Nemons keeps his real identity a secret but being the super sleuth that I am I was very soon able to discover it. And I can reveal to you today that his real name is not Nemons. When life gives you Nemons, you gotta make Nemonade do. Nemons is a typical English gentleman. He’s a young Hugh Grant, a monogamous and less murderous Henry VIII, a more masculine Tilda Swinton…I don’t really know where I’m going with this or how I would make a nice segue into… I’ll start again after the link to Nemons’ awesome t-shirts.
165 Nemons t-shirts on the Shirt List.
Nemons described his t-shirt art as lowbrow sticker style in an interview at teeVillain. And I totally get it. When I was a child (back in the 80’s) my brother and I would get these stickers that were logo parodies. Funny logo parodies. With a limited number of vivid colors and strong linework and that is what I think of when I see Nemons designs. Pretty much every design Nemons makes would look good as a sticker and you could expect to see them on skateboards, snowboards, and lockers.
Nemons also loves beer and that is one of the reasons he makes so many beer label parody designs. Though, I don’t imagine he ever designs drunk because Nemons’ artwork is pixel perfect.
Nemons Interview
Nemons: name or nickname?
It’s a nickname, I’m a nice demon 🙂
Are you a Liverpudlian?
Yes, I’m Liverpool born and bred, I moved away for a short while but now I’m back and settled.
Tell us your favorite thing about Liverpool.
It has great diverse culture and heritage, so there are plenty of things to do and great places to eat.
Do you work full-time in art and design?
Yes I do, designing is the only job I’ve had since leaving Uni – I’ve been involved in different aspects but I’ve always been in an art/design job
What do you like to do in your free time?
I watch a lot of movies, read books, listen to music, I paint and play Warhammer 40k, play video games (but not as much these days) and keep fit – oh and drink beer – sometimes lots of beer!
About the Artist
When did you know that you wanted to be an artist?
From as early as I can remember, I used to copy pictures from my favourite books and comics, usually Asterix books and 2000 AD comics.
Apart from t-shirts, are you involved in other art/design projects?
Not at the moment, I used to work in the video game industry for a long time and even after I left I still freelanced on some big games, but these days I’m just focused on doing t-shirts
Were you influenced by any particular artist or style?
I’m a bit of a magpie when it comes to art, I like lots of different artists and styles and they all have an influence on me. Fine artists like Bosch and Giger have had as much influence on me as the likes of Uderzo and Jim Phillips as well as great graphic designers like Saul Bass, Rian Hughes, and Vaughan Oliver. I was even lucky enough to work with Roger Dean a few years back who taught me a few tricks!
Could you describe your typical design process from concept to completion?
I usually do thumbnail sketches of ideas to see if the overall shape of the design is appealing, you can see a lot of my designs still work even at very small postage stamp size, this is something I think is important especially for t-shirt design, you want people to think it’s aesthetically pleasing from far away as well as up close. Then I flesh out the design at actual size, once the final pencils are complete I’ll paint a very quick small colour sketch to see if my proposed colour palette works if I’m happy with that I’ll get cracking on finishing the full-size final design.
About the T-Shirts
How did you first hear about daily t-shirt sites like TeeFury and RIPT?
I think just from searching for places to sell my designs online
Do you remember your first print? If so, what was it and how did you feel?
Yes, I do remember, it was TeeVillain that printed it and it was my Metalificent design, I was very happy and thought to myself “this is it, your new career starts now!”
You have had t-shirts printed by TeeFury, RIPT, and ShirtPunch. Who do you usually submit to first? Why?
It totally depends on the subject matter that I’ve drawn, they all deal in pop culture but they do tend to prefer different themes.
You sell your designs on TeePublic, RedBubble, Design by Humans, Neato Shop, and Society6.
Which performs best for you?
Which is easiest to work with?
My Redbubble store performs the best but I think that may just be because it’s my oldest one, I find TeePublic’s new uploading system the easiest to work with
Of the t-shirts that you designed, which one is your favorite?
It changes all the time at the moment it’s my new Immortan Joe’s Nitro White Ale
Do you wear t-shirts that you have designed?
All the time! I’m wearing my Ripley’s Extermination Services right now
Have you seen somebody wearing one of your t-shirts in the real world?
Unfortunately not, I’ve only seen them in photos, but then again I don’t really go out much 🙂
About the World
What is the most exotic location you have been to?
My wife and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon it was amazing.
Where would you most like to visit? Why?
We both want to go to Tokyo, why? because it’s Tokyo!!
About Other Designers
Which t-shirt designer(s) do you admire the most?
Lot’s and lot’s of them, there are some amazingly talented artists out there, I’d be here forever listing all the ones I admire, there isn’t a day goes by that I see something I wish I had done!
Have you done any collaborations for t-shirts? If so, who and what did you design? If not, who would you like to collaborate with?
I’ve only done one so far with Steve from CoD designs, we tried a fighting game idea, I’d like to try out another with him at some point. Also, Cory Freeman does some excellent beer label designs (you may have noticed I like to do them too) I’d like to see what we came up with if we picked a theme and did matching designs between us in our own styles.
Who would you like to see interviewed on the Shirt List next?
CoD designs
Any advice for new designers/artists?
Practice all the time, write down any ideas that spring to mind, you don’t have to draw them now but you’ll forget them if don’t write them down somewhere. Don’t just copy one artist, copy loads and load and loads let them all mash together, till your own stuff comes out of it.
Extra
What are you watching on TV at the moment?
Sleepy Hollow, The Strain, Man in the High Castle and Game of Thrones from next week
What’s the last movie you saw in the cinema/movie theater?
The Jungle Book – it’s excellent
