This right here is an insight into the mind of an college artist who designs clothing for Rethink. I always get to know the artists a bit and just though you guys should to. I love getting to know the artists since it really helps me remember why I started Rethink, Shirts made by the best college kids, because they love this and bring something so unique to the design. Read on and find out something about the mind behind these fancy digs.

Zack so how did you get started designing for t-shirts?

I started my freshman year in high school after discovering Threadless. Luckily for me, my dad teaches graphic design so he had access to CS2 (at the time) for free. After my dad taught me the basics, I made it a goal of mine to work every day on Photoshop and Illustrator to get better and better. My first design was pretty god-awful but it was a learning experience, if you want a laugh here it is: http://www.threadless.com/submission/70288/My_Tree/showmore,designs

Some of your art has some amazing and very unique ideas, so how do you get this crazy inspiration?

Most of my inspiration comes from observing my surrounding environment or from music and lyrics. Since I started designing t-shirts, I have always kept a small moleskin notebook full of ideas, good and bad, most of which I never even get around to, unfortunately.

Care to share some of your process when designing pieces especially the newest piece for Rethink, After the Downpour?

My design process usually starts with small sketches in a moleskin, then to a more developed sketch, and ends with Photoshop and Illustrator images. As you can probably tell, I enjoy merging found images with vector work. In some of my designs, like After the Downpour, I use Creative Commons (http://www.creativecommons.com), which is a browser for shared images. Because I like to merge photography and vector, I usually use both Photoshop and Illustrator.

Do you feel the way you design has been influenced by your college lifestyle?

I definitely feel like my college lifestyle and experience has influenced my work. I am currently a sophomore majoring in Graphic Design at NCSU College of Design. Although I went into the program knowing a lot about Illustrator and Photoshop, the program has taught me a lot about my technique and design process. I approach design much differently then I did in high school and since the beginning of my college life, I feel like my designs have gotten better and better.

Zack is there any strong influences from your life that you feel influence your art?

I would have to say that my friends and family play a huge part in the development of my work. On top of that, I spent my high school years playing bass guitar and therefore I find inspiration in all kinds of music and I’ll always have music in the background when designing.

Heres some of the stuff you’ll always find me groovin’ to when working:

Electric President
MF Doom/Dangerdoom/Viktor Vaughn
De La Soul
Girl Talk
The Roots
Colossal
El Ten Eleven
From Monument to Masses
Gang Starr/Guru
And many many more!

I think everyone has at least one crazy college story, care to share any?

Oh god, hmm, not many to tell (or that I can tell). Last year my roommate brought three Flying Turtles  to school which resulted in a lot of fun times and injuries. Although they don’t look like they would, they can actually pick up some pretty fast speeds and they suck to fall off of if you’re going fast.