Jon Burgerman criticizes Animal Crossing: New Horizons custom designs

The Animal Crossing: New Horizons community is immensely creative, and sharing custom clothing designs dominates the various social media platforms. Whether it’s celebrity knockoffs, re-enactments of cultural icons, runway fashion mockups, or just really gorgeous clothing, there’s a design for everyone.

But what happens when you submit some of that user-generated content to illustrator Jon Burgerman for criticism? Will you be as impressed with the creativity of the community as we hope? We’ll see.

01. Antler t-shirt design by Louise Blain

“I know what Antlers says, but when I look at it I see white as positive space and then it looks like two doves flying away from a tree or a stream of water from a whale, with its fin rising in the background,” Burgerman explains. “It’s very simple but fun to watch if you play around with it.”

02. Dashie Dress Design by Sam Loveridge

“This is a pretty amazing dress with a dog sniffing at another dog’s butt,” says Burgerman. “The twist? It’s actually her own butt, because who hasn’t tried to do that at least once. This is a very relatable dress and yellow is my favorite color so it ticks a lot of requirements for me (two)” .

03. Schlepple Chic T-shirt Design by Tom Regan

“I don’t know what Schepple is, but it looks like something a Harry Potter sports team would use for training. Quiddage? I appreciate the bright green torso bumping against the red and orange sleeves. A brave decision.”

04. Louise Blain’s jacket design

“Are those gray lines along the body of the zippered jacket pockets? It would be great if they were, as you could put pretty big items inside, like a half-baguette sandwich or a mini umbrella. It looks very classy when it is equipped in matching black garments, three chic! “

05. Pikachu Sweater Design by Sam Loveridge

“This Pikachu abstraction looks more like a malformed unofficially licensed ice cream bar Pikachu. I understand what the shape is supposed to represent, but I can’t put the pieces together to make a whole. These are all good things.”

06. Shirty Steve T-shirt Design by Tom Regan

“I feel like there’s a lot to unpack on ‘Steve’ before we can really understand the designer’s motivation here. First of all, is Steve a dog, a bear, or some kind of character, with black flopped ears? Or is he a map of an 8- A Zelda-style game from the bit age? I would very much like to play that game. Where does that purple door nose lead? An enigma wrapped in a riddle … “