Get advice to help you create your t-shirt graphics. Discuss t-shirt design software, special effect techniques, or other topics related to creating a t-shirt design on your computer. If you'd rather hire a graphic designer to do the work for you, please post in our Referrals and Recommendations section here.
Background info: I'm a painter by trade and I have an idea for some really gorgeous full-color images superimposed/blended with grunge elements and lettering. So, I'm wondering:
1. If I were to render them in paint and photo/scan them, what would be the best method for getting those images opaquely on tees? Screen printing? Heat pressing?
2. Also, I intend to have some of the images put on black or dark colored shirts. Should I create my original image (either physically or digitally) on the same color background as what I intend to produce? (Probably a real dumb-*** question, but, hey, I'm completely new to this arena!)
First off, please don't use paint. Use a nice program like adobe photoshop or illustrator or Coreldraw. Any garment printer will be able to work with your files. Since I have done both transfers and direct screenprint, I prefer screenprint. Creating the design on the same color background is a definate plus for the printer, as well as a good idea.
Hope this helps.
Jeff
Quote:
Originally Posted by renatucker
Background info: I'm a painter by trade and I have an idea for some really gorgeous full-color images superimposed/blended with grunge elements and lettering. So, I'm wondering:
1. If I were to render them in paint and photo/scan them, what would be the best method for getting those images opaquely on tees? Screen printing? Heat pressing?
2. Also, I intend to have some of the images put on black or dark colored shirts. Should I create my original image (either physically or digitally) on the same color background as what I intend to produce? (Probably a real dumb-*** question, but, hey, I'm completely new to this arena!)
Oh! When I said rendering in "paint," I meant OIL PAINT, with a brush on canvas! (My bad.) They actually ARE paintings, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to create the originals so I can cut down on the number of color separations (if that's possible) while maintaining the quality & durability.
Is the heat press method the stuff that comes out looking like a plastic sheet that's stuck to the shirt, and doesn't move naturally along with the garment?
I know in Atlanta that there are several shops that specialize in shooting framed oils with large format digital cameras (think Hasselblad bodies) set up for copy work...studio conditions and lighting and give superb digital files of the original on DVD disks...
Then take the art on the disk and add your graphics...
Next find someone with Direct to Garment that knows what they are doing...there are several here on the forum from the left coast.
This will give you a brilliant color shirt with no hand (feel) on light shirts and minimal hand on dark shirts...
How do I know this works???
I do it this way for several artists in Florida...they like to have the shirts on display for sale when they are doing openings at some of the more laid back galleries and when they are doing the weekend beach sales.
A couple moths ago they had another great article on
4-clr process, simulated process, Index and spot color prints. Will give you a good insight into what options you have for traditional printing of the paintings
the heavier the weight and tighter the weave the better print you will get. 100% for sure
Fluid: I'll definitely look up those articles and start educating myself on the various processes so I can fully understand my choices.
Garey: I think I understand what you're saying, please correct me if I'm wrong. Are you saying that, if I found a printer who really knew their stuff, they could desaturate the image of whatever color I would use in the background to correct for the amount of background (dark tshirt color) that would end up showing through if the ink used wasn't completely opaque?
Last edited by renatucker; September 6th, 2007 at 08:45 PM.
We've been playing around with this idea ourselves. A friend of ours took some digital photos of her work and we printed them with our brother printer on shirts. Then we gave them to her to see if the color was right.
We are still trying to perfect this....so my advice would be to get someone who knows what they are doing!! Myself I would want to see the painting along with the digital photo, so I can get the colors right. You wouldnt want to sell your painting with a t-shirt right next to it that has the colors all wrong.
Fluid: I'll definitely look up those articles and start educating myself on the various processes so I can fully understand my choices.
Garey: I think I understand what you're saying, please correct me if I'm wrong. Are you saying that, if I found a printer who really knew their stuff, they could desaturate the image of whatever color I would use in the background to correct for the amount of background (dark tshirt color) that would end up showing through if the ink used wasn't completely opaque?
That is exactley how I print on dark shirts using DTG, we let the tee color come through, this adds depth to the overall image. Just doing a color selection in Photoshop and removing the specific color (with some minor adjustments) we want the tee to replace. Paintings are fun to do as they are true art to begin
with.
Getting full-color images onto tees 
(My bad.) They actually ARE paintings, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to create the originals so I can cut down on the number of color separations (if that's possible) while maintaining the quality & durability.
