TshirtGang.com

Black Stencil Designs

Here's a general tip for anyone creating a black stencil design. Make sure your edges are clean and filled in solid black. In Photoshop you can use the Refine Edge command to smooth it out. Afterwards reselect your image and you the Fill command to fill it with a flat black. It's also important to avoid anti-aliasing. I'll explain this in another post later.

Black stencil designs are NOT recommended for the follow colored t-shirts:
Black
Navy Blue
Forest Green
Purple

Sizing of Images

One of the big errors people tend to do is taking a small image and stretching to fit the required size specifications. This is a definite NO. The reason is because of most images on the internet are optimized for 72 dpi (dots per inch). Where as DTG printing, the process requires at least 200 dpi. If you want to source out images that you wish to use in your original designs, always search out for high resolution images. The best way is to use Google Images. You will be able to filter out your sizes for Large. When you paste your image into Photoshop you can scale it a bit more to accommodate proper sizing. This is a big difference versus using a low adequate source image.

Great tips!

Thanks Suzanne. Feel free to ask anything design related in this forum. I'm just posting random tips that are key to DTG printing for all current designers and sellers to know. If you have a topic or question you would like me to cover feel free to ask.

What's the fastest way to create a transparent background for your design if it's a .jpg

Thanks Chris.

Depends what the image is. If you have an image on a solid background the quickest way is to use the Magic Eraser tool in Adobe Photoshop. Click on the solid areas and you'll see the transparent checker pattern show on your image layer. If you have an intricate design I recommend you use the Path tool to fine tune your selection. When you have completed your Path, click on the Path options > Make Selection > Feather Radius: 0 > Anti-aliased checked off > Click OK. Once you have cut your image out and is placed on its own layer, go to File > Save As > Select PNG > PNG Option NONE > Click Ok.

 if you don't have photoshop Are there any other free programs that can do this?

If you're using a Windows-based machine, try http://www.getpaint.net/

There's the basic option of Photoshop Elements people can buy, There's also GIMP which is popular and its free. Using Adobe Illustrator is also great and handles PSD to PNG export as well. Here's a link to some other popular applications for both PC and Mac that are free to use or try out http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/10-excellent-open-source-and-free-alternatives-to-photoshop/

Another option if you can't do it yourself is to use the "submit new idea" feature located under My Products>my ideas
and I would be happy to do it for you. :)

Hi Phil.
Even though we do not monitor all designs submitted we do see them if ordered. We reserve the right to delete a product from our data base if we know that it infringes on a legally filed copyright and or trademark. Ie dont send in nike swosh or addidas. Reebok etc
Spoofs Or similar designs that resemble a copyrighted are usually safe and what I like to design personally
Make it original and make it yours. Good luck!

Although we can print lower resolution images for the best quality follow our guide here:

http://tshirtgang.com/tutorials/photoshop

For those who wish to design their own images here are the first few steps.
1 - Open Photoshop, I currently use CS2 but these instructions work with all versions.
2 - File (top left) -- New or Ctrl N – A box will open with options
3 - Enter the following info in the following boxes
--Preset: Custom
-- Width:13 --- In inches (the dropdown box beside it)
-- Height:16 (also inches)
-- Resolution:200 -- pixels/inch (the dropdown box beside it)
-- Color Mode: RGB Color -- 8 bit (the dropdown box beside it) this is an important step as only 8 bit will print
-- Background Contents: Transparent
-- Color Profile: Working RGB
-- Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
-- On the right of the "New" box is "Save Preset" button, name the preset whatever you wish i.e. 13x16. This is the only preset you will need to make a T shirt design
-- Click OK

4 - A window will appear. This is going to be your design. From here there are options, effects, styles, filters, adjustments and so on that will help transform your design into that look you were hoping for. It takes hours of practice and playing with all the options but the more designs you do the better you will get at it. Guaranteed.

