Sometimes, the idea for a new shirt is born out of a lack of finding something similar. When you can’t find just what you’re looking for, you might decide to design a shirt on your own. Other times, you might think of a design you love and decide it might make a fantastic shirt. No matter if you have an idea in mind or you just want to design your own shirt, it’s possible for you to start learning how to create t-shirtstoday.
If you’re just getting started with fashion, it may be a good idea to look through the fashion design classes available online. These classes cover a lot of topics, but they provide an abundance of information you’re going to want to know before you start designing your own t-shirt. Even if you have no experience with fashion, you can use the classes to start learning how to create a design that will sell.
Thinking About the Design You Want to Use
Maybe you have a design in mind already. If so, you can go ahead and start thinking about how the design is going to look when it’s on a t-shirt. Sketch out a rough shape of a shirt and start thinking about where the image or text will go. Does it look good? You may want to try rearranging elements of your design until you have it exactly the way you want.
If you don’t have a design in mind yet, that’s okay. Go ahead and start thinking about the t-shirt you want to create. You can develop the t shirt design as you go, changing something here or there to create a different look and see which one you like. It’s a good idea to get at least a basic idea of what you want on paper so you can start thinking about what to do next.
How to Create a Design
Once you have at least a basic idea of what you want, it’s time to put it on the computer and add color or text. Many different image design software options exist that you can use. Programs like Photoshop make it easy for you to manipulate a photo you create to make the design you want for the shirt. Programs like Illustrator make it easy for you to create a brand-new design from scratch for your shirt.
While a large part of the clothes design is deciding what you want to put on the shirt, you need to also determine the colors, the size of the design, and whether you’ll add text to the shirt. In fact, you can make a shirt with just a text-based design and not worry about adding an image. It’s your shirt, so you can design it the way you want it to be.
These programs are going to make it easier for you to create the basic design you have in mind, then add to it or remove elements to see what changes and how it’s going to look in your portfolio. They make it easier for you to really play with colors and make sure the design you create is exactly what you want for your t-shirt. You can spend as little or as long as you want playing with the design in an editing program until you have exactly what you want.
Text-Based Designs
Text-based designs are mostly or completely text. You’ll decide what you want your shirt to say and how the text will look on the shirt. You may want to check out some of the fashion design classes available online to learn more about what you can do with text to make it look the way you want.
Text can easily be manipulated to look exactly how you’re imagining it will on your t-shirt. You can have a plain font, a frilly font, or just about any font you may want to use. You can even create a font with your own handwriting.
You can change the thickness of the font or the color to make sure it’s the right color for what you have in mind. Then, you can change the format of the font to make it swirl around the shirt, move up and down as the viewer reads it, or start in the front of the shirt and end in the back. The possibilities are truly unlimited when you use text on your t-shirt.
Photo-Based Designs
Photo-based designs, on the other hand, mostly center around an image you’ll create. It can be a photo you’ve taken or a logo you’ve designed on your own. The image can include text if you want, though the text will not be the main feature on a photo-based design.
Like the text, you have almost unlimited options for designing an image for your shirt. When you’re thinking about the clothes design, consider changing the size or the shape of the logo or using different colors for different effects. This is another time when taking a class is a good idea because you can learn about the different ways to adjust your design to make sure it’s going to impress anyone who sees it.
Copyright Information
One thing to remember when you decide to design a shirt is that you need to use images that you own the copyright to. If you’ve made the design on your own, you hold the copyright.
However, if someone else created the image, you could have to deal with a lawsuit or stop production because you’re using someone else’s copyrighted design.
This often comes into play with logos and trademarks. For instance, you cannot use TV show characters in most instances, because they’re trademarked by the production company. You can’t use logos of businesses either, as these are copyrighted.
There are some exceptions to these rules. However, if you’re just learning how to design t-shirts, it might be a good idea to stick with your own designs for now and learn more about copyrights later. Doing this enables you to learn as much as possible about the design process without having to worry about whether you can sell your final product.
Having Your Shirts Printed
Once you’ve designed a shirt, what’s next? You’ll want to have the t shirt design printed so you can wear the shirt you’ve designed. However, you may not want to stop there. You also have the option of having multiple shirts printed so you can sell them or of having them printed on-demand so you can print them as they sell. There are benefits and disadvantages to all of these options.
- Have Just One Shirt Printed – Maybe you decided to create a shirt because you just couldn’t find one that looked the way you wanted. In this case, you can just have one printed. The cost for one shirt is a little higher than it would be per shirt if you had multiple shirts printed, but that may be okay if you do not want to sell your shirt. The downside to this is that you won’t have any that you can sell right away if someone loves your design and wants to purchase one.
- Have Multiple Shirts Printed – You may want to have a run of 100 or more shirts printed at once time so you can sell them on your own. The main downside to this is the cost to have all of the shirts printed. Even though the per-shirt price is lower, it’s expensive to print 100 or more shirts at a time. If they don’t sell, you’re stuck with a ton of shirts and you’re out the money you paid.
- Have Shirts Printed On-Demand – Instead of paying for a bunch of shirts to be printed, you can publish your image on a print-on-demand site and let people purchase the shirts through there. The shirts will only be printed as they are sold. The main downside is you won’t have shirts to sell in person, so your customer will have to wait for it to be delivered.
Learn How to Get Started Today
Designing your own shirt can be complicated because there’s so much you can do to create the perfect design. If you’re ready to start, you’ll want to check out the fashion design classes that are available online. These classes cover everything, from choosing your design to adding text or altering photos to create the exact design you want. There are even classes to teach you about clothing production.
Classes also range from beginner learn-everything classes that teach you a little about the entire design process to more advanced classes that cover a certain topic in-depth. It’s a good idea to start with the beginner classes so you can see what you can do, then take more advanced classes as you discover new techniques or ideas you’ll want to try.
Anyone can design their own shirt, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to sell well. If you’d like to create your own shirt just to wear or you’d like to open your own business with your designs, take the time to learn more about clothes design today. Take some time to learn about drawing lessons from the past, too. You could create an amazing design that’s going to sell well and help you bring in a passive income on top of your career, or you could even launch your own t shirt design career.