Laid to Rest

Here are the shirts that we've retired since we started back in February. I don't have the tote image up yet but I'll post these all up on the various myspace and facebook pages. Thanks to those that got these shirts. We may release them in the future if there seems to be a demand for them, but at the current time I need the screens for newer images. Don't forget that there's 2 days left to get your In the Depths shirt.

From the bottom of our blackened hearts

Sorry I didn't get to this sooner, but Dora and I would like to send out a big thank you to some blogs I may have forgotten to mention this month: Neck Deep, Shirt2, and Shirt Snob.

This would not be possible without you. Thanks for your support and for taking notice in the sincere hard work we put into what we do. Also a big thank you to the May models: Jessica wearing "Shattered", Nico wearing "Impaled", and Selena sporting the "When A Cat Smiles" tote bag.

Joey and Dora.

3 Days Left!

It's become almost a tradition now, every month we add new designs, every month we remove one. So for the month of June this will be the shirt that will disappear. So take advantage while you can and get this shirt while it's still here. Go here to buy now!

June preview

Here is the June preview for Akumu Ink's newest design. You can also go to our myspace to check it out. Less than a week to go until you can get your hands on it.

NIX

So I thought it would be worth mentioning that Akumu Ink will be heading down to Toronto in less than a month for the 10th annual Northern Ink Xposure. A huge tattoo convention which will be a true test to know if we should continue on. So far we have been doing well selling online and marketing through blogs but we wonder how far we can really go with this. Anyways if you are interested in coming down and seeing us, whether it's to buy a shirt or just to drop by and say hi we'll be more than happy to talk to you.

Kanye Show

We went to see Kanye West Tuesday night at the Bell Center. It was my first rap concert, and I really enjoyed it. Money was spent properly, and it was cool cuz the whole thing was based around a concept of being stranded on another planet. He didn't just sing songs and leave, it was like a play and all the songs where selected to follow the story of him being on this planet trying to get home. I'm not a big fan of rap music, but something about Kanye's music is very inspirational. He's motivating and shows that with a sincere idea and a lot of hard work you can achieve your goals. So here's a a video from the end of the concert when he gave a little speech. It was pretty cool seeing how we're starting out as a tshirt company with a couple designs printing everything ourselves. Hopefully one day we'll be able to grow and house more options of styles, and be able to experiment with other things than just tshirts or one colour designs. I hope dreams really do come true.

Zock On!

I don't own any Bapes, but I love the marketing behind it. 4 years back I got into a really good musical act out of Japan called M-Flo. For the longest time I didn't even know what to compare it to here in the U.S., it's not a gangster rap like 50 Cent, or pop rap like Will Smith, but all I know is that I really enjoyed their sound and visual approach. It's what got me really interested in Japanese culture. With producers like Pharrell Williams and Kanye West popping up it's obvious where M-Flo fits in.

M-Flo's MC Verbal aka Johnny Astro, is part of the super group Teriyaki Boyz which is DJed by Nigo the creator of Bathing Ape. Working side by side with huge artists like Kanye, Pharrell, ADROCK, and Busta Rhymes.

Anyways, all this to say that the Teriyaki Boyz finally released a new single. There sound is so modern art, it's like another piece of the puzzle. You wear the clothes you embody the music and you are whole. It's an awesome concept.

Vinyl Stickers

We just got these stickers today, so happy with how they turned out. I'll be slipping one into each envelope that is sent your way. Hope you like them whether you keep it for yourself in a box under your bed or whether you give them to your friends who stick them on buses or their guitars. What you do with your sticker is up to you, but hopefully you'll spread the word about us so we can grow. The more people know about us and buy our products the more we can provide more diverse products to you all while keeping a high quality. Please let us know, or send pictures to me of what you did with your sticker, I'd love to post them up.
-Joey

Speed Racer

Maybe it's cuz I went to see this movie at a small cinema where there was only Dora, myself, a creepy guy sitting alone at the front of the room, and a woman with 2 kids. Or because there was no surround sound, or even cuz there was no bass coming out of the stereo at all that made the movie so hard to enjoy.

I'm not gunna do like everyone else and say what sucked about the movie cuz that's obvious enough that it did, but instead I'll applaud that awesome kaleidoscope effect at the beginning. It was dark and Matrix-y and I didn't feel like I had to be a hippie to enjoy it. I'll have to admit the colours were gorgeously saturated. Working on children's books has made me appreciate bright punching colours. And lastly the awesome fight scene on the ice hill. Their moves were terrible but they filmed it in a way that looked like the characters were animated. I don't get how they did it but I know I've never seen that done before.

Wait for DVD on this one.

