TCU Design

[chrisg88]

Hello all. I'm new here..always have played around with Flash, just now gettin started w/ Photoshop CS2 (at home) and 6.0 (at school).

Right now I'm trying to make a cool looking graphic design for a t-shirt.

Here is what I got right now.
Any ideas how I could improve the graphic?

Thx

-Chris

P.S. What I have there is a JPEG image. If you need the Adobe Photoshop Image, just tell me.

[iLikePie]

i don't really understand at all how this will go on a shirt... is that image just going to be put onto the shirt as a rectangle in the middle, or did you want that to be the whole size of the shirt or what?

you will also run into troubles if you use photoshop for tshirt design because often they need to be vector format (because you can't use lots of colors sometimes) and also they often print yukkily.

[chrisg88]

i don't really understand at all how this will go on a shirt... is that image just going to be put onto the shirt as a rectangle in the middle, or did you want that to be the whole size of the shirt or what?

you will also run into troubles if you use photoshop for tshirt design because often they need to be vector format (because you can't use lots of colors sometimes) and also they often print yukkily.

Alright. This is somewhat what I want it to look like on a shirt.

So you say I shouldn't use Photoshop. Well what do companies like FOSSIL do to create graphic tees? > http://www.fossil.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=35209&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=1002&iSubCat=1006&iProductID=35209&selectedcolor=1470

[nobody]

Vector programs like Illustrator, generally. That way you're designing something scalable, where-as yours is going to look really awful on a shirt because it most likely wasn't designed at a high enough resolution. Also FOSSIL and most other graphic tee design co.s screen print their tees rather than doing transfers, which your shirt would have to be because you wouldn't be able to screen something with gradients and such. Read up on vector graphics and screen printing, there's a lot you need to be aware of before jumping into this :)

[chrisg88]

ok. thx for the advice.

so what do you suggest i do? completely start over with this design? or is there any way i can use this design, and somehow make it like an Illustrator file or somethin?

[nobody]

Start over. You can live trace in Illustrator but it's going to look terrible. You can't really make a design in just a few minutes. I have a shirt on a label that's pretty small but took me a couple of weeks to design, so it's really not something you can just bust out in a couple minutes and hope it'll look good. At least if you're going for quality design and production, which you should.

[CanisMajor]

Our last project in my college Advanced PS class was to design a tee shirt design and then we voted on the winner and sent that to a shop to have the shirts printed up. I still have the tee shirt.

We used PS exclusively, so it can be done.

However, we had to follow strict guidelines to make it printable.

There are tricks to make the gradients work, and it can all be done in PS.

It probably is easier to do with a different program, but since it was a PS class we had to learn how to do it.

Actually, now that I think about it, I remember the project was pretty difficult.

I would recommend a different program for it.



.

[nobody]

Yeah it's certainly possible, but there's no reason to learn how to do it wrong when there's a better way to start learning to do it right.

You used gradients most likely because your shirt was printed as some kind of transfer, rather than screened, which is a lower quality way to get the job done.

[chrisg88]

Alright. 'Appreciate all the advice.

Just d/led Inkscape. Gonna test out this program, unless yall have another program that's free that's better than this wannabe.

I think I might call some Screen Printing companies and ask them what program they use. Hopefully they'll be kind enough to give me some info.

Thanks

[CanisMajor]

Naw, it was screened with no transfer. The printer came to the class and showed me how to do it but I don't remember and have no desire to do that project again. (those notes were not kept).

I agree with you, it was difficult and I do not suggest doing it that way.

[iLikePie]

hey Chris i don't think inkscape will be any good.

I haven't used it but it sounds like it would be a raster program like photoshop.
So if you're going to do that, then use photoshop instead.

and when you call the shops, pretty much expect them to say illustrator or another vector program like freehand, fireworks or even Flash. If you have flash you could draw in that.

the whole issue is how the file is generated... you need to understand the concept of Vector drawing.
But having said that, if you can make it in photoshop but limit yourself to a few colors (and i mean a FEW colors, not like 40 shades of purple) then it could still be screened.

[nobody]

Inkscape is an open source vector program. I don't have much experience with it, but if it has a pen tool it should be fine.

[chrisg88]

and when you call the shops, pretty much expect them to say illustrator or another vector program like freehand, fireworks or even Flash. If you have flash you could draw in that.



Interesting that you said that b/c I researched the Vector programs, and it said Flash can be used.
I must be honest, I think I have an obsession with Flash. So. This is good. This is real good. How do u think I can make a design like this in Flash? I guess it's basically the same idea with layers....but how do i do opacity and all that jazz? Thanks!