thread's not dead - doITlab

Recommendations

Info

Organizing Layers in Photoshop Layer organization is important when other people (like printers) are handling your files. You don’t want them to have to sort through “layer 55” or get frustrated when certain parts of your image are merged with other parts. It can get confusing. Try to keep things separated in layers and don’t flatten your layers unless you have to. However, sometimes your Photoshop files can have hundreds of layers and can be over 1GB in file size! If that’s the case, try merging common layers like overlaid textures, line art, etc. Or merge layers that have the same color if file size or complexity is an issue. Best Practices • Name your layers. Even if you only plan on having 2-5 layers in your design. Get in the habit of naming as you go. • Groups are your friend! Groups are great to categorize multiple layers that make up a specific element in your design. Have a bunch of stuff making up your background? You could group your layers in Photoshop and name it “bg stuff” • Color coding is useful to distinguish layers and groups from one another. Just right click on it and choose “layer properties” and select a color. Layer Organization Tutorials: These three links are geared toward web design, but they can still help you understand some tips and strategies for layer organization. • How to Effectively Organize your Photoshop Layers • Helpful Photoshop Layer Organization • The Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto THREAD’S NOT DEAD • Jeff Finley Organizing your layers in Photoshop is like tidy- ing up your house before Mom comes to visit. Color Separation and File Prep One of the most frustrating parts of t-shirt design is prepping your files for print. It’s confusing because everyone seems to do it differently and some people don’t even do it at all. When I say file prep, I mean color separation. Most tees are screen printed one color at a time. It’s important that your digital files be properly set up for this process. However, if you’re looking for the tried and true method to color separation, you cannot find it here. (why did I buy this book?) Truth is, I am not an expert on color separation because I happen to work with a printer that has one on staff that does it for me. But the good news is you don’t have to be an expert on color separation either! But you still need to know a little bit about it. Read on. This image would be very challenging to separate and print. But it was done amazingly by Jakprints’ in-house color separator LT Magnotto. Design Techniques & Tutorials 44
Leaving it to the Experts The truth is you don’t HAVE to worry about color separation as much as you think. Look for a good printer who does their own color separation and file prep. We use Jakprints and have heard good things about Storenvy. Just like designers, printers do things differently too. You may find yourself giving your printer MORE work if you try to prep a file yourself and they don’t like the way you do it. For those who ARE interested in color separation and prepping files for screen print, here are some good free tutorials: Color Separation Tutorials • Video: Spot Color Separations in Photoshop • Full Color Simulation: 4 Color Process Separations in Photoshop • How to Prepare Artwork for Screen Printing • Color Separation in Illustrator • Color Separation in Photoshop Behind the scenes at Jakprints. Designs by Go Media THREAD’S NOT DEAD • Jeff Finley The Truth about Halftones and Bitmaps I talked with LT, the color separation ninja at Jakprints.com. Whenever I send over a flat JPG of my design, he’s the guy that sets it up for print, and it comes out perfect. Other print shops I’ve worked with won’t accept a flat file. If my designs are complex, he asks for the PSD or AI file and works his magic. All I know is that the prints come out amazing, even with gradients and full color. He has seen it all in his 6 years as a color separator and he will share some advice with you. This gets a little technical. “My biggest pet peeve with designers who take a stab at [file prep for] printing is bitmapping! STOP IT! Bitmapped areas of designs seem to be a popular design trend. Let the professionals handle your halftoning and angles! Most designers when they bitmap an image have no clue what their printer’s capabilities are. The size of your halftone dot is determining the mesh that your image can be burned on and sometimes the dots can’t even be held! Your standard shop is going to be able to print in the range of 35 LPI - 65 LPI. Please keep that in mind when designing with halftone dots. Any dot smaller than 65 will, more than likely, not be held on press.” - LT Magnotto, Jakprints Design Techniques & Tutorials 45
Page 2 and 3: Copyright © 2011 Go Media Inc., Al
Page 4 and 5: CONTRIBUTORS Matt Wigham, founder o
Page 6 and 7: Designs for Fall Out Boy by Rob Dob
Page 8 and 9: “The Strain” by Angryblue THREA
Page 10 and 11: Your 3 Roles: The Artist, Designer,
Page 12 and 13: Keys to a Great Portfolio The most
Page 14 and 15: “Year of the Beard” designed by
Page 16 and 17: 4 Tips When Contacting a New Client
Page 18 and 19: Other Tips for Avoiding Busters “
Page 20 and 21: “Great Job” by Rikki B offered
Page 22 and 23: work directly for the band - but th
Page 24 and 25: commercial nature or is for nonprof
Page 26 and 27: From what we learned, the client th
Page 28 and 29: Dave Pearson of Paint the Stars t-s
Page 30 and 31: 5 Tips for Design Contest Success W
Page 32 and 33: “Eco” t-shirt design by Chris C
Page 34 and 35: Does it Sell? Another measuring sti
Page 36 and 37: How to Come up With Good Ideas? Eve
Page 38 and 39: Affliction and MMA have heavily inf
Page 40 and 41: Dan Mumford has inspired many with
Page 42 and 43: T-shirt design for Slayer by Angryb
Page 46 and 47: This Despised Icon t-shirt is a gre
Page 48 and 49: Direct to Garment (DTG) This method
Page 50 and 51: Generally you want to order more S,
Page 52 and 53: Common Screen Size options Beerhat
Page 54 and 55: Design by Jeff Finley for Disciple
Page 56 and 57: Designs from Fright Rags “King”
Page 58 and 59: One of the new ghosted shirt mockup
Page 60 and 61: Personalize Your Orders But aside f
Page 62 and 63: month and by just sending them an e
Page 64 and 65: Mailing Lists Another great way to
Page 66 and 67: one mentions an article about me, I
Page 68 and 69: What You Need to Know about Selling
Page 70 and 71: Third Party Fulfillment When you ge
Page 72 and 73: Giveaways and Freebies People like
Page 74 and 75: Johnny Cupcakes (top) and Shepard F
Page 76 and 77: Things you can outsource: • Art a
Page 78 and 79: This skate deck designed by Oliver
Page 80 and 81: Johnny Cupcakes Johnny Cupcakes is
Page 82 and 83: Illustration for Famous Stars and S
Page 84 and 85: things because Johnny Cupcakes or O
Page 86 and 87: Kelly Kiernan designed this tee for
Page 88 and 89: Munk One I am 30 years old and have
Page 90 and 91: Dave Pearson My name is Dave Pearso
Page 92 and 93: definitely diluted the talent pool
Page 94 and 95:
LT Magnotto My name is LT Magnotto,
Page 96 and 97:
Rikki Burns I’m RikkiB, I’m 29
Page 98 and 99:
They are up on (if not creating) th
Page 100 and 101:
Spec Work One thing I would say abo
Page 102 and 103:
Adam Hendle My name is Adam Hendle
Page 104 and 105:
Ben Scrivens My name is Benjamin Sc
Page 106 and 107:
This shirt was a collaboration betw
Page 108 and 109:
When I was first starting out not a
Page 110 and 111:
“The Hive” by Angryblue a total
Page 112 and 113:
Brandon Rike My name is Brandon Rik
Page 114 and 115:
Design for The Chariot by Brandon R
Page 116 and 117:
Jon Kruse My name is Jonathan Kruse
show all

thread's not dead - doITlab

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?