I talked to Short about tennis, reminiscences to the past and sneakers…

‘The last Round’

Hey Short, nice to meet you! Would you like to introduce yourself?

Hello my name is: Davy Le Chevance. I’m 24 years old and live in a small town in the region of Brittany in France. I practice the profession of freelance artist for two years now.

Can you explain the idea behind ‚The last Round’? It’s based on these old Marvel-Comics, isn’t it?

I wanted to make a design that’s inspired by classic comic album covers. The origin for he motive is the ‚French Open’ tournament won by Roger Federer. The trophy was handed to him from the hands of Andre Agassi and the TV took advantage of a diffused documentary tracing the careers of Agassi! This story really touched me and so I decided to pay him hommage. It was an occasion for me to make a design mixing the fluorescent of the 80s and the characteristic eccentricity of the 90s. It also deals with modern things like the marketing side, for example of sneaker culture ( the Nike Air Tech Challenge II, made by Agassi in the 90s and then reissued in 2008)! Furthermore there is the idea of K.O., fate and a willingness to ‚hit hard’ in the viewer’s mind! ^^

On this point I have to admit I absolutely must love designers who are dealing with the issue of sneakers in a serious way in their work ;)

‘My haircut is perfect’

That’s not your only work that seems to be reminiscent of the past – one can find many visual icons like old baseball mascots straight out of a starter jacket, arcade machines, a 50s-styled Goofy as in ‚My haircut is perfect’, gold chains, boomboxes and 90s-colored typo…

Cultural and artistic movements were getting more numerous especially in the last 20 years and that is a inexhaustible source of inspiration!

What do you like about designing for shirts? And is there any difference between doing a design for shirts and other works?

I like the medium T-Shirt! It has no fixed limit like a poster or painting – it moves, it is alive! A shirt is a medium that interacts with the wearer. And the Major Brands are well advised to sponsor the Stars. Cotton T-shirts replaced the 17th century linen cloth! ^ ^

Can you describe your working process?

Nooo! Top Secret File! :)

Most often I take the following way to design a T-Shirt: First I try to outline the most relevant features of my image as a sketch on A6. Then I scan the sketch and position it on a shirt: I see very quickly if it works or not! If it suits me I will improve the sketch by enlarging it on a A4 sheet on which I’m able to draw details. The drawing is scanned again and opened in Illustrator where I’m going to work on typography. I reprint the whole design and will then ink my pencil drawing (yes, it is quite laborious)! I scan the final version and vectorize ‚automatically’ in Illustrator! Here I colorize it, correct details and add  effects like frames, dirty etc… and when it seems perfect  – Quit! I’m generally very happy at that moment!

And ist his your first gallery exhibition or did you have any before?

No, it’s my first one, I think it’s an excellent initiative by laFraise. I am very glad to be part of it!

Thank you very much, Short, and all the best for your future!

Thank you to you!

Find more works by Short over here on his blog.