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.
Well I can't really draw so i was wondering if there was any way to make designs on your computerusing programs, or do you initially have to fraw your design ?
If you're talking about freehand drawing, yes you can. However its'a pain in the neck. You need a scaner and a vector based application like corel or illustrator. From there you can auto trace the drawing or do it manually. Like I said, it's a pian. And sometimes it doesn't turn out right. It just depends on what it is you're drawing.
__________________ www.identityburn.com : t-shirt design for the individual - coming soon
Well I can't really draw so i was wondering if there was any way to make designs on your computerusing programs, or do you initially have to fraw your design ?
What exactly did you have in mind?
"Computer... I would like a design of a red robin eating a large yellow worm... get to it!"
You can build up a design using shapes, lines, etc. (i.e. you don't have to draw everything with a pencil)... but I'm not sure exactly what you are asking?
Well I can't really draw so i was wondering if there was any way to make designs on your computerusing programs, or do you initially have to fraw your design ?
You would still have to "draw" the design using your computer. Instead of a pencil and paper, you would use the mouse (or a tablet) and the computer screen to draw what you want.
A computer won't do the work for you, but you some way or another, you'll need to get your design into the computer so you can either print out the design to print a transfer or send the graphic file to a screen printer for printing.
I think vtec44 was referring to the program called Freehand since you are referring to programs. The main players are Freehand, Illustrator and CorelDraw for vector based images, which is usually preferred for text, logos, solid single or multi colored designs.
For raster based designs, you have a lot of choices. The main players here are Photoshop, Photo Paint and, well there are a lot of them. They all take a lot of practice to get good at them. You can even use something a s simple as Microsoft Paint. It all depends on what you want for a design. You can even design in Microsoft Word or WordPad or any number of text editors if you are concentrating on text based designs.
Whether you are drawing the art by hand or by computer, you will still have to be able to come up with a design and create it. As Rodney said above, the computer will not do anything by itself.
You can however use the computer to assemble various clip art into a design that you might like. You have to make sure you have the permission to use clip art for commercial purposes, and you also have to remain creative.
can you download software like corel draw and adobe photo shop off the computer because they are really expensive?
Not legally unless you pay for it, no. The reason they are "really expensive" is not because of the packaging or the CDs - it's because of the many thousands of person hours that go into writing such a program.
I have heard that GIMP is meant to be a half decent freeware alternative to PS, but haven't tried it myself.
Not to dampen any moods, but the time taken from "want to draw on a computer" to mastering Photoshop or Illustrator to the point of producing quality art will be many, many months.
But stick at it, as it's an invaluble skill.
__________________
For every post I aim for 3 or 4 typos per line
Not to dampen any moods, but the time taken from "want to draw on a computer" to mastering Photoshop or Illustrator to the point of producing quality art will be many, many months.
Months if you have a background to begin with... probably a lot longer otherwise...
Not to dampen any moods, but the time taken from "want to draw on a computer" to mastering Photoshop or Illustrator to the point of producing quality art will be many, many months.
But stick at it, as it's an invaluble skill.
I recommend using a graphic tablet to draw & paint on the computer no matter what program is used. If you are new to graphic tablets, "The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book" by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis is a pretty good book IMO - I read it even though I've used a tablet for a long time & I found lots of very helpful information.
Personally, I went with a Wacom Intuos 4x5 just so I could upgrade to the extra tools later on (an airbrush for the computer - wow - I have never even used one in real life but I want to learn on the computer where there is no mess to clean up afterward. I also want to get the new art pen at some point to try too.
My favorite feature though is the TILT feature. It makes it much more natural for how I hold my hand while drawing/painting so I do not have to concentrate on holding the pen a certain way like the Graphire made me do - I can focus on my painting instead.
If you have the time (such as a student in holidays, or teacher with the same), sitting down to 8 hours days will make you a master Photoshop/Illustrator user in a month easily. The programs are very intuitive if you have any sort of artistic flair to combine with that.
__________________
For every post I aim for 3 or 4 typos per line
designing logos tees 
