“Diver No. 12″ (and other Threadless 2K10 shirts)

Man, seeing Eric Zelinski’s “Diver No. 12″ (which won second  place in Threadless’ 2K10 contest) frustrates me, because the $10 sale ended but two days before its release!  This tee is just so cool for so many reasons, and most worthy of the $5,000 prize it won.  It’s so cool, I might just buy it regardless of the lack of a sale.  I’m totally digging the surreal, Imaginary Foundation-esque quality of the image, and the juxtapositions between grayscale and color, photo and computer graphics.  The dripping liquid is an interesting detail which also seems to tell a story.

This wasn’t the only strong entry, though — be sure to also check out “Real Peanuts“, “Forgot to Study“, “Firelight Cottage“, and “Kite Parkour” for some other great innovators in t-shirt design.

“Real Peanuts” isn’t really my style at all, but I can appreciate the creativity behind it.  I love the vibrant colors and — of course — the painted peanuts themselves.  While it’s slightly disheartening to see a pop culture reference take the top prize, the fact that this design executes the reference with such subtle grace makes that easy to overlook.

Buy Them: $18 at Threadless.com

Other great deals to checkout:

• ($)10/10/10 Sale at Threadless is Live
• $10 Tees and 20% off Hoodies at Threadless for 48 Hours!
• $10 Tees at Threadless, $15 Tees at Design By Humans
• Sale Roundup
• Win 3 Tees from Young Lovers