Hello guys, we sent our design to the printer and they are saying they want to use white underbase...
one thing i don't want to do is make it look bulletproof, heavy feel, i like light design...
also this is a solid layout so i don't want it to be rough, i like the soft feel
here is the design.
I need to make a decision right now,
If you want the yellows that bright, you'll need the underbase. If you don't mind the colors being less vibrant, you can do it without.
The printer will be cautious because he's probably had customers reject work in the past for such reasons as color not being vibrant enough. You'll have to tell him you don't care if the yellow doesn't "stand out". Simply put, the yellow and red won't 'pop' as much if there's no underbase.
I see, thanks that helped, we decided to go with underbase but not on everything, just the yello red and green ... half way compromise.... but i think underbase is overrated....
The underbase is not overrated. If you want the super soft feel then you need to find a printer who can do discharge printing and uses either water based ink or is capable of manipulating the plastisols to achieve the desired hand.
As you said they will be printed, you will notice a difference between the hand on the trunk vs the hand on the leaves.
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if using discharge no need yet if regular plasticols you'll need a underbase for the yellow and red ink to be as bring as in your design.
Best option is to tape half the design/underbase off and print the complete design. youll notice the major color shifts and have a good shirt/print to compare
If you have to double (or triple) hit a color to get it bright enough, then the argument as to whether or not to underbase becomes moot. With yellow ink on a dark tee, you'll never get as bright a print by multiple hits of yellow vs. one hit over a white underbase. And most bright reds benefit too. I pretty much always underbase light colors on dark. Try to keep the underbase thin and smooth and you'll always get a great looking shirt. What's the point of a real soft-handed design if the design sucks because it's too dull?
I think you would see a much less acceptable result if you had this printed w/o a white underbase on a darker color shirt (Black, Navy, Maroon etc.) The fact that the shirt color is not too dark allows the inks to mask the shirt more effectively.
The shirt looks really good in the pic. Just don't expect to get those same results on darker shirts w/o a white base.
Good luck,
Ken
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just about ever ink manufacturer carries high opacity inks. These can be used directly on dark shirts with decent results. Some athletic inks are made this way as well. You will find that under basing is not overrated yet a normal practice and widely used in this industry
The shirt you printed on is a lighter color than a true dark t like black, navy or maroon. Also from your pic the yellow looks like it has a hit of a green shade to it. Obviously your the artist and printer so you can make that determination as to what is acceptable. If I printed that for a contract client I would be purchasing the shirt and re printing.
To underbase or not??? 
