To start, this is my first venture into the tshirt business. I am trying to find the best way to print this design (attached is just a cropping of it, an overview of all the features of various fades and gradients). What is the best way to print this? It will be on a black shirt. I can't tell if I can do this with screening...I really don't want any noticable halftones, and for sizing, the balls will be about 1/3 - 1/2" in diameter, so the fades will be very tight.
Right now I am looking at DTG, but I would much rather do screening because of cost.
And would this be a 6 color print job? (all colors are represented in the attachment).
Looks like that could be reproduced with a 4 color process screening, if used on a white, or light T. If a dark shirt, a white underbase will be needed. 4 color process printing will only cost you 4 or 5 screens, and a quart of each color @ $15 a quart. Get some and try it out. Registration is the big importance in 4 color process.
Since you (apparently) don't screenprint, or have a DTG machine, what is your goal here? To print a few shirts to sell? Your only real option here is to find someone with a DTG machine to do a few shirts, or if you're doing a lot of shirts to sell (perhaps 6 dozen or more), find a good screenprinter. If you're asking about what kind of equipment to buy to do this, DTG is prohibitively expensive, and, although a little less expensive, decent screenprinting equipment has a high learning curve. Or check with Cafepress, or any of the similar sites and have them printed through them.
Thanks for the advice. I do not have a DTG machine or screenprint. My goal is to sell these shirts wholesale/retail. I have several designs I want to produce, but I don't have the capital/time to purchase my own equipment to produce the shirts myself, at least at this point (I am still in school). I don't want to use Cafepress or anything like that because they charge too much.
I would like to do a run of 100 pieces at first, just to see if the design would sell, and if I see that it does, that go ahead and go full out with the marketing and production. I just always had the impression you couldn't screen fades that tight (just from looking at someone's work, who now that I think about it really just did this as a hobby and didn't have the best equipment).
If I were to screen this, how many colors would it be (just trying to figure out quotes online)?
Dude
You should really think about what your going to put on a shirt.
that design you picked would be pretty expensive to print.
The poster above is right it looks like a four color process
"the film and artwork seperation alone is going to cost you an arm and a leg.If your just feeling out the market don't waste your money getting stuck with shirts that are going to sit in your garage and collect dust.
I'm not dissing your design I'm just trying to get you to think a different way.
I have seen to many clothing companies try and fail because They go for the expensive stuff first.
If your just feeling it out,why not try a 1-2 color print with a radical design,or mock up some shirts with your design on paper,and then take it to the store you want to sell it at or post it online and see if people start responding and wanting to order.
Good luck
DV
Thanks for the advice. I do not have a DTG machine or screenprint. My goal is to sell these shirts wholesale/retail. I have several designs I want to produce, but I don't have the capital/time to purchase my own equipment to produce the shirts myself, at least at this point (I am still in school). I don't want to use Cafepress or anything like that because they charge too much.
I would like to do a run of 100 pieces at first, just to see if the design would sell, and if I see that it does, that go ahead and go full out with the marketing and production. I just always had the impression you couldn't screen fades that tight (just from looking at someone's work, who now that I think about it really just did this as a hobby and didn't have the best equipment).
If I were to screen this, how many colors would it be (just trying to figure out quotes online)?
On black shirts you're going to need simulated process. Actually, even on white shirts you'd need it, because the colors you've got in your swatch look to me like they'll print sort of flat unless you use neon inks, and you'd need to hire someone to do your separations based on that. I think if you go with process color on a white underbase, or regular spot colors on a white underbase, you'll be disappointed in the outcome.
You really ought to take your file to a local DTG printer who can do black shirts and have one shirt printed as a prototype. It'll be the cheapest way to find out what it's going to look like on a shirt. You might even want to change the art after a first print. I've done simulated process jobs I made up from scratch and after the first print, cleaned the whole mess up, adjusted my art, output all new film, burned all new screens and set the job up again, because I found things I didn't think popped enough, or some things that looked oversaturated, or colors that were flat with one stroke, but plugged up halftones if I stroked it twice.
