Tyler Spangler design story

American artist Tyler Spangler designed a T-shirt, tote bag, and sweater in collaboration with Indonesian school kids. Read all about him!

For this month’s drop, artist Tyler Spangler collabed with 12-year-old Faris and 10-year-old Alki from the SDN 4 Batu Putih school in Gili Asahan. Faris loves playing marbles with his friends and brothers, while Alki loves the nature around his house. Faris’ drawing featured him playing marbles with his friends and Alki drew a tree he sees around his house. All proceeds from the merch sales will go towards helping Faris and Alki's school.

Tyler Spangler

Tyler is a Southern Californian graphic designer with a love for surfing, bold colours, and unleashing children’s creativity. He describes his style as a “culmination of 90s cartoons, 80s punk, 60s colours, and 80s/90s Southern California surf culture”. His out-of-the-box compositions feature a mix of digital images, neon colours, and shifting perspectives. His art has captured the attention of brands like Adobe, Instagram, Tinder, Gucci, Nike, and Adidas. And, we’re now proud to add Face This to his list of collabs. 

Tyler Spangler about his collab

Out-of-the-box creativity

With Tyler’s out-of-the-box creativity, impressive portfolio, and appreciation of children’s art, it was only inevitable that we would reach out to him for a Face This collab. Luckily, it seems that the excited feeling was mutual. “I was super excited. I love doing collaborations and this one had an additional benefit of being charitable.”

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Tyler Spangler about his collab

Balanced and fun

While most of our artists only have the task of working with one child’s drawing, Tyler had a more challenging collab. He was given both Faris (12) and Alki’s (10) drawings to combine into a final illustration. So, how did he tackle this task? “I had to figure out how to make marbles, family, and trees an interesting visual. I love to abstract things and add colour to give different meanings. I experimented with shapes and textures until it was balanced and fun. It took some tinkering, but the organic drawings found their way into the textures nicely. They now live harmoniously.”

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Product mockup

Tyler Spangler about his collab

Makes you feel like home

The children from the SDN 4 Batu Putih school in Lombok were given the theme of ‘Makes you feel like home’ when making their drawings. With this theme in mind, Faris drew his friends and brothers playing marbles, while Alki drew one of the trees he often sees around his house. It’s clear that both pupils have very distinct ideas of what home means to them. When discussing this, Tyler says: “Each person has elements and memories of home. It can be as simple as a small round glass ball or a tree. It really is the small sentimental things that give meaning to places.”

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Product mockup

Tyler Spangler about his collab

Similarities and differences

When asked about what he has learned about collabing with kids: “I learned about the similarities and differences between art styles, how to incorporate different techniques, and how to make them cohesive. I learned that every element can be used to add different meaning and layers to an artwork.” When asked if he would collab with children again in the future, his answer is short and sweet: “Absolutely - I love seeing the creativity.”

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kids artists

Faris (12) and Alki (10)

For this drop, artist Tyler Spangler collaborated with Faris (12) and Alki (10) from the Batu Pituh school on Gili Asahan, Indonesia. All proceeds from the merch contribute to the kids' school. If you want to read the full interview we did with Tyler Spangler, click the button below.

interview

Tyler Spangler x Faris and Alki:

How Stina Persson and other artists collab with Indonesian school kids

At Face This, artists creatively collab with Indonesian school kids on T-shirts, totes and sweaters. And as the proceeds benefit their school, the kids literally design their own future.

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