It's one of my dreams to someday support myself with artwork. The way I do that now is tee shirt contest, freelance, print on demand posters, online sales, day job money and crowd funding
Today I will be introducing crowd funding starter links and tee shirt design tips for online contest.
Part 1. I wanted to share some crowd funding links first. This is a long shot, it requires a strong core of fans willing to donate cash on a pre sale basis before they ever see the product, and the promotional fortitude to persuade other's to finance you. What the hec, it's out there, it's proven successful for some people, and by george you could be one of those people too.
kickstarter (U.S. only)
indiegogo International but, (They take a %)
chipin This is for any expense not just art projects.
I hope you find that useful for your projects...
Part 2. (links at the bottom, if you want to D.I.Y. research)
It's time for the annual Design by Humans 10k competition, $10,000.00 for a tee shirt you heard that right. So I will be AFK for a few days as I work on that. Past winners, My buddy Collision Theory, now runs googoo and gaga, and CSJ89 has gone on to work for Adobe and one tee for my brand.
I think being in the same league as these dudes would be a greater thrill then the cash, both such talented guys and helped me get my start when I was a big eyed noob with enough dumb questions to make anyone's head spin...
ok enough ass kissing lol on to the information.
If you are an artist, or know of any artist, please feel free to throw your art in the ring.
You will need
1. print ready artwork (8 colors max)
2. assorted jpegs (check site for details)
I might as well take this time to go over one of my passions. Tee shirts weeee.
Disclaimer, I have been designing shirts for about three years now for contest, indy brands and a few bands, but I still consider myself a noob.I wish I knew it all, but I don't. Here are just a few things I picked up I would like to share.
The tools:
Draw traditionally + scan at a high dpi and do post process in photoshop.
Work directly in photoshop or illustrator (manga studio, and *painter)
I would avoid painter because of the way the blending works it's difficult to separate the colors.
The exception is if you use one color and then have it halftoned. It will technically be one screen, yet have the illusion of shading.
A few design tips for people not used to designing for tee shirts.
Stop the Crops.
People and Tee Shirts are both 3D so art that is designed to the edge like for a traditional illustration on paper will appear to look cropped off on a shirt and not look as good. Tattoo artwork is perfect for shirts.
This is a rule of thumb not a rule of stone, so feel free to express yourself however you wish. The cropped thing can work in some cases like photographs on shirts, or something with a tasteful boarder, or where it's an intentional style, design choice and not just something taken out of a sketch book and placed on a mockup.
Color Separation
Screen printing requires 1 screen per color obviously, so on the art side there is a limit to the number of colors we can use. I recommend between 4-6 to make a decent doodle.
Not all printers require you to do separations and some prefer to do it themselves.
This step can be skipped if you are using Adobe Illustrator because the separations are handled as part of the printing options.
Tip: Getting the values correct is a big part of establishing proper lighting and shading, and that's easier to do in grayscale. So I work with a black for line work, dark gray, light gray and a white base on a neutral back ground all on separate layers. The colors can be added later.
You can also use the shirt color to your advantage in some cases.
Presentation:
The website often times provide you with a mockup/template
Some will let you use your own. I recommend the Go Media Mockup's
These are .psd files with clipping mask several shirt colors, shadow layer for a more realistic look ect already set up for you. Just add your artwork and go.
Remember that design to the edge concept, ink that covers the "working part" of the shirt may be damaged.
so try to avoid presenting the artwork over seems, neck and arm holes and sleeves.
This is again just a general rule and can be broken in some cases.
It can be done but it takes a very skilled printer to not make a complete mess of it.,
There will other charges for multiple placements in some cases.
Tip: Center your image. This can get really boring, and there is no end to the variety of placements you can do, it's just for beginners you will get the best results with a centered image imo.
Shirts that do go all over the shirt are called all over prints. There are a few methods to get this done I won't go over them here. If you can draw it, someone in print land can get re done. Don't let anything keep you from drawing the way that you want. For contest, due to cost and staff talent ect, they like to keep things simple.
Shirt Size
Your artwork will be used for the full range of sizes available.
To avoid making lots of screens printers will generally size the art to the maximum fit on the smallest size available, then use that measurement for all the other sizes that are going to be sold.
Someone buying a size small will have the artwork appear larger then someone buying the same shirt in a size large.
Hope that helps a little bit.
Some useful links.
The highest paying contest out there now and most trusted is Threadless
The most frequent contest, but not the most lucrative.
"one a day" contest.They sell one shirt a day all year round so they are always looking for artwork
teefury Most popular topic/style is humorous meme based tees or anything starwars/geek culture.
ript apparel
tilteed
Community: Emptees
After a recent influx of new artist that "don't get it." noobs are now regarded as fucktards by default and treated as such. Not everyone is an asshole, and it is the watering hole for a lot of tee shirt designers, myspace bands looking for merch, indy brands and general internet mayhem and tomfoolery. If you have a thick skin and tolerance for drama + bullshit it's a great place to set up camp.
The whole enchilada.
T shirt blogs Directory
Shirt stores. Directory
Get that art out there, I want to see it and I'm sure they do to. (...points at internet)
Today I will be introducing crowd funding starter links and tee shirt design tips for online contest.