Here is a simple design to do. Just text.
-- On the bottom right is your Layers box. If you decide that your shirt is going to be on a white shirt you may want to have white background layer.
-- On the left is your tool box -- there are 22 tools to choose from. I use about half of them but play with them all and see what you like -- Click the "T" tool and bring your cursor back over your New File. Click on that screen -- Type whatever text you want. Make sure it is not the color of your background.
Across the top panel are options like "Microsoft Word". Choose fonts, size, margins, color, warping and character. Play with them all -- an important thing to remember "Edit Undo" will fix 99% of your perceived mistakes or Ctrl Z.
-- In your tools at the top on the right is an arrow (Move Tool or V), click this and move the layer (whatever layer is selected in Layers). If you need to create a new Layer – right bottom of the Layers windows is buttons, move your cursor or them and see what they are. Delete, New Layer is most common. Create as many layers as you like or delete them.
-- If you are happy with your text design, then it is time to save. But first the image must be cropped and transparent – In your layers each layer has an “eye”, click it and the layer goes blank. Keep only the layer you want– In your tools, 3 down on the left is “crop tool”, click it – place the cursor near the edge of your text and click and drag over the image. Pull in the sides, top and bottom. Double click the image.
Your design is ready to save.
--File – Save As —Add a title and in the Format select PNG. Save in a folder titled “Masters”.
I use three folders within my Design Folder.
1) Masters (the image I will upload to tshirtgang) titled whatever keywords you choose plus T shirt.
2) Host (the image tshirtgang provides me with my design on a shirt). I title it the Product ID only.
3) Ideas (this is where I save pictures and ideas for future shirts)
You may want to obtain more fonts or styles from whatever sources you have.
Open a file from your Ideas folder or drag it from the folder into Photoshop. Use the move tool to drop it on your new Preset 13x16 file. Use Edit – Transform – resize the image to your liking.
Remember the bigger the pictures, the more pixels, the better the quality of the print.
From here play with the image all you want. Crop it, save it, list it.
Watching tutorials on the internet for Photoshop will always help.
A few quick tips are the “F” key. Once you have your new file open hit “F” to get a better view. Hit it again for a different view and “F” again to return to the original view.
The navigator in the top right is to zoom in and out of your image. You may also use the magnify tool in the tool bar.
In the View drop down box along the top is Rulers, this will put rulers on your file that may not appear in the default settings. Snap and Snap to should always be checked, this will help you in the future when you get more proficient at designing.
Remember if you make a mistake just edit -- undo. It will become your best friend.

A quick tip re: using text fonts in your designs. When you're using your type tool, Photoshop gives you the option for anti-alias smoothing. This gives the text a smooth appearance when rendering your type. However anti-aliasing on color and dark shirts cause a "halo effect" around the type. It will cause a white lining around your text and this is a no no. When you are rendering your text switch your anti-aliasing mode to "NONE". With some fonts to display well in Photoshop they need anti-aliasing to be set to "SMOOTH" to display properly. That is ok, however when you're done your text layer, right click on the text layer to "RASTERIZE TYPE". After that click on the paint bucket tool, set your tolerance level to 30, select the color you want and click on the text layer. That will make the text a solid color with no halo effect edges.

Can you do a sample for template settings for Illustrator also?

Hey Omnizzle,

Here's a link where we discussed saving your artwork in Illustrator to be ready for upload.
http://www.tshirtgang.com/forum/topic/86/saving_artwork_in_illustrator#2

Any other questions feel free to post here or direct message me, and I'll be happy to help.

Excellent. Thanks!

Good day. I've been back reading your comments I've learned a lot. Great idea, info and tips. I'm still learning how to take control by using photoshop. Well, practice makes perfect. I will be checking some topics here to check if there are any updates or things that might be helpful to me. Good job! I will be following this page.

I want to have my own clothing line :) ....(wishful thinking)
I Don't Get Drunk T-shirt

Missing a step: Hello all, I was wondering if someone may be able to help us with a problem we keep having?? When uploading to tshirtgang our designs look great on white T-shirts but whenever we switch T-shirt colors it seems to bring that color into some area of our design. How do we create designs that do not pull in the color of the T-shirt? Basically we want our designs to lay on top of whatever color shirt we would like and block out the T-shirt color when it is printed. Thanks for any advice you can offer.