Thanks everybody. I am getting some samples printed from DTG printers to see how they look.
I really need to use this design in this color scheme. From talking to friends/family/professors, they think it is a great idea (which I understand those close to you will want to support you so they may be skewed).
ImageIt, the mock versoin of what it would look like really helped me. I don't think I would be happy with that.
I was just hoping I could go the screenprinting route and save some money when I started having larger orders come through, but the quality is very important to me...
I guess I'll just have to keep thinking it through.
Well, you need to take your artwork and hit some of the local screen printing shops.
You may find what you want is not that hard.
We do what you looking to do all the time and no way does it look like the crap ImageIt posted.
I was going to go the heatpress route, but then I was informed the paper I would need to print on for dark shirts (I think it was Iron All Dark) can not be cut on a plotter. So I abandoned that idea.
I will try to calculate the exact dimentions of the balls and get back to you...
Keep in mind, the dots are only 1/2". For a better idea of that will happen, you could print the simulation out on an inkjet printer at the correct size.
If you didn't like the simulation, it is also likely you will not like the DTG. With DTG being able to produce single quantities, there is little downside to ordering a sample.
To remove the halftone dots, the art could be re-designed to used spot colors. This would allow for for pure colors to be printed, rather than halftone mixed process colors.
fred
Actually, inkjet prints ususally look better because they don't use halftones in the linescreen sense, but in dots per inch, and they can be output at higher resolutions. Additionally, any kind of simulation is unlikely to give you a real feel for what the art will look like on a t-shirt. I NEVER show a customer a print on a pellon for that reason. The pellons always look better, because you're printing on a smooth surface. Now when printing simulated process on a white underbase, if the top colors were't flashed, allowing for some blending of the inks and softening of the halftone dots, and taking into account that the shirt fabric tends to break up the halftone pattern a little anyway, you would probably get a smoother print than the halftone example shown, but with balls about 1/2" across, I don't think it'll ever be as smooth, on a t-shirt, as what you see on your screen, or what you might print out on paper. Take it to a DTG printer and get one printed. If it's bright enough in terms of the color, that'll give you a pretty good idea of how good it'll ever get. Then find a screenprinter that can match the sample. If he uses fluorescent, or neon inks, it would pop. Ask him to see samples of process or simulated process jobs he's printed on black shirts.
You've got to keep in mind that these are t-shirts we're talking about printing, not the National Geographic or some art book. You're going to have to make an allowance for the substrate, regardless of how image-quality minded you are, because it's a friggin' t shirt, after all.
I still need to do a little bit of cleaning up, add the text, and also add my logo next to the text. But the text and logo would only add approximately 1" to the bottom of the design.
Take it to a DTG printer and get one printed. If it's bright enough in terms of the color, that'll give you a pretty good idea of how good it'll ever get. Then find a screenprinter that can match the sample. If he uses fluorescent, or neon inks, it would pop. Ask him to see samples of process or simulated process jobs he's printed on black shirts.
You've got to keep in mind that these are t-shirts we're talking about printing, not the National Geographic or some art book. You're going to have to make an allowance for the substrate, regardless of how image-quality minded you are, because it's a friggin' t shirt, after all.
Now when a screen printer says they can match my sample from a DTG or different source, you mean just take their word on it, right? Not actually have a sample printed up (as this would cost a decent amount)?
Do most printers keep samples of past jobs they have done?
I know what you mean about this not being National Geographic. I think I really need to loosen up with this. I was just so stuck in keeping perfect quality, that I didn't even think about evaluating the quality of the possible outcomes. For instance the second simulation provided (I know you said it is hard to match simulations), but the second one looks pretty funky in my eyes and could work for what I'm looking for. Maybe even better than what I had originally planned.
Is this possible to screen? 
