31 Days of Sensational Shops is a month long tour of geeky, fantasy and/or monster-filled shops in December. Please stick around to learn more about today's Sensational Shop!
Today's Sensational Shop is inki-Jinx - run by Shelly Rodriguez!
Today's Sensational Shop is inki-Jinx - run by Shelly Rodriguez!
Tell us about you - the creator!
Formerly a video game artist and a Ringling College of Art + Design alumni (class of 2007), Shelly has worked at Disney Interactive, EA, OMGPOP and GREE. She specializes in cute Japanese-inspired characters and loves to design tee shirts, plush toys and other fun goodies! She is based in Northern California.
Describe your shop and what you sell
Unique sea creature-inspired apparel & accessories with a Japanese influenced twist! I adorn tee shirts, tote bags, fabric pouches, scarves and other accessories with my characters. I turn my little cast of critters into plush, too!
What is your favorite item to make? Why?
I really love designing tee shirts. I enjoy the challenge of a limited color palette and incorporating puns and messages without using text. I guess that ties into my illustration background!
I've been selling art at conventions since 2004, but between college and other life obligations, I didn't take it too seriously and as a result, didn't do that well. After working in the video game industry for a few years, I realized my passion was really in creating physical goods like plush toys and tee shirts, not in creating virtual goods. In 2010 I reorganized my look/feel and founded inki-Jinx, though I didn't organize as an LLC until 2012. I was laid off from my job in May 2013, so now I get the pleasure of working on inki-Jinx full time!
Where can buyers find you?