Please help me get a t-shirt designed and printed ethically
June 22, 2023 1:20 PM Subscribe
I think would like a t-shirt with an illustration of an octopus and the phrase "All Cephalopods Are Beautiful". I can't draw and I have no design sense. What's my best (cheapest) option with decent quality where I am exploiting artists and garment makers as little as possible?
How can I find someone to make me this illustration (or find one I can use that exists already?) and design a shirt (make choices about colors and fonts and things) and get it on a shirt? I would like to do this as cheaply as possible BUT it is more important to me to do this in as ethical a manner as I can manage. If the cost is too high I'll skip it, this shirt is not a necessity (I'm not even sure I want it, just wondering what my options are). I should also note that I have a large body so any shirt options would need to be available in bigger sizes. Please feel free to ask questions if I've missed something and thank you so much for any help you can provide!
How can I find someone to make me this illustration (or find one I can use that exists already?) and design a shirt (make choices about colors and fonts and things) and get it on a shirt? I would like to do this as cheaply as possible BUT it is more important to me to do this in as ethical a manner as I can manage. If the cost is too high I'll skip it, this shirt is not a necessity (I'm not even sure I want it, just wondering what my options are). I should also note that I have a large body so any shirt options would need to be available in bigger sizes. Please feel free to ask questions if I've missed something and thank you so much for any help you can provide!
Response by poster: Great question! I just need the (theoretical) one but am not averse to making them available if anyone else wanted one (probably for a donation to a group like a mutual aid organization or abortion fund rather than straight up selling them for money)
posted by an octopus IRL at 1:26 PM on June 22, 2023
posted by an octopus IRL at 1:26 PM on June 22, 2023
I make custom, one-off shirts pretty regularly, and have found the ones from Sticker Mule oddly high quality. The shirts are decent, the printing is good, and the prices are pretty cheap. I can't speak to their ethics; cheap good things often skimp on ethics.
You would need to find a design to send to them for printing. You'll upload the image, you'll be sent proofs to approve, and then it'll print and ship to you probably within like a week. They have deals where this can cost as little as $20 sometimes.
Folks set their own prices on Fiverr, so from an ethical standpoint you can sort of hope that they're setting a good price for themselves? I've ordered non graphic design services on Fiverr and haven't been burned.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:27 PM on June 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
You would need to find a design to send to them for printing. You'll upload the image, you'll be sent proofs to approve, and then it'll print and ship to you probably within like a week. They have deals where this can cost as little as $20 sometimes.
Folks set their own prices on Fiverr, so from an ethical standpoint you can sort of hope that they're setting a good price for themselves? I've ordered non graphic design services on Fiverr and haven't been burned.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:27 PM on June 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
A designer friend of mine has an awesome octopus design T shirt for sale on his website, and he also does custom jobs, so you could get him to add your text.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:30 PM on June 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:30 PM on June 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
If you got a great deal on Fiverr, you could still tip.
posted by theora55 at 1:55 PM on June 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 1:55 PM on June 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I needed a one-off graphic designed for a guitar, I posted to Metafilter Jobs and got someone within an hour. I don't know how much Jobs gets used these days, but it'd cost you nothing to at least try.
posted by bondcliff at 2:12 PM on June 22, 2023
posted by bondcliff at 2:12 PM on June 22, 2023
The Graphics Fairy scans vintage prints and posts them on her blog for free downloads. If you have a rudimentary Paint program on your laptop, just add the type and voila. The link is to her Octopus page.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:05 PM on June 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:05 PM on June 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Tie-Die Effect I was looking for different design sources for you, and I really loved this Tie-Die effect since it also suggests water.
posted by effluvia at 7:17 PM on June 22, 2023
posted by effluvia at 7:17 PM on June 22, 2023
Nightowl Custom Apparel is a small screenprinting shop out of Portland, Oregon. I think this design is right up their alley; they are an anti-fascist print shop that has printed other ACAB apparel in the past for various protest causes, and are currently helping out with the Stop Cop City efforts in Atlanta, GA.
It doesn't look like they do design work themselves, but may be able to give you suggestions.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:30 PM on June 22, 2023
It doesn't look like they do design work themselves, but may be able to give you suggestions.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:30 PM on June 22, 2023
How about getting the artwork designed by AI? Midjourney can be a lot of fun to experiment with until you get the art you like. Adobe firefly is also decent if you have access to an adobe membership. Here's a 5-seconds try with your sentence.
posted by PardonMyFrench at 7:39 AM on June 23, 2023
posted by PardonMyFrench at 7:39 AM on June 23, 2023
FWIW, Bluewillow is free and has no limits. While it's not as nice as Midjourney, it generated some decent results for me.
posted by kschang at 11:20 PM on June 23, 2023
posted by kschang at 11:20 PM on June 23, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bluloo at 1:21 PM on June 22, 2023