How do you make this certain tshirt graphic

April 1, 2008 10:01 PM

http://amorphia-apparel.com/ I can't really describe it but all of the T-shirt designs on the site have the style i want to use, like the whole outlining and coloring images. I currently use Photoshop CS3, but i'm open to other programs. How do you do this? Sorry for the bad description guys.
posted by Kyokusen to media & arts (8 comments total)

Those are all 100% pure vector, so Photoshop is exactly the OPPOSITE of what you want to use.

Mostly those are just vector shapes and text with white outlines. Nothing complicated. Just go to myfonts.com (disclaimer - I work for them) and buy some good type and icon fonts for the figures. You can whip that stuff up in Illustrator (CS3 or whatever version) tuit suite.

Also, your printer will thank you if you use vector files instead of the raster images that Photoshop makes. Remember - Photoshop=raster (photos); Illustrator=vector (lines & fills). They'll be resolution-independent, will look better and print faster, and your files will be 1/100th the size of a similar raster.
posted by luriete at 10:06 PM on April 1

(uhm, an addendum: Photoshop isn't raster only. It's actually quite usable for vector work, but Illustrator is just more suited for it. Illustrator lets you do details like stroke caps, vector lines, etc - but Photoshop allows for vector shapes, paths, and illustrations. I use it 97% of the time for work that is often vector-based.)
posted by tmcw at 10:16 PM on April 1

There are a number of ways to get the effect - it depends on whether you want to draw it or let photoshop do the heavy lifting. I was going to link to Stencil Revolution, but they temporarily took their tutorials offline. Instead I'll offer this tutorial from Illustration class in a similar vein. Now this is for the kind where you have a face with details you want to preserve.

If you're just talking about a silhouette, there's dozens of ways to get there. I would personally draw it rather than let photoshop do it via levels/posterize/etc. Depends on the source image, and whether you want it stylized, or just literally a bird or whatever. Despite most of the "artistic" filters being iffy, you might get interesting effects with photocopy, torn paper and stamp.

For drawing it yourself the pen tool is king. For quick-n-dirty I've been known to use the polygonal lasso tool and just click to my heart's content (the delete key will remove the last point you put down, so you can backtrack). A lot of clicks if you want detail, not so many if you want it a little chunky and rough.
posted by O9scar at 12:46 AM on April 2

For a total graphics novice (like myself), Illustrator CS2 and above has a tool called "Live Trace" which makes the creation of exactly the kind of illustrations you're talking about dead simple. Just import a graphic (photo, line drawing, anything), fiddle with a few settings, and hit Live Trace, and presto, you'll have a very nice vector graphic like magic. Then, you can edit to your heart's content, to add elements like text or additional graphics.
posted by Eldritch at 5:27 AM on April 2 [2 favorites]

Illustrator is what you're looking for. Listen to the smart posters above me, they know what's up.
posted by whiskey point at 6:25 AM on April 2

You might want to try contacting Jezztek, since he runs amorphia apparel.
posted by dogwalker at 6:31 AM on April 2

Howdy,

Yeah I run Amorphia Apparel and my work flow is pretty simple, I make a rough version in Photoshop then import it over into Illustrator to make the final printable version.

They are really just super simple vector outlines, it took me a weekend to learn everything I needed to know about Illustrator to make these. But myself (like many others) did find the first hour or so of using Illustrator counter intuitive to what I was used to working with Photoshop. But there are some good tutorial videos floating out there.

Anywho, good luck and feel free to e-mail me with any question you might have.
posted by Jezztek at 9:33 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]

Wow that was surprisingly fast, thanks to everybody for the help!
posted by Kyokusen at 5:19 PM on April 2