Engineering and fabrication

How do you design something for a design on a shirt?

Trying to get into grafhic design. Basically I need details on how to make the design. All I have is a idea!

Public Comments

1. good old paper and pencil


2. color it using paint


3. Use photoshop or a similar program.

   Make sure each color is on a separate layer for the printing process. Screening shirts requires doing each color separately so that part is important.

   The rest is up to you, make a design however big you want of whatever you want. The shirt printers can do the rest.



4. Start simple and then add more details as you go.it is a better idea to use contrasting colors for impact.make sure that you draw your design down using either computer or paper so you can see the result first


5. I do graphic design in High school make sure you have either adobe photoshop or illustrator and start off with your design on paper by drawing it if you get a clean enough sketch you can scan and retrace your picture into photoshop or illustrator. As someone else said make sure your colors are on separate layers and if your going to make the screens and print the shirts yourself then you need to make sure you have enough screens for each color in your design. Another option is to get iron on transfers so you can print from your own printer and iron it right onto the T-shirt. Good Luck it's hard to start off but once you get the hang of it, it gets easier.


6. I am a die hard practicioner of thumbnail sketches. I may make dozens of sketches to get a good idea of where the illustration may take me.

   By the time I am done with this step, I have a very good idea about the proportions of the illustration, the pose of the character(s), composition, flow, text, etc.

   After that, what comes next depends on a few things. I may sketch out a final drawing at it's full size, then scan it in for inking and coloring. I may end up inking it on paper, before scanning and coloring in the computer.

   If the design is larger than I can fit in my desktop scanner, then, I will scan in the final thumnail sketch and use Adobe Illustrator's vector drawing tools to ink it. Depending on the type of design, I may color it in Illustrator, or take it into Photshop for coloring.

   A lot of things to consider, for which, ultimately, the client must make some decisions, such as how many colors to use. (the more colors, the more screens must be cut, each one a separate printing step) gradiated fills, which will need a halftone screen, and others.

   The next steps are very critical for a freelance designer's bottom line. The more I can do to prepare the image for printing, the less I will have to pay somone else to do it for me. Also, the more I do myself, the more I can charge my client. He can, either, pay me or the print shop to do the color separations. You do NOT have to make each color on separate layers. Illustrator and Photshop, both, have excellent color sep tools, with Illustrator's being a bit more advanced for operations like trapping, choking and text layout. For gradiated fills, halftone screens must be selected, etc.

   By the time the file gets to the print service bureau, all they have to do is cut the screens. (or cast the plates, for paper printing)



7. buy a shirt transfer package. this you can get at office max, stamples, any office store, heck even walmart has them. you can buy dark transfer for dark shirts, cotton transfers, all kinds. Design it and print it out in your printer and then iron it on. if you have words on it remember they have to be printed in a mirror reflection to come out where the shirt can be read.


8. You can have it professionally done with some company like Digital Image Manipulations http://www.dimdigital.com