Digital-to-Film

As an intern for the Digital-to-Film outreach program at Mesa Community College, I produced custom digital illustrations and prepared them for film-based apparel transfers. I also collaborated with clients to refine and repair their existing designs, adjusting color saturation, fixing pixelated imagery, and resizing files for proper print compatibility. This role gave me hands-on experience with real-world production standards and taught me how to adapt artwork for both artistic quality and technical accuracy.

NY COMIC CON DESIGNS

Matt “ I Am My Own Worst Enemy” Mercer

Inspired by Sam Riegel’s iconic “Matt Mercer shirts,” I developed my own homage for New York Comic Con—designing a parody shirt featuring an edited image of Matt Mercer as Gandalf paired with complementary typography and layout. The creative process involved reworking the source image, developing thematic styling, and designing the back graphic with layered quotes pulled from Campaigns 1–3. My goal was to blend humor, nostalgia, and clean apparel design into a cohesive fan piece that resonated with long-time viewers of the series.

Front of Shirt

Back of Shirt

F’jord & Jester’s Wedding

For my trip to New York Comic Con and the Critical Role Live show celebrating F’jord and Jester’s in-canon wedding, I designed and illustrated a custom T-shirt that combined fan art, symbolism, and thoughtful apparel layout.

Front Design — Symbolic D20s & Typography

Over the left pocket area, I created two custom D20 icons symbolizing the couple:

  • F’jord’s D20 — a dark green die featuring a light-green sailing ship motif, honoring his sailor background, paired with pink numbering to represent Jester.

  • Jester’s D20 — a deep pink die with a salmon-colored donut topped with light-pink icing, dark-pink drizzle, and Greek sprinkles, reflecting her playful aesthetic, with green numbering representing F’jord.

The dice are encircled by gold wedding bands, one adorned with a red-pink gemstone referencing the beloved Ring of Fire Resistance from the campaign. Above them, I set elegant typography that reads:
“Critical Role Live – Celebrating F’jord & Jester’s Wedding
Radio City Music Hall – New York, New York • October 7, 2025.”.

Back Design — Illustrated Wedding Portrait & Iconic Props

The back features a full illustration inspired by a moment between the characters:

  • On the left stands Dwueth’var (The Star Razor), F’jord’s iconic sword.

  • On the right is a massive pink-and-purple Jester-style swirly lollipop, both objects holding up a banner reading:
    “F’jord & Jester’s Happily Ever After.”

Beneath the banner, I illustrated F’jord seated in his ornate wedding finery, with Jester joyfully sitting across his lap, bouquet in hand—flowers intertwined with lollipops to reflect her whimsical personality.

An Unexpected Connection

What I didn’t realize until the event was that the pose I illustrated—based on a photo I had used of Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham—was actually from their real wedding photography. The characters and the actors truly mirrored each other. I discovered this serendipitous detail when I met Travis during my autograph/photo session at NYCC. He recognized the pose on my shirt immediately, creating a surprising and meaningful moment where my fan art connected back to the cast in a personal way.

Streamer Connections

As part of my Digital-to-Film internship, I created a fully custom compression sleeve design for Twitch streamer GodKu, who is known for wearing sleeves while playing mouse-and-keyboard games and frequently mentioning his desire for personalized merch. This project allowed me to combine character design, branding, illustration, color theory, and apparel-ready file preparation into a single cohesive piece.

GodKu is widely recognized by his community as “The Vibe Dealer,” and his followers call themselves the Stash Gang. I used these themes to guide the tone, typography, and iconography of the design.

At the center of the sleeve, I illustrated a playful mascot character featuring:

  • A fedora

  • Wayfarer-style sunglasses

  • An exaggerated curled mustache

This character serves as a nod to the Stash Gang identity while helping solidify the streamer’s playful branding style. Below and around the mascot, I used bold, retro hippy-inspired typography to spell out:

“THE VIBE DEALER.”

Beneath this title, I included a small stylized joint releasing swirling green smoke — adding to the relaxed, psychedelic aesthetic associated with GodKu’s on-stream persona.

To make the sleeve uniquely meaningful, I incorporated custom illustrations of GodKu’s two beloved Maine Coon cats:

  • Benjamin

  • Yugene

These portraits were hand-drawn and placed near the wrist area — the exact part of the sleeve most visible during gameplay streams.

At the top, near where the sleeve reaches the bicep, I added a whimsical mushroom-house illustration, tying together the psychedelic vibe and adding another layer of personality.

The sleeve features a soft psychedelic gradient background, blending pastel blues, pinks, greens, and yellows. This backdrop unifies all illustrated elements and reinforces the trippy, relaxed atmosphere that both matches GodKu’s brand and makes the sleeve visually striking when worn.

The typography, color choices, and character design all work together to create an energetic yet cohesive visual style that feels intentionally handcrafted for a single creator and community.

This sleeve was produced using a saturation-controlled transfer workflow on an Epson-based printing system. This method allowed precise control over color output, which was essential given the vibrant psychedelic palette.

Throughout production, I:

  • Adjusted saturation curves to avoid oversaturation on fabric

  • Tested print swatches to ensure accurate color representation

  • Optimized line thickness, contrast, and edge clarity

  • Prepared the artwork as a print-ready file for clean, durable application

This process taught me how different fabrics interact with ink, how saturation affects final prints, and how to tailor digital artwork for high-quality apparel production.

Concept

Final Sleeve

Since completing the custom compression sleeve, GodKu and I have continued collaborating on additional artwork and branding concepts. He has already shared three early concept images with me as a sneak peek into the direction he envisions for his future merch and stream identity. These visuals now serve as the foundation for a broader branding development project, where we are working together to refine his ideas into cohesive graphics, character motifs, and merchandise-ready designs that strengthen his presence as “The Vibe Dealer” and resonate with the Stash Gang community.