This shirt was designed around the same time that Proposition 8 made headlines in the state of California. Proposition 8 was side note to an election ballot that was primarily used to strip away the previously granted rights of gay couples to legally marry. The new wording of the ammendment essentially stated that, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

What most people don’t know about Proposition 8 is that it marked the first time in American history that the rights of a group of people was taken away after being granted by law. Who do we have to thank for this black mark on the history of our country? None other than the Roman Catholic Church, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons.

These two groups were heavy proponents of Proposition 8, even donating hefty sums of money to the overall campaign in favor of passing the amendment. Does that sound fair? A tax-free organization that is allowed to contribute around 50% of the total budget to lobby against a cause it opposes? A tax-free organization that doesn’t even reside in the state where the election ballot ammendment vote is taking place?

No matter the person, no one should have their rights limited, and no book should dictate the status quo. Gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights. The pursuit of happiness should belong to every man woman and child. Repeal prop8.

This shirt was designed by me, (Tim Toomey) and depicts an 8-legged spider stepping on the bill of rights which grants us our basic freedoms.

To purchase the Anti-Proposition of Hate Section 8 T-Shirt click here
(Currently priced at $22.99 but you can get 10% off with the discount code HANDHSAKE)

More images of this shirt

Shirt depicted below on Kyle Smith, lead singer of the band, A Hero Named Hope

Assault's SS Amnesia put on one of these mockups

While browsing through Emptees a few days ago I came across a talk post about some new mockups. To my surprise, they were quite good–and free!

They were done with American Apparel shirts, in size XS by Tom Neal of Ctrl Alt Defeat Clothing. They’re a great set of mock ups and come with prepared backgrounds. If you need some mock ups to make your store look a bit more professional, these are the ones you want.

Download Tom Neal’s T-Shirt Mock Up Kit V2

High resolution 1984 image

For some time now I’ve wanted to design a shirt inspired by 1984. The newest member of the Assault team, John Staniforth took on the challenge to bring this entire deisgn to life,  and this is the final product which I’m proud to say is some of our best work yet. 90% of the design work came from Stani’s mind, and the other 10% was myself adding color and a few other elements to, “take it to the next level.”

This Orwellian design’s focus is on the subject of totalitarian rule; rule brought about through the tyrannical control of thoughts, beliefs and ideals. By censoring and controlling the doctrine of which people live by, through the constant barrage of the oppressive propaganda machine, power is taken from the outreaching open hands of the many and tightly grasped by the clinching fists of the elitist few.  Through surveillance, censorship, fear of random violence, fear of torture, fear of nuclear war and death, freedom becomes not only an unspeakable word but an unthinkable and unobtainable ideal.

This design was created using a combination of digital matte painting, as well as grafting images together in Photoshop to achieve the final look. It also utilized several custom Photoshop brushes and shapes that we’ve created using our custom Photoshop brush tutorial.

If you’d like to see this shirt in high resolution, click on the image above. You can buy this shirt for $22.99 currently on the 1984 t-shirt product page over at Assault.

It’s not very often that you get to find websites that are brand new to the market and that are actually trying a totally different approach to business. Recently, we somehow managed to get in contact with the great people at Cameesa, a new, possibly better than Threadless style social website that gets the crowd involved in getting their favorite shirts printed by providing the actual support for the prints.

Signing up and getting a profile setup is quick and painless. After logging in you can cruise through the designs and choose to “support” certain shirt designs that you like by pledging a dollar amount towards that shirt. Best part is for those of you who don ‘t do t-shirt design is that if the shirt you support gets picked then you get one sent to you AND you get a portion of the profit!

Are you a starving t-shirt designer like us? Then submit some of your work and reap the benefits if your shirt is picked for printing!

