Hydro74
I’ve always been interested in Hydro74’s illustration work and apparel designs. Joshua Smith (aka Hydro74) is an illustrator/designer based out of Florida that designs apparel for the likes Quiksilver, Burton, Billabong and countless others. I initially found his work at the online design shop youworkforthem.com. Intrigued I found Hydro74’s site and his great T-shirt designs for brand name clients in the skate, surf and snowboard industry. His work is edgy, intricate, with a gothic feel and dark undertones. It appears that more T-Shirt apparel shops are utilizing this sort of look and feel. The most notable being the apparel shop Affliction, popularized by fighters in both boxing and the mixed martial arts community. I don’t know if Affliction was directly or indirectly influenced by Hydro74’s work; however I do know Hydro74 was on the scene before there was an Affliction, creating T-shirts for the top skate and snowboard brands. I do think that Affliction has definitely popularized the look.
