Be the Strange Tee - You are Amazing!

🎨 Words to live by

"Be the Strange" isn't just a slogan - I really believe it. For too many years I didn't understand that I had ASD, or Aphantasia. I spent a long time trying to fit in with the world, hiding behind a mask of what I thought people expected. I struggled through school, struggled in the workplace... felt like I was different, and didn't fit in anywhere. I am still not officially diagnosed, but I know I have ASD, like I know that I have two arms and legs, it's the heart of who I am. I realise that those are the things that make us who we are, and we should embrace all of it, because life is short, there is only chaos, and who knows if the breath in your lungs is your last. Lets not hide from ourselves. 

So, Be the Strange, Embrace your weird, grab hold of all the beautiful things that make you, you... and never be ashamed of them. 

I don't make T-Shirts for anyone but me... if they connect with other people, that's an honour, here they are, actual ElRat shirts... out of my mind, and into the world...

🧠 Neurodivergent and Proud

As someone with ASD and Aphantasia, It took me a long tome to realise that these things are a superpower, being different isn't something to hide - it's something to celebrate. The chaos of my neurodivergent brain is exactly what makes my art unique. I can't visualise what I'm going to create, so I never know what's going to happen. This hand scrawled shirt is for everyone who's ever felt like they don't quite fit in, and I think, if the truth were told, we would discover that a lot more people feel like this than are willing to admit it. Don't be one of them!

🖤 The ElRat Paradox

I am an artist who doesn't "love" visual art. I would never go to an art gallery, never look at an art book. I know nothing of other artists, or their work. Aphantasia means I have no visual memory, and it's hard to love something you can't remember. I *LOVE* drawing, it calms my head like nothing else, and I do like the pictures I make, but I can look back, even just a couple of days in my sketchbook, and have absolutely no memory of the picture there. I only really make art for the love of making it. They are intense, and scrappy because they have to be, I can't come back to a picture because as soon as I turn away, I forget it exists. So when I start, I have to finish before I lose concentration. Because for me, drawing is the point, not the pictures. If other people like it, I consider that an honour.

🌱 The ElRat Experience

Every order ships in plastic-free packaging I usually have some extras hanging around - test prints & the like, I love to send you something a little extra in your package. I always want ElRat packages to be a little sliver of light in the chaos, I only send packages I would love to receive.

📏 Art is for everyone, and merch should be too (S-6XL Available)

At ElRat Designs, I want as many people as possible to be able to support the things they love. That's why we print every size up to 6XL - because every one deserves to wear their art.

Support the Art you Love🖤

Be the Strange(l)