Today we showcase the work of Dave Velez, who many of you may know his work under the title ‘Keez’ as a succesful t-shirt designer. His work his found on Redbubble, and his t-shirt designs have adorned many t-shirt blogs. But also its great to find that Dave is currently working as a composer in a complete change of pace, composing scores for tv shows and films alike.

Hi Dave pleasure to introduce you to the readers and fans of Design Juices. Firstly can you introduce yourself to our readers.

KEEZ: First of all, much thanks to you for the interview Jared. Greetings to all the Design Juices readers, my name is Dave Velez and I am known as KEEZ in the design/art world. I’ve had the fortunate privilege of being a professional graphic designer for approximately 13 years.

Through the majority of my career my designs have primarily focused on clients such as Major League Baseball, including designing the official championship Locker Room shirts for the New York Yankees among other teams, National Football League, including
Super Bowl, and the National Hockey League including the Stanley Cup Locker Room tee.

I’ve always been an all around sci-fi geek and Star Wars fanatic and in the past year have discovered RedBubble, Teefury, Threadless and other tee sites that give the opportunity for those great designs that float around in our twisted craniums to be accessible
to the public. My Redbubble store has designs ranging from Dr. Who to Star Wars and from Walking Dead inspired zombie tees to Super Mario Brothers. It’s just a fantastic avenue to run wild with your ideas.

Talk to us more about your commercial work in graphic Design. How did you reach that stage from High School? Did you take a conventional route through college and university? What gave you your first big break in the design industry?

KEEZ: I have always been interested in art but I did take the conventional route and went to university. I had a professor there for a few classes and finished school. After I graduated, I found a job which let me go for one reason or another. I went
hunting around for a job and found a company which I went in for an interview. As I walked in, I saw a familiar face sitting in the room. It was my professor from university that had quit and became an art director there. The interview went pretty smooth I can say!

What do you do on a daily basis in your work? Is t-shirt designing your relaxation at the end of the day or exclusive to weekends?

KEEZ: In addition to graphic design I compose music for TV and Film. I currently write music for networks such as ABC, Discovery, National Geographic, ESPN, SYFY among many others. I’ve also recently completed composing the score for the feature film “Azienda” which I am confident you will be hearing more about soon. I design whenever I can in between.

Composing for big films? Well now Design Juices has had everything! Do you have any exciting projects ahead in the future after Azienda you can talk to us about?

KEEZ: I have a few projects on the agenda but unfortunately I can’t speak openly about most of them. The company that produces the shows I compose for has been acquired by a company in the UK so most likely the majority of the programming will air over there
which is great to widen the audience. They are truly great shows and are extremely entertaining.

Do you have a favourite design you have created both commercially and personally which you are most proud of?

KEEZ: As far as commercially, I would have to say the Championship Locker Room tees for the different Sport Leagues. It’s kind of surreal when you see the players wearing your design on a national and international scale. Personally, would be Major League Baseball’s Signature Series tees which was a program where I was fortunate enough to sit with the players and collaborate in what they wanted to see in their personal design. One of the teams I sat with were the New York Yankees which allowed me to design with Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Robinson Cano & Nick Swisher among many others. Contrary to what some may believe, they are very cool guys.

What t-shirts in your portfolio for Redbubble have been the most popular? and which do you think is your best design if you had to pick one?

KEEZ: Hard to pick just one but I think one of my favourites is actually one of my most recent. It would be my Tribbles/Skittles mashup tee. I’ve always liked that Star Trek episode and Captain Kirk I think was a true galactic space pimp.
As far as best selling, It has been my QUAD DOCTOR WHO tee and JEDI ULTIMATE LEAGUE LOGO. All in all, my Redbubble portfolio is pretty diverse as far as pop culture and sci-fi, everybody is sure to find something they like in there.

In today’s world there has been such a change in technology over the past 20 years in how graphic design has developed. How has this new technology helped in your graphic designs? Did you prefer things more when you started or today?

KEEZ: Definitely today by far. The advances in the programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop make it so much easier to capture your ideas digitally. Not to mention the writing tablets which are fantastic.

What places online do you find to be the best when networking and connecting with fellow designers and creative minds?

KEEZ: I frequent quite a few places online for networking. Fellow artists on sites such as RedBubble always give great critique. I also really value the opinions of peers that are not artists but fans of the subject of my designs. For example, the hard core Star Wars fan’s
opinion is really important to me because they’re a Star Wars fan. They know what they want to see in a tee or design. I also network quite a bit on TWITTER (@keezdesigns) which I have found to be a great tool to get my brand new design concoctions out there.

What sites online and individuals work have been your place to go in search of inspiration?

KEEZ: I base alot of my design on parody and “catchy” phrases if you will. For that reason, there’s not many places I can gather inspiration from. I really try not to look at anyone else’s work. That way I stay as original as possible and not run the risk of duplicating another artist’s idea.

On the music side of things, I am inspired by a quite a few composers. Of course there is the iconic John Williams (Star Wars and Indiana Jones) which I have the utmost admiration. I gravitate mostly though to the modern composers of this generation like Michael Giacchino (Lost, Up, Ratatouille & The Incredibles) and Bryan Tyler (Battle LA, The Expendables, Eagle Eye and Fast & Furious). My composing style reflects Bryan Tyler the most using electronic textures along with orchestral elements which I think is a great combo.

Who out of your social networking circles would your recommend to our readers to follow?

KEEZ: Well, all of the readers are more than welcome to follow me of course!

Kidding aside though, naturally I follow Tee Gazette & Design Juices. So if you happened to just bump into this interview make sure you follow Design Juices and Tee Gazette, good stuff! Due to the nature of my style, I get a lot of ideas from G4TV and Funny or Die which are great resources for me. As far as any other place, can’t give out my secrets or I’d have to kill ya’!

What is your ideal setup when working in the office? Do you have a big computer setup with extra monitors and graphic tablets? Or do you prefer to draw with a good pad and pen/pencil?

KEEZ: Nothing spectacular. Just a MAC and a Bamboo Wacom tablet. As far as sketching, I pretty much sketch it out in my head. Rarely do I pick up a pencil. Kind of funny that if I ever do sketch something it’s with pen and ink. In that aspect, I’m not a traditionalist.

“If I ever do sketch something it’s with pen and ink. 

In that aspect, I’m not a traditionalist.”

Your stuck on a desert island with enough food and water to last you with your family. What 5 items of technology and otherwise do you bring to keep your sanity?

KEEZ: Wow, that’s a tough one. If I was able to bring technology, I’d have to bring a whole MAC setup so I could compose music and create art in order to keep culture on the island.

For #2, I’d like books to read, you know, all the classics. No Kindle and things of that sort, I like to feel the book in my hand and turn pages and smell the book. Kind of like picking up an old comic book that was put away and you haven’t read in ages, that kind of smell. There’s nothing like it. I’m traditional in some things, what can I say!

For #3, definitely baseball equipment, I love playing catch!

As far #4, I’d have to protect my family from beasties and cannibal pirates so I’d have to have an arsenal of weapons at hand.

For #5, since I am a big Pirates of the Caribbean fan and I am stranded on a deserted island, a never ending stockpile of spiced rum. Never know, maybe Capt. Jack will sail over on the Black Pearl and have a swig of the good stuff and throw the baseball around!

Thanks to Dave for his time in putting this interview together, you can follow him @keezdesigns on twitter and also find him on IMDB.