Photoshop Converting photos to graphic art for tshirts?
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[Photoshop] - Converting photos to graphic art for tshirts?
Hi everyone, my name is Vince. I'm new to the group. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction. I've been trying to change some of my work into graphic for use on t-shirts. I know the basics for use in editing my photography but I don't know where to start with conversion and use of filters etc. Are there any good books out there that are easy to follow or maybe some tutorial sites? I'd appreciate any assistance at all. Thanks very much.
it depends on what you want your final design output for.........inkjet heat transfer, screen printing etc. you can use photoshop the same way you would to edit your photos if it's just going to printed on your own home printer onto a heat transfer paper.
output for screenprinting is another story. each color has to have it's own screen (or made up of a blend of other colors - on their own screen), so your file has to be color separated and sent to your printer. in screenprinting using a photo-realistic graphic is tricky because of all of the color graduations/blends etc. that have to be 'broken-up' into halftone screens that when printed color on top of color look as though it's natural. so alot of designers that create graphics for shirts stay in vector art land using software programs such as illustrator.
alot of artists i know will place the photo image into an illustrator file and trace it breaking the image down into it's various elements. but as the last responder mentioned there are ways to get the graphicky look by playing with color levels in photoshop and there are also filters within the program that you can experiment with. it all depends on what you are going to output for as i already said. remember the separation, file size and your printers req's. -peace.
Illustrator CS2 and CS3 have a "LiveTrace" ability that works exceptionally well.
Go to Object > LiveTrace > Tracing Options... In the "Tracing Options" pop-up window choose "Photo High Fidelity" from the "Preset:" pull down menu. This will very faithfully vectorize any image you LiveTrace (retaining most of the original detail).
Also, here's a tutorial that uses a photo to make a grungy/minimalist design. Even though this may not be the style you are looking for, it details a very useful process for making photographs T-shirt friendly: Designing Ultra SceneXCore Apparel!|GoMediaZine
Illustrator CS2 and CS3 have a "LiveTrace" ability that works exceptionally well.
Go to Object > LiveTrace > Tracing Options... In the "Tracing Options" pop-up window choose "Photo High Fidelity" from the "Preset:" pull down menu. This will very faithfully vectorize any image you LiveTrace (retaining most of the original detail).
very good advice, however dont just rely on this tool, it's great when you're just beginning but i would say that it's better to learn how to use the pen tool, it's great for creating vectors and nice illustrated traces of photos.
also i really enjoy using the basic filters in photoshop if you go to image > adjust > threshold and cut outs are really cool. just mess around with it the possibilities are endless.
yes posterize that's the other one i was thinking of... haha i'm away from my design workstation... i miss my computer :-/ Other cool stuff you can do is work with the filters - brushstrokes - angled strokes... those are more for if you're doing print (posters etc) but they have some cool properties to play around with and they do add a lot of depth and value to a piece if executed correctly.
Converting photos to graphic art for tshirts? 
