Artwork 101
Artwork is the most important key to a beautiful graphic printed shirt. I always tell customers, the better the artwork, the better the print will be. Whether you use a personal graphic designer or our design services; having a Print Ready design should be the one thing you have before you buy a shirt. For example, the image below shows a design that is not "Print Ready". The image is a screenshot of a Sponge Bob Birthday design that is to be printed on a white tee. Without having an artist prepare the artwork, a screen shot of Sponge Bob is exactly what will be printed. I don't know any customer that will accept this print.
The next image below shows a perfect example of a Non-Print Ready design compared to a Print Ready design. Notice how the image in Example 1 is just a screen shot of the customers logo on a t-shirt. We know that this image is not Print Ready and, therefore, needs to be sent to a graphic designer. After the graphic designer does his magic, the design is now Print Ready, shown in Example 2. Top shirt is just the screen shot of the logo and bottom shirt is the Print Ready file.
Now that we are more familiar with how important the artwork is to achieving a successful print. Let's get into the time and effort it takes to complete designs and the art fees. I will show you an example of a $20 art fee compared to a $$$$ art fee. Graphic designers usually take two things into account when charging an art fee; One: The complexity of the artwork and Two: The time it takes to complete the artwork. If the art is going to take less then 15 mins, there is no need to charge for that. As soon as the artist starts getting into the 30-60 min mark, that's when he will start charging a fee. Different artists are going to charge different fees. My fee for doing a 30 min design starts at $15 and then $10 for every extra 30 mins. On the other hand, my brothers price starts at $100 for the first 60 mins. Why the difference, you ask? Simply, my brother's artwork is much more better and detailed than mines, so he can charge that and many pay for it. My brother does design for big companies, clothing brands, and clients who need to spend big amounts of money for their marketing and brands. He also uses multiple art programs, going back and forth between them to complete his work. Lot's of effort and time! Most clients that we will run into need a quick design, for a few shirts that will run into the $15-$30 range. Down below is an example of average artwork compared to high-detailed artwork.
Photos
If you are uploading a photo such as a picture of someone or something, there should be no need to have an artist do anything. The photo will print as is, unless you wanted to add font or other graphics. Keep in mind, the better quality of the photo, the better the print will come out. If you have a hard copy photo, scan it, save as a PNG or Jpeg and use that to upload on the site, when going through the uploading stage.
File Types
One more thing to consider is the file format your artwork is saved in. PNG and Jpeg are the only file formats I am accepting for the DTG process, due to it's transparent background. When you email an art file to use for Screen Print, the following are accepted: PNG, Jpeg, SVG, PDS or PDF. Your graphic designer will easily be able to format your artwork in either of these files.
- If we prepare the artwork for you, we will email you a Print Ready file so you can easily upload to the T-Shirt you are purchasing. You will need to enter the amount of art time in the Purchase Design Service section and add it to the cart. Your artist will include the work time in the email.
*If you would like more information about our design services send us your questions and ideas to adrian@nowandthentshirts.com.
In the end, if you want a vibrant smooth looking print, get an artist to prepare the artwork. If you want to try designing on you own, send us your artwork. We will help guide you. We strive to making the art process a fun and learning experience. There will be more information added to this page in the near future, but this should give you an idea of how artwork is related to the final print.