fishirts

Hey! I'm keen to finally get my T-shirt venture off the ground. I've researched the various printing techniques, but software still remains a bit of a mystery to me. So far I've been designing using a graphics tablet and Photoshop.

I originally intended to start out printing with durabite ink and producing my own heatpress transfers as the orders come because I don't have a huge start up budget. However, the more I read about screenprinting and plastisol transfers, the more I'm thinking that, in the medium term, this would be the way forward in terms of quality and ensuring repeat customers. But, I'm unsure how practical this will be in terms of preparing the image files to send off to printers and the number of colors I've been using. I understand the more colors used in screenprinting the higher the set up costs and charges for ink. I use a lot of layering up of colors and I'm not sure how possible this would be to screenprint.

What I would like your opinions on are, in terms of switching over to screenprinting in the future, should I be looking to change my approach to designing? I want to keep the 'hand drawn' feel to my work but not restrict printing options unneccesarily. Can anyone recomend any books aimed at people coming from a painting background to learn to transfer their ideas to graphics software like Photoshop?

I've attached an example of my designs, so you can hopefully see what I'm getting at!

Thanks

PS - Great forum!

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splathead

Some transfer companies offer 4 color process. F & M F&M Expressions Unlimited- Custom Screen Printed Heat Transfers for one offers unlimited colors for the cost of a 4 color job.

I would send them your artwork and have them tell you if your designs are printable or what changes you can make to make them printable.

In case you haven't seen it, here is a list of the major companies: Where do you buy YOUR custom plastisol transfers? - a list of vendors!

 

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Naga

Remember to check your colors by soft proofing to see, if they can be reproduced properly.
The green color above is "out of gamut" for most processes.

It can good to learn color management from a book, it can be very confusing to learn otherwise.
Most other stuff is as well learned from the Internet.

Martin Evening: Adobe Photoshop for Photographers is excellent.
There is also another author, Scott Kelby, that is as well recommended by photographers (I haven't read his books).

 

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kpk703

Quote: Originally Posted by fishirts Hey! I'm keen to finally get my T-shirt venture off the ground. I've researched the various printing techniques, but software still remains a bit of a mystery to me. So far I've been designing using a graphics tablet and Photoshop. I originally intended to start out printing with durabite ink and producing my own heatpress transfers as the orders come because I don't have a huge start up budget. However, the more I read about screenprinting and plastisol transfers, the more I'm thinking that, in the medium term, this would be the way forward in terms of quality and ensuring repeat customers. But, I'm unsure how practical this will be in terms of preparing the image files to send off to printers and the number of colors I've been using. I understand the more colors used in screenprinting the higher the set up costs and charges for ink. I use a lot of layering up of colors and I'm not sure how possible this would be to screenprint. What I would like your opinions on are, in terms of switching over to screenprinting in the future, should I be looking to change my approach to designing? I want to keep the 'hand drawn' feel to my work but not restrict printing options unneccesarily. Can anyone recomend any books aimed at people coming from a painting background to learn to transfer their ideas to graphics software like Photoshop? I've attached an example of my designs, so you can hopefully see what I'm getting at! Thanks PS - Great forum!

With Plastisol or any 4/6 color process screenprint offerings you'll not be a happy camper if you use a lot of gradients. You're better off using one of the digital full-color processes that are out there. I've had a few of the plastisol companies that have attempted a true plastisol with a process color approach to handle my gradients and have never been pleased with the results. My designs use so much of these types of graphic images (I do 90 percent of my work in either Photoshop or Illustrator) that I recently purchased a Versacamm to get the results I wanted. But I had fairly good result with desktop printing of my designs for a number of years. That being said I was never happy with the opaque transfers, so if you're expecting to print on dark colors you're not going to be thrilled with the results or the longevity. Check out the digital offerings that are out there such as the Freedom transfers from F&M as recommended.

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