Usagi Merchandise and Prints!

[OnitsukaTiger]

An Usagi-themed tea set. Perhaps integrating his robe colors and clan symbol? I recently read the tea-ceremony story and I am a huge tea drinker. This would be awesome.

The tea pot and cups could be white with two stripes: a black stripe with a blue stripe above it that has black dots with a subtle clan logo placed somewhere. A sort of visual representation of Usagi in cup form.

[jabba359]

Great idea regarding the prints! I haven't been able to get in touch with Robert yet, but I will continue to look around for prints. We're going to the SD con, so I'm thinking of talking to the other vendors.

Weird, I talked with Rob last Wednesday and he said he was planning on emailing you that night. He had Amazing Phoenix Con this weekend, so perhaps he got caught up preparing for that. Anyway, I hope you find a good source for convention prints.

[shaxper]

I would love more Usagi t-shirt options, especially one depicting Usagi in a more quiet/contemplative repose -- perhaps walking in a rainstorm or in the snow, or smiling while walking with Jotoro or Gen. Usagi in action is only part of the charm of the series, after all

[OnitsukaTiger]

In addition to Usagi's normal ronin outfit I'd love to see an action figure of him in his full samurai armor with a removable helmet and a full complement of weapons.

[dhfujii]

Good news! I heard from Rob and he gave me a good website he uses! Okay, now, does anyone have any experience with prints? What type of sizes or mediums do you prefer?

I'm going to talk to Stan about what he thinks, but I wanted to know if there was any specific input.

I also like the ideas about the t-shirts. Going to have to figure out something. I'm also thinking of doing a shirt of this pic:


Man, I wish I could clone myself so I could tackle all of these cool ideas at once! I'm going to e-mail the guy who wanted to license Usagi for merchandising again and see what happened.

[Lobster Johnson]

I don't really have any preferred print size, so long as it's small enough to easily display and big enough to look good.
That cover would make a great T-shirt! That's a creepy one.
I don't think he's appeared on any covers, but I'd love to have a Sasuke t-shirt. Maybe a shirt with this panel?

Usagi02 copy.jpg (58.41 KiB) Viewed 5988 times

I hear that panel makes a pretty cool avatar, too.
Edit: Or the 3/4 splash from Yokai where Usagi and Sasuke are drawing their swords (the one with the floating leaves, right before a double page spread).

[jabba359]

For print size, 11x17 seems to be the standard size. When I go to conventions, that is the size everyone else seems to use and is the size most people would expect when buying prints. If you want to go smaller, 11x14 and 9x12 are a couple smaller standard sizes (though I see them used more often with original artwork than prints), but I prefer the larger format.

When you refer to what mediums we prefer, what kind of options are there?

[Eltanin]

Evil Usagi would be a really cool t-shirt!

If we are talking about a Sasuke t-shirt, I think a t-shirt made from this commission would be perfect (with all the monsters in the background, the picture is great):

[maichan]

I tend to agree with Kyle about print size - 9x12, 11x14, and 11x17 . I'd actually like see it prints done in more than one size, giving fans the option to have several sizes to choose from.

I do like t-shirts, but I'd rather have colored art on a print rather than on a t-shirt. What I would like to see in t-shirt form is the stylized Usagi head "chop" (and I'd like to see it on a cap again).

[jabba359]

I really like that shirt idea. One of my favorite Usagi covers. I'm not a huge fan of transferring existing art in it's squarish format to a t-shirt, as it always looks like it was designed for a book or print and not a shirt. If the art could be transferred without square borders, that would be awesome. I made a mockup of what I'd like to see, pictured below.

[dhfujii]

Hi jabba,

OMG, that's beautiful!!! How did you do that? Did you use Illustrator and "extract" all the images? I'm a noob when it comes to digital manipulation. I LOVE how that came out! You even did the chop logo and everything!

Do you do this professionally?

I also was thinking of updating the Jei shirt to include the skulls as a background.

Yes, my thoughts exactly! I rather despise the rectangle/square look as it cheapens the art, and does make it seem rather amateurish/lazy. It takes skill to be able to do what you did, and it's definitely something that I vibe with!

[dhfujii]

Evil Usagi would be a really cool t-shirt!

If we are talking about a Sasuke t-shirt, I think a t-shirt made from this commission would be perfect (with all the monsters in the background, the picture is great):

HI Eltanin, I can't see the image, it redirects to 403 Forbidden. Sasuke shirt would be neat!

[dhfujii]

I tend to agree with Kyle about print size - 9x12, 11x14, and 11x17 . I'd actually like see it prints done in more than one size, giving fans the option to have several sizes to choose from.

I do like t-shirts, but I'd rather have colored art on a print rather than on a t-shirt. What I would like to see in t-shirt form is the stylized Usagi head "chop" (and I'd like to see it on a cap again).

I'm going to have to think about the sizing and talk to Stan. I think it will also depend on the image. Yes, multiple sizes would be ideal, but I'm going to have to see how that plays out with inventory and such. I already have quite a bit of it already. Haha.

Definitely will be bringing back the chop" hat. Is there a preference for the "Chop" Shirt? I think I can make that right now, actually.

[Eltanin]

I love what you did Jabba! I prefer borderless t-shirts as well.

HI Eltanin, I can't see the image, it redirects to 403 Forbidden. Sasuke shirt would be neat!

Can you see it now?

[maichan]

I really like that shirt idea. One of my favorite Usagi covers. I'm not a huge fan of transferring existing art in it's squarish format to a t-shirt, as it always looks like it was designed for a book or print and not a shirt. If the art could be transferred without square borders, that would be awesome. I made a mockup of what I'd like to see, pictured below.

Yes, definitely agree with your idea here!