Before I tell you more about the currently awesome news, let’s go back to 2006. I first joined the Threadless community six years ago. While I had a ton of experience designing for print and the web, I had never really designed anything to be printed on a t-shirt. With a head full of ideas and Photoshop and Illustrator at my fingertips, I began submitting designs to Threadless. The first handful of designs were awful. No bones about it.

But then Beard Power turned into Beard Power Redux which eventually became Beards Are Awesome – one of my most successful designs to date. And awhile after that, I started collaborating with idea man extraordinaire Evan Ferstenfeld (aka Frickinawesome and half of the dynamic duo that runs the mighty upstart Made With Awesome). And before I knew it, I was subbing some great designs.

Unfortunately, none of those great designs were being printed at Threadless. A handful  went on to print at other great sites like Design By Humans, Tee Fury and shirt.woot. As time went on, I grew frustrated. I contemplated abandoning Threadless and designing art for tees all together. But I didn’t. I believed that if I kept trying, kept improving and kept submitting, my patience and persistence would pay off.

Today, it has. My design, Rock On, has been printed as part of an awesome partnership between Threadless and Gap. Check out the Threadless + Gap promo video below.

Rock On was originally designed for a community challenge – Threadless Loves Minimalism II. Most of my tee designs are fairly simple and I thought that the design was a great fit for the challenge. While it didn’t win that challenge, I knew it was a strong design and had even considered printing it myself. Two months after I submitted the design, I received an email from Threadless stating that my tee was under consideration for inclusion in the Threadless + Gap line. A few months later, I got the word that Rock On had made the final cut. Needless to say, I was relieved, thrilled and humbled by the news.

All I can really say is THANK YOU. To the small army of family, friends and LBB supporters. To the good folks at Threadless and Gap. To the Threadless community. You’ve all helped to turn a silly little dream into a great big wonderful reality.

• Run 100 miles over the course of 2012;
• Write 5 GOOD songs;
• Get printed at Threadless, Design By Humans and Woot;
• Drink 1 gallon of water every day;
• Draw 1 thing every day;
• Blog once a week;
• Run two 5K’s;
• Be a better father, husband and friend; and
• Record as much metric data about my daily activities as possible.

There it is, folks. Let’s give ‘em hell in 2012!

I’m talking about LBB BIG. I’m stepping things up BIG in 2012 and hope that you’ll enjoy all of the BIG things to come.