Skeletons in Fine Attire

I have been really inspired this month by Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's "A Nightmare Before Christmas" as well as the Mary-Poppins like skeleton on the cover of "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" by Edward Gorey. These dark characters have been my inspiration for my men's June shirt. I've not yet done a really illustrated image yet, the closest thing I've done so far was the When A Cat Smiles design, which remained mostly a vector image. But this is the first design that I've done for Akumu Ink using none vector programs. Hopefully it will do well and you will like it, so that I may continue in that deranged morbid direction.

The Machine Girl

This looks insane. It's a trailer for a Japanese movie that I just came across, I think it's been out for a while though. As much as I find it a rip off of the Rodriguez film 'Planet Terror' this movie still has it's own look and feel. I'm for sure gunna check it out.

Thanks

It's really cool to see how every month that goes by we get more and more recognition from you as well as blogs. Dora and I are grateful for the nice things said about us. I am currently working on June's designs and I gotta tell you it's a bit of a different look. I've been feeling very gloomy recently, and taking on a very Edward Gorey-like style. Hopefully you'll like it, personally I like to try on different styles now and then, this shouldn't be too far from what I've been doing so far. Anyways thanks to all the blogs that mentioned us this month so far, here's what's been said:

Downtown

On Saturday Dora and I went downtown to do some shopping. Dora got some new clothes and I bought a couple comic books. I haven't gone to a comic shop for about a year, so these titles may be old to some, but they are new to me. I picked up Supermarket, which is a beautifully coloured book. I love the shots, and the colours. Can't wait to look at it closer. I also picked up Black Metal, which i thought looked fun, and I was curious to see how the artist posed the characters. I'm obsessed with posing cuz it totally lacks in my art. Anyways all I can do now is practice, practice, practice.

Benthic

Today I was feeling so out of it, and I'm not sure if it's cuz I have a cold or cuz it's allergy season. But I listened to a couple old tracks that I did over 2 years ago with my friend Marc (on drums). It's so weird to hear it cuz upon listening I tell myself, 'I was able to make this?' It's nothing professional, but still to be able to take a guitar and some microphones and make a full composition into a recorded song is very cool to me. And I remember pumping these songs out within days to to the fact that I had nothing else going on at the time. Anyways hopefully I'll get a chance to jam with Marc again this summer and post it up here.

Btw, a tidbit of information: The 'In the Depths' shirt was based on creating a band shirt for Benthic that never got launched until Akumu Ink took off. Check it out my band Benthic.

Cupcakes and Death

Yesterday night Dora made marble cupcakes with strawberry lemon flavored icing. Very delicious and sweet. And on the same note I just discovered what I've been missing all this time, some good music. I just found out about the genre Deathcore! apparently some of the bands I've been listening to like Despised Icon already suit the bill, I just wasn't aware it was in this catagory that was shared with tons of other bands. Anyways, it's awesome and heavy as hell I'm posting a video for an awesome band called Carnifex. Check it out!

Raspberries and Armies

Dora and I went down to American Apparel yesterday to check out 2 new colours to add to our Akumu Ink collection. So far we've been sticking to black but with all the attention we've been receiving we decided to expand our stock. We've chosen a gorgeous Raspberry colour for girls, and a tough looking Army colour for guys. So keep looking back at our site, we may be adding these coloured shirts to older designs. So come check it out and let us know what you think.

These colours are not acurate, also these are the American Apparel models.

Hardcore Videos

It's been a while since I've discovered some new bands that have what it takes to be played on my car stereo at full volume with the windows down. But Solid State Records have solved that problem (I'm in no way promoting SSR). When I heard these 3 songs I went 'wow' this is what I've been waiting for, cuz obviously Dillinger Escape Plan isn't gunna deliver like they used to any time soon. Anyways, this first band Oh, Sleeper is awesome, they remind me of old Norma Jean and Every Time I Die. August Burns Red is second with a much harder touch and beautiful technical riffs. Thirdly is Inhale, Exhale which I just discovered now while finding the other two videos. Although this song is pretty awesome (weak video) their other songs have alot of clear vocals which can be good, but I'm not a big fan of that style of singing. Anyways they are all worth checking out, hopefully one of these bands will be something you'll like. If you want to let me know of bands you like that are in this vein please do, I'm always hungry for new music.
-Joey

New May Designs

As promised I've created some really brutal designs for May. The first one is called 'Impaled'. I keep seeing people wearing skull shirts, and I'm so annoyed at how unoriginal they all are. So I tried to make something that shows strength and looks cool. I was going with the idea of Vlad the Impaler, but changed it up to making the skulls be from vampires.

As a complete contrast is 'Shattered'. I wanted to create a very feminine shirt but still keep it hardcore. From a distance when wearing this shirt it may seem like you have this cool gradient effect going on and the closer you get the more details unfold. I'm really happy with the results I got from playing with the space of the shirt.

For our tote bag image we decided to use our Cheshire cat from our 'When a Cat Smiles' shirt. It's spooky and feminine, hopefully it'll raise the interest of those who see you carrying it.