Go MediaZine have been releasing some pretty great tutorials about vector graphics that are relevant to designing t-shirts. Their tutorial about ‘Designing Ultra SceneXCore Apparel‘ has been around the tee blogs, but there are a couple that have been neglected. So I’m going to bulletpoint the important aspects of each one and show pictures of tees designed using these techniques. Even though the tutorials use commercial programs like Photoshop and Illustrator, the same principles can be applied to most any raster or vector graphics program that you might have. I’ve been able to do similar techniques using the Gimp (raster) and Inkscape vectors. You might just have to dig around a little for the proper tools. Anyway, enjoy!
1. Designing Ultra SceneXCore Apparel
This Tutorial Covers
- Photo selection tips
- How to reduce a photo’s colors
- How to vectorize a photo
Example
T-Shirt Design for A Wilhelm Scream
2. From Sketch to Vector Illustration
This Tutorial Covers
- Sketching tips
- Scanning tips
- Tips and techniques for digitally inking sketches using vector lines
- Tips and techniques for coloring vector illustrations
Examples
T-Shirt Design for Van Halen
T-Shirt Designs for Ozzfest
3. Beautiful Vector Illustration
This Tutorial Covers
- Photo selection tips
- Limiting details and value ranges
- Tips and techniques for tracing photos
- Exaggerating positive aspects of photos
Example
T-Shirt Design for Fergie
4. Intricate Patterns in Illustrator
This Tutorial Covers
- Creating brushes from swirlies (i.e. pretty things)
- Applying these brushes to vector shapes
- Making very complicated patterns
Example
An intricate pattern!
Well, that’s it! I hope you’ve found some of this stuff useful, or at least enjoyed looking at the pictures. You can see more examples of apparel design by Go Media here and read the GoMediaZine, an excellent design blog.
You might know by now how big a fan I am of Monsieur T. (I have written about them five times before). Anyway, if you recall the preview of their Spring/Summer ‘07 line that I did precisely three months ago… those shirts have just launched! I actually had the pleasure to see three of them (Destroy, Poseidon’s Rage, and The Fury of Zeus) up close and personal a couple days prior at the Reed College bookstore.
Destroy and Poseidon’s Rage NEW! at Monsieur T.
As usual, Monsieur T. have detail pictures of their designs that let you see the elegant detail of each. Zeus and Poseidon both fill the shirt with their large contrast prints, which looks really great. Although I didn’t think to actually touch the prints when I had the chance, they looked very crisp and smooth. The print of The Fury of Zeus looked a little redder when I saw it in person than it does in the picture on their shop page (or maybe it’s just my monitor). It’s neat that the white and black print of Berserk glows in the dark, but I like the light blue on asphalt colorway more.
Instead of just slapping their name on the back of all their shirts, Monsieur T. always work it in with something related to the main design on the front. Not only is it unobtrusive, it’s just downright cool. Take for instance this example, from the back of The Fury of Zeus:
Continue reading ‘New Releases at Monsieur T. (plus a sale!)’
Today’s good word comes to us from Sasha of Beautiful/Decay, a creative entity with which you are no doubt familiar and that we have mentioned in the past. Sasha tells us that there are four brand new designs that have been added to the Beautiful/Decay Artist Series line of shirts! Sweet. We couldn’t keep the news to ourselves, of course, so now we’re passing the info right along to you fine folks. Let’s take a closer look at the designs themselves, shall we not? And of course, be sure to visit each shirt’s individual shop page in order to see ‘em in more detail!
Giant Hand by Jesse LeDoux and Caliph by Aaron Noble: $29.95 each
Jesse LeDoux lays it down first with some monster menagerie action, simply rendered with line art against a soothing gradient in the shape of, appropriately enough, a Giant Hand. Its cosmological vibe is interesting enough, but I like my shirts with a little more chromatic pop. Caliph wins the round on that count, depicting what “could be a comic book superhero’s hallucinatory nightmare.” The image is a bit difficult to decipher, but I’ll be damned if I can’t stop staring at it.
Continue reading ‘New Shirt Designs at Beautiful/Decay’
Greetings, shirt fans. Comin’ atcha straight from Cleveland, Tennessee are Gabe and Jason with today’s featured t-shirt site, Redemption Shirts! This ambitious duo strives to rise above the dismissive yet prevalent “just another t-shirt company” label, infusing their endeavors with, as they describe it, “meaning and purpose.” Noble goals, to be sure, but what matters at the end of the day is the quality and charisma of the ink on your chest. Thankfully, Redemption Shirts does not disappoint:
Here we have Beautiful Mess and Horses, respectively, Redemption’s two shirts that follow the popular “Hey there, stranger, take a seat and deconstruct this image for a spell” mantra in shirt design. Be sure to check out each design’s individual page for some handy background info on the image! While designs like these have their fair share of fans in the shirt world — Beautiful Mess is described as a Redemption Shirts favorite — I prefer shirts that are a bit easier to read, which brings me to my favorite of Gabe’ and Jason’s offerings:
Continue reading ‘Redeem Yourself with a New Tee from Redemption Shirts’
If you know what Bubo is… yes, that’s right: Enclothe has released a t-shirt called Bubo, designed by Nikki Burch.
Bubo NEW! at Enclothe
If you don’t know what Bubo is… I bet you’re wondering what Bubo is, besides some sort of strange owl. I wouldn’t want to keep a secret from you, so I’ll reveal everything.
Continue reading ‘One New Tee from Enclothe: Bubo!’
Threadless did something recently that I think is quite cool, and that it seems not many people know about: they released a Flickr set of the Threadless staff modeling their blanks for people to use in their design submissions! Most of the pictures are of tees, but there’s one each for long-sleeves and hoodies. Because so many of the pictures feature white shirts, it shouldn’t be too hard to colorize them in Photoshop. This one is pretty ‘meta’, but these are my three favorites:
Looks like Kristen just owned Bob at something.
Bob seems to have a bit of an attitude, anyway.
Um… we didn’t need to see that, Ross.
Good luck on all your Threadless subs; let us know if you use one of these pictures!
Link: [Threadless Flickr set]
P.S. I’m done with finals! Yesssssssssss! Finished at 2 AM on Friday… Now I just need to pack for going home. Alright!
If you’re one of those types who goes for mystery, you might like today’s Uneetee. For $7, you can get a mystery shirt. What will it look like? See, that’s the thing: YOU WON’T KNOW UNTIL YOU GET IT. That’s why it’s a mystery. But you only have today to get it, because that’s Uneetee’s deal: a different design is available everyday.
Will Uneetee’s mystery shirt look like this? No, probably not. It will probably look a bit more like a t-shirt and less like a bubbley envelope.
Link: [Uneetee]
Expensiveness: $7 for today only! ($15 (guys)/$17 (girls) normally!)
Subscribe to our Feed!
Recent Comments