I’ve become a real fan of sites like this, as well as sites like Rumplo, and Please Dress Me, but more so I’m a fan of the business model. Being able to have the community rally around the designs they like best is like a guaranteed product that will sell. Throw in the fact that people are willing to wear just about anything on a t-shirt and you’ve got yourself a surefire way to make money. The real genius in what Cameesa is doing though is that the community is also funding the designs and sharing the profits. For the little guys like Assault, every penny counts. This seems like a great way to expedite the up front cost of printing shirts. (even if people have pledged to buy them) We know better than anyone that sometimes people just don’t buy the things even when they like them.

I think a site like Cameesa opens the doors to designers who may have tastes more like myself. Same goes for the great work that comes out of Design By Humans. As of recent Threadless seems to print more and more of the same style of shirt rather than branching out and allowing for a more diverse audience to get involved. Is Cameesa the answer to what we’ve been looking for in an apparel design community website that isn’t Threadless? I think it’s got a great shot.

The Skull Propaganda T-Shirt was done using a combination of my normal photoshop techniques completely in Photoshop. The skull that provides the main focal point for the shirt was done by tracing a skull I found on the internet with the pen tool. I then converted the path to a custom shape so I could use the shape again if I wanted, and I deleted the jawbone because for some reason it makes it look a bit more rugged.

As always feel free to comment on the shirt as well as the underlying message on the shirt. The image links to a high resolution version of the design in case you want to see all the intricate details.

We’ve decided to make this shirt available to both men as well as women. The Men’s shirts print on the American Apparel 2001 Fine Jersey T-Shirt and the Women’s shirts print on the 6321 Sheer Jersey Cap T-Shirt. As always we encourage you to submit pictures of yourselves wearing our shirts and we’ll send you discounts and free stuff!

To purchase the Skull Propaganda T-Shirt click here.

Download the skull custom photoshop shapes

The Red Assault T-Shirt is by far the best and my personal most favorite graphic t-shirt that I have designed to date. Unlike all the other graphic t-shirts out there, this shirt costs just $19.99 and features an over-sized print on the very trendy American Apparel 50/5o jersey t-shirt. It’s one of the few shirts where you can actually see the name of the FUCKING BRILLIANT company who made the shirt, Assault.

It being that this shirt was created in a half hour (yes, most of the designs take hours, but this one poo-pooed itself out in a few minutes of brilliance) I’ve decided to supply you with the tools to make the magic happen on your own designs. Granted, there isn’t a sweet printing company like Merchspin to make the magic actually, physically print onto your t-shirts, but it’s a good head start.

As always, like it? Hate it? Comment below? I’d love to post a tutorial series on how I design my shirts, as well as give some insight to the process as to how we make this all happen… Anyone interested? Email us, comment, let us know and I’ll make it happen.

Red Assault Shirt custom photoshop shapes

The first Assault Apparel item Craig and Tim have seen first hand, (via photo on the internet) This print features an oversized design done completely in black on a white American Apparel 50/50 Jersey T-shirt. (sorry girls, for now it’s guys only)

The print is oversized and goes over the seam as well as over the collar. It easily adds 3 inches to your forearms and 10 inches to your chest muscles. (even if you have moobs, we’re all gonna be there some day anyways)

It being that this was one of the designs that came to light via some hardcore miller lite drinking and house music listening, I highly recommend you wear this shirt to the club and to any important presidential speeches, especially if you’re gonna be on TV. We need all the free press weez kin git!

Like it? Hate it? Want to download the photoshop brushes? Let us know.

Brandon wearing the Uncle Sam Skull T-Shirt from Assault

The Patriotic somewhat anti-government spying t-shirt design resembles the propaganda posters of the past calling on you to call out big government and it’s tendencies to favor corporate America and not you and your civil rights including protecting us against companies who spy on us and pass on our data to big brother with no warrant!

Are you one of those who quivers when Bill O’Reilly bickers about being a patriot when you know full well that true patriots are the type who always question their government–not lie down and let them do as they see fit all the while aiding corporate profits? This might be just the shirt for you.

To purchase this t-shirt, head on over to the Uncle Sam Skull T-Shirt page at Assault