Part 1. I wanted to share some crowd funding links first. This is a long shot, it requires a strong core of fans willing to donate cash on a pre sale basis before they ever see the product, and the promotional fortitude to persuade other's to finance you. What the hec, it's out there, it's proven successful for some people, and by george you could be one of those people too.
kickstarter (U.S. only)
indiegogo International but, (They take a %)
chipin This is for any expense not just art projects.
I hope you find that useful for your projects...
Part 2. (links at the bottom, if you want to D.I.Y. research)
It's time for the annual Design by Humans 10k competition, $10,000.00 for a tee shirt you heard that right. So I will be AFK for a few days as I work on that. Past winners, My buddy Collision Theory, now runs googoo and gaga, and CSJ89 has gone on to work for Adobe and one tee for my brand.
I think being in the same league as these dudes would be a greater thrill then the cash, both such talented guys and helped me get my start when I was a big eyed noob with enough dumb questions to make anyone's head spin...
ok enough ass kissing lol on to the information.
If you are an artist, or know of any artist, please feel free to throw your art in the ring.
You will need
1. print ready artwork (8 colors max)
2. assorted jpegs (check site for details)
I might as well take this time to go over one of my passions. Tee shirts weeee.
Disclaimer, I have been designing shirts for about three years now for contest, indy brands and a few bands, but I still consider myself a noob.I wish I knew it all, but I don't. Here are just a few things I picked up I would like to share.
The tools:
Draw traditionally + scan at a high dpi and do post process in photoshop.
Work directly in photoshop or illustrator (manga studio, and *painter)
I would avoid painter because of the way the blending works it's difficult to separate the colors.
The exception is if you use one color and then have it halftoned. It will technically be one screen, yet have the illusion of shading.
A few design tips for people not used to designing for tee shirts.
Stop the Crops.
People and Tee Shirts are both 3D so art that is designed to the edge like for a traditional illustration on paper will appear to look cropped off on a shirt and not look as good. Tattoo artwork is perfect for shirts.
This is a rule of thumb not a rule of stone, so feel free to express yourself however you wish. The cropped thing can work in some cases like photographs on shirts, or something with a tasteful boarder, or where it's an intentional style, design choice and not just something taken out of a sketch book and placed on a mockup.
Color Separation
Screen printing requires 1 screen per color obviously, so on the art side there is a limit to the number of colors we can use. I recommend between 4-6 to make a decent doodle.
Not all printers require you to do separations and some prefer to do it themselves.
This step can be skipped if you are using Adobe Illustrator because the separations are handled as part of the printing options.
Tip: Getting the values correct is a big part of establishing proper lighting and shading, and that's easier to do in grayscale. So I work with a black for line work, dark gray, light gray and a white base on a neutral back ground all on separate layers. The colors can be added later.
You can also use the shirt color to your advantage in some cases.
Presentation:
The website often times provide you with a mockup/template
Some will let you use your own. I recommend the Go Media Mockup's
These are .psd files with clipping mask several shirt colors, shadow layer for a more realistic look ect already set up for you. Just add your artwork and go.
Remember that design to the edge concept, ink that covers the "working part" of the shirt may be damaged.
so try to avoid presenting the artwork over seems, neck and arm holes and sleeves.
This is again just a general rule and can be broken in some cases.
It can be done but it takes a very skilled printer to not make a complete mess of it.,
There will other charges for multiple placements in some cases.
Tip: Center your image. This can get really boring, and there is no end to the variety of placements you can do, it's just for beginners you will get the best results with a centered image imo.
Shirts that do go all over the shirt are called all over prints. There are a few methods to get this done I won't go over them here. If you can draw it, someone in print land can get re done. Don't let anything keep you from drawing the way that you want. For contest, due to cost and staff talent ect, they like to keep things simple.
Shirt Size
Your artwork will be used for the full range of sizes available.
To avoid making lots of screens printers will generally size the art to the maximum fit on the smallest size available, then use that measurement for all the other sizes that are going to be sold.
Someone buying a size small will have the artwork appear larger then someone buying the same shirt in a size large.
Hope that helps a little bit.
Some useful links.
The highest paying contest out there now and most trusted is Threadless
The most frequent contest, but not the most lucrative.
"one a day" contest.They sell one shirt a day all year round so they are always looking for artwork
teefury Most popular topic/style is humorous meme based tees or anything starwars/geek culture.
ript apparel
tilteed
Community: Emptees
After a recent influx of new artist that "don't get it." noobs are now regarded as fucktards by default and treated as such. Not everyone is an asshole, and it is the watering hole for a lot of tee shirt designers, myspace bands looking for merch, indy brands and general internet mayhem and tomfoolery. If you have a thick skin and tolerance for drama + bullshit it's a great place to set up camp.
The whole enchilada.
T shirt blogs Directory
Shirt stores. Directory
Get that art out there, I want to see it and I'm sure they do to. (...points at internet)
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
eroticgeek:
Nice way to look at things. Expressing things with emotion can be art. Even with the case of my poetry book. I guess that too can be considered art. As for my list, I too have the most trouble with number 10. All of them are going to be difficult. I think it is going to be a work in progress....Oh and yeah. Happy Friday the 13th. *evil grin* 
amelinda:
MM a hazel nut tree sounds amazing. ill have to look into it to see if they grow well around here 
thanks for the ideas
thanks for the ideas