I’ve been working with Matt Mitchell in some capacity for around seven years now, first creating video content for This is Alabama and It’s a Southern Thing at Red Clay Media, and for the last two years on his own social media channels. I have lost track of how many millions of views these videos have racked up over time, but it is always fun to create stuff with and for Matt. And since he struck out on his own with Ostrich Media, he has hired me to create designs for a few of his Southeastern Conference themed t-shirts in conjunction with his SEC Roll Call series of sketches about college football.
The first one was a University of Arkansas reference, pictured above. Drawing an Arkansas Razorback on a motorcycle was something I had never done before, (has anyone?). But I really enjoyed sketching out the spiked shoulders on the leather jacket It felt so silly and whimsical, and kind of punk rock, even though it is more of a biker gang vibe.
The next assignment was to recreate a Tennessee Volunteers based character Matt played throughout the 2024 college football season, inspired by Jason from Friday the 13th. Since Tennessee was knocking off teams left and right, getting years of revenge in a single season, it seemed… appropriate? Playing with the the light source on this one was a creative challenge, and I always love a chance to hand letter a piece of work, which I did with the Rocky Chopped portion. This shirt was a hit with Tennessee fans.
The last one, my pride and joy, and a really great seller for Matt’s merch shop is this image representing the grove squirrel infestation at the University of Mississippi’s stadium. The joke was that Coach Lane Kiffin was releasing squirrels onto the field during pivotal moments of the game in order to create unofficial time outs/delays which would benefit Ole Miss. I loved creating a cartoon squirrel in a Heisman pose, and replacing the football with an acorn. It is silly, but also a really cool representation of something specific to Oxford, Mississippi and their school pride.
I’m looking forward to designing more shirts for Matt Mitchell and Ostrich Media. I just hope they can all be as fun as these are!
