Behind The Design: "Bold as a Lion"
“The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” Those educated in scripture will recognize this powerful quotation from Proverbs, which was the inspiration for this incredible design we made for the men and women of the 120th Class of the San Diego Regional Police Academy.
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It is in the Bible, verse 28:1 of Proverbs, where we find this proclamation about the powerful sense of inner courage that comes from living a righteous life, versus the relentless, unsettling sense of anxiety that comes from living immorally. The feeling, one might say, of being “chased” by one’s demons, and one’s past.
On another hand, the feeling of being “chased” might be literal for an evildoer; the flight from those who bring with them justice. This historic verse thus creates the perfect theme for artwork commissioned for a graduating class of police recruits. The idea, we unfortunately can’t take credit for – the class themselves came up with it – but we were immediately captivated by the verse, the overall theme, and the patriotic lion design, and were determined to make this one truly exceptional.
Our design instructions were to have a lion’s head, roaring boldly, and blending into an American flag from front to back. We opted for a stone carving appearance to the lion, giving it an ancient look to it (just as the verse that inspired the design), further enhanced by a tattered, battle-worn look to the flag.
The verse itself appears in hand-drawn banners, top and bottom, and we used a vintage font inspired by Colonial-era prints to give it an even more antique look. Underneath the entire design is a simple “CXX” – the number 120 in Roman numerals, which were in common use when Proverbs itself would have been written.
On the front, we created a simple logo with a lion set into the outline of a police badge, surrounded by the abbreviations of each and every department represented in the academy class. On the sleeve, above and below the American flag, is the class’s motto “Remember the fallen; this is our calling.” The inside neck label is also custom-made for the class, an extra little detail we include on every unit t-shirt job.
The final design, in simple grays, reds, and blues, looks striking on the deep black background of our exclusive T150 Eco-Hybrid t-shirt, an incredibly soft yet durable fabric that is super deep black and doesn’t shrink or fade. Overall this is one of the designs we’ve gotten the most positive feedback from, and one we are very proud of!
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