design tips and resources

contents:

• quick 3 steps to creating a good t-shirt design
• examples of good and bad t-shirt art
• photoshop and illustrator techniques: make your design print-ready!

quick 3 steps to creating a good t-shirt design:

1) Use high-quality images that have clearly separated color areas

• google image search is a great place to start for ideas or images for shirts
  (just make sure they aren’t copyrighted! We assume that you have rights to reproduce every image you give us)
• some other internet sites that can be used to download free art:
  http://free-clipart.net/
  http://www.tshirt-factory.com (free sample section)
  http://vector4free.com/
• in photoshop, use the “cutout” filter and “poster edges” filter, after adjusting the “brightness/contrast” of your image, can greatly help in seperating color areas

2) Use cool fonts

• for totally excellent free font choices, visit http://www.dafont.com

3) Choose print and shirt colors that go well together. Play with several ideas. Athletic team colors can be good inspiration for tried and true color combos.

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examples of good and bad t-shirt art:

*remember to check resolution in your graphics program! you can’t always tell on your computer screen

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photoshop and illustrator techniques:
make your design print-ready

If you know a little bit of illustrator and have your artwork already, here is a little tutorial on making it print-ready: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytkZCJTfYvI

Create your image at the proper size from the beginning:

Resize your document in Photoshop to proper print resolution (300 dpi) and size:

Size your document correctly in Illustrator:

Rasterize Type Layers in Photoshop:

Create outlines for ALL of your fonts in Illustrator:

If you are using Pantone colors, use the “solid coated” palette:

Any Questions about these techniques? E-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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