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Omnios · September 24th, 2009

Hi guys

I have some questions. I am going to open a online linux swag shop webstore soon using a fulfillment service and have a lot of artwork to do. Also I intend to expand later on into other t-shirt and merchandise designs.

I am looking for tricks and secrets to designing for Direct to Garment and information on designing for the process in general. So far learned they do not print white on light color shirts, so can you use a light gray to get around this on say a light yellow shirt. What other tricks and sectets are there.

I am thinking of developing a artistic style for the process a mix of screen printing and photo art that utilizes the stregths of DTG and thinking of a lot of CMYK like work for simpler desings so keeping it simple yet mixing it up with shading etc.

I have no experience with designing for direct to garment and am just learning the process for screen printing. So what do you think is good for DTG and what would you recomend. I would like to finish my desings in a couple months and have the shop up but want some nice stuff. I already have some graphics but they need to set up so they work with DTG. There are some light grays in them but wondering if this will show up ok on a white shirt.

Thanks

JHanching · September 24th, 2009

I hardly ever prep for DTG but since the process uses cmyk, I'd suggest you get a solid foundation in manipulating that color space. I recommend any of Dan Margulis' books, esp. the Professional Photoshop series. As far as tricks and tips, my guess is that you'd be better off attending specific DTG forums.

AeresClothing · September 24th, 2009

I'm pretty sure DTG uses RGB, usually PNG files.

There are no special tricks really, with white shirts, it's pretty much treated like you are printing on a sheet of paper.

On black shirts, on the other hand, things are a little different. Most DTG printers these days can handle printing on dark garments. The process requires first the t-shirt be ran through once to print a white base on the shirt except where there is transparency. Then color is printed onto the white base. So when printing on a white shirt you are allowed to have white that isn't printed out and is basically transparent. With black shirts you will need actual transparency in the design. Try to avoid really small sections that will be printed as when color is printed over it, it might not line up 100%. Other than that you are pretty much free. Partial transparency should be avoided though.

Omnios · September 24th, 2009

I am thinking of using partial transparency elements in a graphic and turning them into half tones before merging them into the finished graphic. Some of the linux logo's I have have a bit of white, glossy white and a lot of light grays. Penguins stomach area and eyes. How can you make this show up nice in a finished product. I am thinking half tones right now if it can not print a nice light whitish gray and or half tones where it merges into the white for white shirts as the back color.

I am taking my digital art serious and would really like to have a crisp good looking finished product at par with high end screen printing. Really thinking of playing around with RBG and halftones to develop an art stile suited for the DTG process. Sort of developing art processing tricks to turn out a real nice finished product. Might take me months of thinking to figure things out. Mental visualization lol.

AeresClothing · September 25th, 2009

colors blending into the t-shirt and partial transparency is not a problem with white tee's.

Partial transparency on a black tee is a problem. Best bet would be halftones.

I think you might be confused when I say partial transparency I mean like If I had a radial gradient that went from blue and faded into transparent in which case the background is the t-shirt itself. If you have a transparent radial gradient that is over a white circle or something, that's fine.

JHanching · September 25th, 2009

While one can edit images in RGB, I'm fairly sure the printing process that a DTG printer uses is cmyk+.

As an aside, doing moves in cymk, one can avoid leaving the final rendition of the ink(s) structure to the software's default conversion routine. The drawback is the smaller repertoire of moves one can make in it vs. RGB. An advantage is that one can use the conversion routine as a quasi-separation/design tool.

Omnios · September 29th, 2009

K to be more specific there is some reasons I am asking for secrets and tricks. I am on a disability and starting a online linux swag shop. I have no budget but using a fulfillment service will work out ok. The problem is I have a lot of different designs I need to work on but can not afford to buy a proof of all the designs so will be flying blind in this respect till I make some money to see the finished products. So I really need help in this respect as I do not have any experience with direct to garment and am just starting out on the t-shirt artwork. So I need to know what to look out for and what to do and what not to do. And little tricks to make my artwork look better. I already have some artwork but its not optimized for t-shirts, direct to garment and some does not look non white printer friendly so will have to play with grays and half tones. One option is to print out the finished design wich I will do as soon as I get my copy of corel draw and some color ink for my printer.

bornover · September 29th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omnios


	I have some questions. I am going to open a online linux swag shop webstore soon using a fulfillment service and have a lot of artwork to do. Also I intend to expand later on into other t-shirt and merchandise designs. I am looking for tricks and secrets to designing for Direct to Garment and information on designing for the process in general. So far learned they do not print white on light color shirts, so can you use a light gray to get around this on say a light yellow shirt. What other tricks and sectets are there. I am thinking of developing a artistic style for the process a mix of screen printing and photo art that utilizes the stregths of DTG and thinking of a lot of CMYK like work for simpler desings so keeping it simple yet mixing it up with shading etc. I have no experience with designing for direct to garment and am just learning the process for screen printing. So what do you think is good for DTG and what would you recomend. I would like to finish my desings in a couple months and have the shop up but want some nice stuff. I already have some graphics but they need to set up so they work with DTG. There are some light grays in them but wondering if this will show up ok on a white shirt. Thanks

Tom,

In today’s world, with separation software for screen printing , or the RIP software for DTG and sublimation, you don’t need to worry about creating art for the different printing methods. Just create the art exactly as you want it to be. Use fades, translucent aspects, gradients, photographic elements, super high color, whatever you want, it does not matter at all. The software will take care of what is necessary for a particular printing method and make the image work for that method.

Here is what is really important for an artist creating art for garments. I use raster and vector based image creation programs both. All the art I create is usually worked on in both types of programs. This is how I setup my documents/art boards. I always work at 300 dpi/ppi, full printing size (meaning the size the image will print on the garment) in RGB color mode using Adobe RGB (1998) color profile. You could get away with not working at full printing size if you only work in a vector based program, but if you do any work in a raster based program at all, you must work at full printing size at 300 dpi.

You may wonder why I would recommend working in RGB color mode? Working in RGB mode you will create your art with the most vibrant colors possible, then when the separation or RIP software converts it you will get the brightest colors that CMYK or indexed color can give you. It won’t be quite as bright as the RGB colors on your screen, but they will be as bright as you can get in the particular printing method being used.

Then, once you have killer art, find a contract DTG printer with white ink machines (so white is white and you can have dark garments), or find a great screen printer with automatic presses (for consistency and accurate colors), or find a super sublimator (one who can get the colors and detail right).

JHanching · September 30th, 2009

Omnios, it might be a good idea to invest in some PANTONE guides so that you can communicate colors properly with whoever you do business with. It'll save a lot of headaches.

Omnios · October 3rd, 2009

K problem I have a have two main logo graphics with huge white and very light gray stomach areas and DTG fulfillement does not print white on light colored shirts. Can it print out light grays so that the color of the shirt does not show in the large stomach area. What are the limitations in this regard without being able to print white on light color shirts such as tan, yellow etc.

AeresClothing · October 3rd, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omnios


	K problem I have a have two main logo graphics with huge white and very light gray stomach areas and DTG fulfillement does not print white on light colored shirts. Can it print out light grays so that the color of the shirt does not show in the large stomach area. What are the limitations in this regard without being able to print white on light color shirts such as tan, yellow etc.

What fulfillment service are you using? DTG printers should print white on light colored shirts.

bornover · October 5th, 2009

I'm with Kyle. The only time I don't use white in any of my light colored shirts is if the design has no white, or the shirt is white its self.

The white highlights, even in on light colored shirt, make the design pop.

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