Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I'm an idiot when it comes to this stuff. I've always just worked in entry level desktop publishing programs, and am not very familiar with all the ways of the vector images, etc. This is a .jpg, as are 98% are my graphics. Even the graphics I create on my own in Paint shop pro, I save as .jpg, cause I don't know any other way.
With that being said (so you don't talk over my head in your response) -- What would be your first instinct as to what method to apply this graphic? \
The guy wants 5 shirts right now, and swears when he wears them into the shop, I'm gonna get orders for dozens more. He'd prefer them on various color shirts, tan, grey, yellow, black - but I told him there's a chance I'll only be able to get the graphic on light color shirts.
I've lost a lot of business that way in the past, which is why I'm purchasing a vinyl cutter this week, or will order the screen printed transfers if that will be best.
What would you do with this graphic in this situation?
Coming from someone that's been doing custom work for a while;
Quote:
The guy wants 5 shirts right now, and swears when he wears them into the shop, I'm gonna get orders for dozens more. He'd prefer them on various color shirts, tan, grey, yellow, black - but I told him there's a chance I'll only be able to get the graphic on light color shirts.
I get told that all the time that by doing this small order it may lead to a bigger order. I believe the person feels by saying that "i will reduce my prices".
"I DON'T"
I can't recall any order that has actually resulted in "others people ordering" from the same company just because the person wore theirs in. All this to say I hope you are charging for the 5 shirts and what you normally would charge. If they return you can always offer the initial person a discount on his/her next order.
But getting to your question;
Your design has multiple colors so your best option may be to print it using an ink jet transfers or find someone that can print the shirts for you using DTG technology.
Both methods doesn't care how many ink colors you.
Vinyl cutting of this job would not be easy unless you were using a vinyl cutter that prints on opaque vinyl and then cuts it out the design as a patch (contour).
Screenprinting would be too expensive (i'm not sure the shadowing in the design would even be possible). The cost you are looking at could be for screens, setup charges and cost per ink colors. I see about 6 ink colors as you are using 2 types of red, black, tan, shadowing, White (if you don't use white ink then the areas in the design that are white will be the shirt color showing through).
I think for five shirts DTG is gonna be the game as Angela mentioned. If the image were refined and vectored then you could use vinyl but you will lose the soft shadows and detail in the damaged car as well as some of the distressed look. Digital transfer can work but you are going to need lite and dark paper and a bit of trimming either by hand or your new cutter with optic registration. See the thread about two ply transfer cutting. See if you can find someone in your area to do the DTG for ya and make a quick sale. Remember though that the inside of your art is mostly white ink so get a good sample on a dark colored shirt before saying do it!!!!
If you are using a heat press, I would get the graphic cleaned up by a place like vectordoctor or artworksource.com and converted into a vector graphic.
Then I would get the pricing for a minimum order of screen printing plastisol transfers (4 colors). Then I would quote the customer based on what the plastisol transfers cost.
Part of sales is also educating the customer on what's possible and how they can get the best deals. They want just 5 shirts with different color garments with a multi colored graphic. While it's nice to be able to always say "yes" to a customer, there are times like this when you need to let them know about minimum orders for that type of graphic and what processes are available to meet his needs.
I think educated customers feel more confident in ordering from you since they know what to expect on future orders and pricing.
Might also want to explore the option of a plastisol transfer. Try Transfer Xpress or F&M. If you charge enough, you could order 12 transfers and only give him 5 shirts. If more orders come in, you already have the transfers done and it is extra money. I agree that vinyl is not going to be the answer for this design.
Whether you do it with a transfer (inkjet, laser or plastisol) or a dtg print, do NOT drop your pricing for 5 shirts. The statement that more sales will come in shortly will almost never when the shirt is for a business. Have the person asking for 5 shirts to introduce you to the business owner and see if he/she will purchase a large quantity of shirts. If not, why would the employees of the company pay for shirts that are going to promote the company? It does not add up to me. JMO.
Definitely a vector image. Using a raster format (PICT TIFF JPEG or GIF) will look terrible - as that one does already. Anyway - I would definitely trace over it in illustrator (shouldn't take too long if you know what you're doing) and republish the file as an EPS or something. It's pretty much 100% linework.
Not sure how to even reply to this. I actually created this graphic/logo that 'already looks terrible'. Oh well, my customer likes it.
If I had Illustrator, and knew how to use it (as indicated in original post) we wouldn't even be discussing this.
Sorry - I really didn't mean to offend. I wasn't referring to your aesthetic sensibilites. I was referring to the technical aspects of it - (lack of clean edges, etc...) - if you like it - you should do it in a vector program. I can only respond to what you post. And what you posted was also WAY too low resolution to be able to print more than an inch in size on a t-shirt - to my mind.
But hey - it's GOOD to look professional - I think. I can't see how that would be a bad thing. It sounds all around though.... like it's way too little to be promised (in terms of work) to go through that - or pay a graphic design firm the $1000 (minimum) to reconstruct it in a vector format.
But anyway- the upshot of this is - that I'd suggest you look into doing similar stuff in a vector format in the future - it'll pay off handsomely with good looking artwork. Just my 2 cents. You don't have to listen to me.
I know I NEED vector format to have things as they should be - I just don't have the knowledge as of yet to make that happen.
Thanks for the input though. I'll catch up eventually.
Okay- well - just trying to give you constructive criticism and respond honestly and helpfully (trying to suggest a solution) - so if there's any way any of us CAN help - please, just let us know. Otherwise - I guess I'm not sure what you were asking in your original post.
sincerely,
Jonathan
PS - buying a vinyl cutter is going to force you to get real 'up close and personal' with vector graphics - because that's all they will function with (!!).
Last edited by NeoGraphic; November 15th, 2006 at 09:39 PM.
it's way too little to be promised (in terms of work) to go through that - or pay a graphic design firm the $1000 (minimum) to reconstruct it in a vector format.
Sure - why not? There are a LOT of firms that I can't see charging less than $500 to sneeze onto a page... that's the starting price for many...to do ANYTHING... perhaps not what a student would charge though. Not too many would be very interested in reconstructing someone else's artwork. So you'd definitely have to pay for it.
Get your raster image to him before 8 pm eastern time, and you will receive your vector image the next day in most cases.
Oh, yeah, if it's not too complicated, your first raster to vector image is free!
Check out the prices and the work he's done NeoGraphic, I am sure you will agree that it can be done for MUCH less than the $1,000 you mentioned, or even the $500!
I've used him several times, and have been very satisfied!
Pam, you need to check him out. I can't speak for him, but just looking at the pricing on the site, I'm sure your design would be under $40. Probably around the $20 range.
The quote is free. Just email him the image you have attached here, and see what he says.
If you do, be sure to let us know how it turns out!
I don't think you'd have any problem getting a graphic designer to do that from scratch for something like $100-$200 (or free under the right circumstances), or (what I'd do in this case) a lot less if you go with a vector converting service.
You're right that plenty of high class designers wouldn't sneeze onto a page for less than $500. I wouldn't hesitate to go to those guys to brand your company, create an advertising campaign, etc. but there are plenty of other much, much cheaper alternatives available for more basic work.
Oh my, I'm pretty excited about this Vector Doctor. I just emailed him that graphic, along with a dozen or so others. I have dozens that I'd like to have converted - so I can either cut them in vinyl (the single color ones) or have plastisols made of them.
Thanks soo much for that info. I'll let you know how it turns out.
What would you do with this graphic? 
