Easy Tee Designs in Adobe Illustrator

Here at CTD we want to encourage people to fully exploit their creative talents in an effort to make money. That being said I thought it might be helpful to introduce a tool of the trade: Adobe Illustrator CS3. I'm really not qualified to be teaching people about this product since I have barely scratched the surface of its capabilities, but I might be able to show some of you a simple way to create some really cool shirts.

Even though photographic shirts go over huge with grandmas and aunts, It has been my experience that anyone else wearing one looks like a fool. So lets modify one slightly to make it more "tee-shirt compliant."

(It is important to note that this program is extremely capable and expensive. You can download a free 30 day trial of it here)

1.) First lets open the program and select a basic RGB Document at the introductory screen.

2.) Name your document and use the parameters that are in the box below and then click OK. You want to start with a high resolution, you can always export a watered down version if size becomes a concern.

3.) Once your document opens, choose the FILE menu and select PLACE.

3b.) Choose an image from your personal library. You want to pick something that is not to complex and does not have to many colors in it. For this example I select a simple stop sign to keep it quick and easy.

4.) Once your image appears on the screen you'll have the option to size it with the boundary box and arrange it to your liking within the document. Once you've adjusted it, select the down arrow next to the LIVE TRACE button near the top of your screen and pick one of the preset tracing options. Note: Illustrator is going to create an outline of your image and separated the different sections based upon these settings. The fewer colors it has to work with the simpler the output will be and the fewer things you will have to fill in later on.

5. You should now find yourself with a cartooned version of your image. Illustrator has taken every pixel and and sorted them into six possible colors, so it really cleans up the image. Now lets manipulate those colors a little bit. Choose the LIVE PAINT button at the top and Adobe will render your image into a live paint group.

Get your live paint bucket out of the toolbar on the left side of the page

6.) Now get some colors from the color palette and go to town. You can just enhance the colors that already exist or you can go all out impressionistic. That's sort of the beauty of the whole thing.

IMPORTANT: Pick no fill from the color palette on the toolbar. (little box with red line through it.) And click in the area around your object. You do not want a white box with a graphic inside of it on your shirt. This converts that area into a transparent area.

7. Throw some text into the mix and save...

When saving your file, make sure you go to "Save for Web & Devices..." and save the image as a .png file.

Upload to www.customteedesigns.com

...and PRESTO! very cool. Now you don't have to be a nerd with a photo on their shirt.

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Site Update - New Homepage Action!

(Queue dramatic music)

As of 5:32:45" PM EDST, on this the sixth day of February, 2008 A.D. (that's crap, it could've been live all day for all I know), our brand new front page was fully armed and operational.

So what's the big deal? Well, we felt that forcing you to design a T-shirt immediately upon visiting the site was too "neo-capitalist directive fascism" (what am I saying?!), so now you have choices. You can join the frenzy & head to our design page to craft your own textile masterpiece, check out what other people think is funny & creative in the browse designs section, and create a profile or log into your existing one, all from this very classy & elegant location.

There's also a blog feed so you can get the latest updates on what's happening on this side of the canvas, as well as our current special(s). For a limited time (probably meaning the rest of February), we're offering free shipping on all custom designs.

So enjoy the new layout, and use it to pick your poison. New site updates & rollouts are coming up soon as well, so check back here & to the site often.

Peace!

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What up BLAWG?!

Welcome, you made it to Custom Tee Designs' blog. This is our first shot at this whole blogging experience, but in all fairness a little over two years ago we were giving T-shirt printing our first shot. We're not quite sure what lead you here, but we hope you'll stick around for a while.

Since none of the crew over here (Chris nor Dennis) are seasoned blog veterans, we're probably just as unsure of what to expect as you are. The big idea is to post up anything & everything CTD-related, and even some that's not; information about our day in & day out grind, commentary on shirt-worthy current events, announcements about upcoming promotions, product rollouts, and new site features, small glimpses into our exciting & dynamic personal lives as T-shirt moguls (ha!), and maybe even a rant or two by Chris.

We hope to be posting with frightening regularity, so stay tuned, feel free to subscribe, and keep the shirt designs coming.

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