​S​altire and Lion Creative T-Shirt Design 2016
Design Tutorial How we do it - Create your own t-shirt design. Software settings, sizing, resolution. Best format when saving before printing. Try it out.
Hi and welcome to a short tutorial on how we do what we do,
Ever wondered how the design on your t-shirt or other printable got there. If the answer is yes then your on the right page. It's not the printing of the design onto the product i'm refering to, everyone knows that, right !, it's how the actual design was created.
In this section i'm going to give you a brief insight into how my designs are created, the thought process and the software used in the making. I'm sometimes asked if anyone could do it, and the answer is simple, YES.
Lets start with the software,
From the very beginning i have been creating my designs with PSP, Paint Shop Pro version 7. I purchased the full package to assist me with my football website at the time. The software was'nt just a plug and play type of thing, i had to figure out what everything done. I got frustrated on many ocassions when i just could'nt master certain tools, but i'm the type that does not give up easily, so i kept on making mistakes until as i say, the penny dropped ( i suddenly understood ). Now i would'nt give PSP up for anything, no matter how good the others say they are.
OK, now the thought process,
Something big and bold that would prompt people in the right direction. A message that you would like to promote to passers bye when they look your way and see your shirt. Something that just might encourage someone who needs a bit of a shove.
The other half ( the wife ) asked me, what are you up to now. I told her my idea and she said, no worries you'll smash it. You would not Adam and Eve it (believe it), she had just unwittingly given me the answer to what i was racking my brains for, BOOM.
OK, you may have seen the graphic below on your way here.
I opened a new file using my PSP software and used the following settings.
Image size - 4000x4000 pixels = ( 20"x20" i always size big, you can downsize later )
Resoluton - 200 dots per square inch is adequate for shirts
Background - Transparent ( Most important thing to me - no background colours )
Now i know what my design is, in my head, it's time to lay it on the blank canvas.
IMPORTANT - Each step below has its own LAYER, see the layers in our image, top left ( I choose Raster ). i will abreviate with L1,L2,L3 as we go.
L1 : PSP has some Pre Set shapes that i can use, so i will use a Flash and colour it red with grey border to compliment different coloured garments.
L2 : Next i will add an eyecatching word, as you see, BOOM. Colour for the text, black with grey border, text Forte, size 700
L3 : OK, i really want to point out my statement so back into my Pre Set Shapes and select a hand with finger pointing, colours black and white.
L3 + L4 : OK, Now i want to put my point across and tell passers bye that they CAN, Smash it, using the same text settngs as before.
L5 : Big exclamation mark, again using same text, colours, size bigger this time so it stands out.
L6 : OK, Now it's story time, i choose my favourite saying, Dont put off until tomorrow, text forte, size 200
L7 : NOW line 2, What you can achieve today, text forte, size 200.
IMPORTANT : Save your file in it's layered format so you dont lose it ( Paint Shop Pro image.psp )
ONLY after you have completed that step, you MUST, Click Layers, from dropdown Click Merge, go accross and Click, Merge Visible
Nearly There : Now save your file again, Save As. Make sure the Save As file type is changed to Portable Network Graphics, .png, before you Save.
All done, you can now use your graphic anywhere. I am merely pointing out the basics of, what we do and how we do it.
I hope you have enjoyed our wee brief but informative excercise and hopefully inspired you to have a go.
Go on, Smash it "BOOM !", Dont put off until tomorrow, What you can achieve today.
