liked how Jared had the orange circle behind Cornelius on all of the other concepts, so I suggested moving the "GO APE" circle from Concept 5 from the right to the left, behind Cornelius. I wanted to tighten things up a little bit, so I sent Jared a really crude mockup of what I was thinking. See below...
After I sent my mockup to Jared, he sent back this cleaned up sketch...
Perfect! I approved the cleaned up sketch and it was just down to inking and coloring this bad boy. I believe Jared wanted me to lose my mind because he sent back four amazing color scheme concepts! FUUUCK! Decisions, decisions. Check 'em out...
Color concept 1
Color concept 2
Color concept 3
Color concept 4
All color concepts were amazing, but concept #4 jumped out at me the most. Color concept #1 probably had more of a 70s vibe, and colors more closely resembling the color palette of the original movie, but concept #4 was why I chose Jared to do the illustration in the first place. It had that BeastWreck POP that I wanted as an artist and what I wanted to offer customers.
I hope you dig it! If you do, you can pre-order your t-shirt today! And be sure to follow BeastWreck on Instagram.