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Monday, October 12, 2009

Tee Is for Tuff-Girl


Front tee-shirt design on fuchsia.
17.78 cm x 10.16 cm (7.00 in x 4.00 in.)


Back tee-shirt design in fuchsia.
21.59 cm x 10.16 cm (8.50 in. x 4.00 in.)


Mock-up of design placement on tee-shirt.



Debby, Mannequin head art.
Digital color over scan of cleaned India Ink.
3000 x 2400 pix


One of the most compelling things about using "Tuff-Girl" as the character's name, is it's potential to be adopted by patrons who don't even have a clue about the comic book character. Just as it is with "Wonder Woman," wearing the name on your shirt is a declaration. Not so much the declaration, or a least good ones, are names like "Spider-Man" and "Matter-Eater Lad."

So printed promotional tee-shirts are a natural complement to the books I hope to eventually print and sell. I'll probably branch out to promotional accessories.

If you search the internet for "Tuff-Girl," you will probably come across several apparel companies by a similar name. Some body has the trademark for the apparel category, but I can't tell from the search results which if any. I have the TM for print publishing, but for promotional purposes, I can churn out the tee-shirts.

As a further matter of branding and distinction, I pair the word "unstoppable" with the name. The eventual book and web-site will both bear the name "Unstoppable Tuff-Girl." It's funny how, since a year ago when I made that decision, the word "unstoppable" now pops out to me in advertising I see and hear.

The last, bottom image was made to top a headless body form on which one of the tee-shirt was displayed at the Long Beach Comic Con. Although I printed it at near 16" tall and glued it to a butterflied file folder, it still was a wee bit small for the form. The drawn image had the head about 9 cm (3.5 in.) tall, the largest I've yet done of a finished image of Tuff-Girl or her civilian identity, Debby. This is remarkable to me, I mean, shouldn't I be drawing these characters all of the time? The red gem on the necklace here, is also the most detailed and finalized I've yet depicted it. Largely, there hasn't been a need to finalize the setting design, which again for branding purposes should be distinct. This one is close, but needs a little more refinement.

1 comment:

  1. So, I bought that shirt for my wife at Dragon Con in 2013. I looked for more in 2014 but to no avail. Admittedly I am not a comic book fan at all but the shirt was a perfect gift for my wife as she works out constantly, including tough mudders and cross fit training so the tuff girl moniker fit her AND it was pink.

    I have scoured the Internet and the "tuff girl" has been trademarked by a fitness club in CA. but I think the "unstoppable tuff girl" makes a great cross-over from the comic to the female workout realm.
    Produce more shirts and think about a whole clothing line please.

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