Art Submission Tips

Raster vs. Vector Art

Digital art files are saved in one of two categories, known as Vector, and Raster. Most of the images you see on the internet are Raster files, and usually end in .JPG, .GIF, or .PNG. When you zoom in on a Raster image, you can see individual pixels and image quality will be distorted. For this reason, working from a raster image may require additional art time to optimize your artwork.

File Management

We strongly prefer Vector format, which would be a file ending in .AI, .EPS, .SVG, or .PDF. If your design includes any wording, please expand all text to paths, or include the Font file, ending in .TTF or .OTF with your art submission.We use Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, but there are free resources online if you’d like to create your own artwork. Please note any artwork submitted in Corel Draw, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel (it’s happened…) must be converted to a .PDF file before we can open it. Here’s another free resource to convert documents into a .PDF convert documents into .PDF files.

Tech Pack Ready

When you provide us with everything vector artwork, and we don’t need to clean up or re-draw any elements of your artwork, congratulations, you’ve got Tech Pack Ready artwork. There is no art fee when you provide Camera Ready files, so it’s a great way to lower your overhead. Here’s what we’re looking for: - vector file .AI, .PDF - all fonts expanded to paths - all strokes expanded to solid shapes - where possible, separate each color to a different layer.

Printing Photography

Printing photographs is possible through CMYK Process printing. Any time you can provide us with the original photograph to scan directly, we can usually get a much better quality final print. Also keep in mind that if you want to print a full color image on any colored shirt besides white, we need to also include a base-coat of white ink before we print the full image.

Sponsor Logos

Frequently, projects require the addition of sponsor logos into the design. It’s a top priority to ensure you and your sponsors look as crisp as possible. When possible,  sponsor supplies a Vector format AI, .EPS, .SVG, or .PDF file. An image taken directly from the internet or phone screenshot may appear blurry on the shirt. And if nothing else, we can recreate their logo as accurately as possible, pending access to any special fonts used, at an additional art fee.

Glossary Of Terms 

Bitmap / Raster Art

Bitmaps are made up of pixels in a grid. Pixels are picture elements; tiny dots of individual color that make up what you see on your screen. All these tiny dots of color come together to form the images you see. Most computer monitors display approximately 70 to 100 pixels per inch--the actual number depends on your monitor and screen settings. As these images are scaled up, the quality decreases. For screen printing purposes, these types of images need to be generated at or as close as possible to final print size and at 300 dpi in order to achieve acceptable print quality. These are usually generated in “paint” software such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter.

CMYK (4 color process)

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. In screen printing, CMYK refers to a specific set of transparent based inks that reproduce the full color spectrum. This is accomplished through a color separated set of halftone dots that when printed together blend to make all the colors in your image.

Discharge Printing

Rather than “applying” ink onto your shirt, the discharge process “bleaches” or removes the pigment of the tee and leaves it with the original raw color of the shirt as well as the softest finish possible....just the shirt. Although very often a water-based product, Our plastisol version can also be blended with most colors to “re-dye” the garment to the desired color/s still leaving only the feel of the shirt once washed. Discharge technically only works fully on 100% cotton but surprisingly vibrant results can at times be obtained on 50/50 blends. If you want a more subtle / vintage look, they can also be a great choice on tri-blends.

Halftones

The use of dots in varying in size and shape, to achieve a gradation of tone or value. Anything that isn't one solid print color must be created using halftones. Halftones are often used to achieve the tonal variances in photos or photo realistic images. It can also be used to achieve multiple tonal values in the same ink color.

Plastisol Ink

Our most common type of ink used. Plastisol ink is a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) based system that essentially contains no solvent at all. Plastisol is a thermoplastic ink in that it is necessary to heat the printed ink film to a temperature high enough to cause the molecules of PVC resin and plasticizer to cross-link and thereby solidify, or cure. The temperature at which most plastisol for textile printing cures is in the range of 300 °F to 330°F).

Vector Art

Vector images are made up of many individual, scalable objects. These objects are defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels, so they always render at the highest quality. Objects may consist of lines, curves, and shapes with editable attributes such as color, fill, and outline. Acceptable file extensions for vector art are .ai, .eps, and .pdf. These are usually generated in high quality “illustration” software such as Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw.