Creating Unique Automotive T-shirt Pictures
Abstract:
In these days of digital cameras, and on-line photograph
development companies, individuals can be even more creative and
create custom T-shirts or other cool items. Adding a personal
touch into family pictures as well as other loves such as cars,
and pets makes your T-shirt even more unique. If you walk around
at many automotive events such as World of Wheels, New England
Dragway, or NASCAR, auto enthusiast proudly wear a T-shirt that
shows their interest, supporting Ford, Mopar, or Richard Petty.
These shirts you see are usually mass produced. Now whether you
have a Mustang, Camaro, street rod, or other custom vehicle you
can proudly wear it. This article will give you some basic ideas
that will help you transform your pictures into T-shirts that
are different, unique and personal.
Creating Unique Automotive T-shirt Pictures
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A low cost digital camera coupled with some imagination can open
the door for you to create unique picture clothing with images
of your family and pets all the way to your special autos and
motorcycles. For a few years now the home user could use special
iron-on transfer paper to print a picture on a home printer then
iron it on to clothing. It looks great initially, however, it
tends to be stiff, and after a few washes fades. High end
T-shirt printing was expensive, and restricted to large
companies that were making many many of the same T-shirt. As
with most technologies, as they evolve they improve and become
less expensive.
The most common technique for printing onto fabrics was silk
screening, which is an expensive processes that is not cost
effective for an individual looking to create only one or two
shirts. A process called sublimation has gained more popularity
and is available through many of the on-line development houses.
Sublimation uses special inks called sublimation ink. This ink
is used to print your photograph on a special transfer paper,
and that along with heat, and pressure transfers the image to a
variety of materials such as cotton and polyester (T-shirts ),
metals, plastics, ceramics, and special high temperature
plastics such as Plexiglas, Mylar or melamine. Sublimation ink
is unique where it has the ability to convert from a solid to a
gas without going through a liquid form moving into the fibers
of the fabric. This conversion and ink transfer process creates
a crisp color with a highly defined image that is very durable.
Now that you the individual, have all this capability
available, what can you do with it? The basic starting point is
to take a digital picture and send it as is to one of these
houses to create a standard photo shirt. Lets go beyond the
standard picture and create custom pieces of art for yourself
that you can proudly wear.
Software packages like Adobe Photoshop have many capabilities
that allow you to customize your pictures. The question often
asked is well what should I do? The intent of this article is to
give you a few ideas to spark your creativity and see what fits
your personality. Our focus at www.PalmieriConcepts.com has been
on automotive art, so we will use automobiles for examples,
although these ideas can be applied to family portraits,
pictures of your loving pets, and even landscapes. You can
exchange the word "car" for dog, cat, boat, girlfriend, etc.
When you are taking a picture of your car, do not just think
about what you see in the viewfinder, but think about the final
composition. Also think about other T-shirts that you have seen
and what you liked and disliked. A few questions to consider are:
1. Will the car be a stand alone in the picture? 2. Will there
be multiple images of the car merged together? 3. Will there be
multiple cars? 4. Will there be different elements of the car
used such as emblems? 5. Can the car be used as both a
background element as well as a foreground element (Car overlaid
over the engine as a background.)? 6. What unique features stand
out? 7. What angles will look best? (Stand on a ladder to get
that down view.) .... and the list goes on.
Taking a digital picture does not cost you anything until you
print it out, so I recommend that you take many pictures at
different angles, and of all key elements. Looking through the
viewfinder gives you only one perspective of the final picture,
however, once the image is on your computer screen your mind
will open the door to an unlimited world.
Things to consider when looking and photographing a car: 1. Is
there a large surface such as a sloping trunk with a minimal
amount of details? If so, this may make a great background where
you could overlay a side view of the car on the trunk. To add to
the personalized component, keep the license place in the
picture so it ties the picture to the owner.
2. Are there any distinctive features such as a massive open
grill as on many pre 1965 cars? This may also make a great
background to overlay a side view of the car in the grill.
Keeping any logos or license plate adds to the personalized
impact.
3. Many of the older cars have trim pieces that are art in
themselves. Take for example a 1958 Bel Air. The front fenders
and sides have bullet like trim that would make a great border.
4. Do not just focus on the exterior of the car, think about the
interior. How about those detailed and distinctive dash boards
and large buss like steering wheels. These also make a great
backgrounds. Imagine the car centered in the steering wheel
where you get a glimpse of the gages. Or for that fantasy effect
for a performance car, edit the speedometer to show a high
speed, and slightly blur the car to represent the speed.
The points above are general picture guidelines, but when
composing a picture for print on a fabric you must remember that
fabric does not have the depth and color representation of photo
paper to show the details. Fabric also has a matt finish so
these additional points must be kept in mind.
1. Keep the T-shirt image less busy, meaning, focus on the car
image, and less of background.
2. To minimize a hard edge around a square picture, have the
picture blurred or faded around the edges so it fades into the
fabric, This can be done by taking a straight edge and adding 10
pixels (on a 200 DPI) of fade, or even creating an irregular
outline like a irregular cloud fading into a fabric.
3. Try to make the foreground bold colors "BOLD" so the car
stands out.
4. Complement the picture with some descriptive text to further
personalize it, even if it is just the year of the car, or if
you are lucky to have 2 of more cars, even a saying such as
"Just cant have one!"
5. Lastly, remember to add that small text at the bottom with
your name for the added personal touch.
This is a brief list of things to consider, and in time your
mind will run with the endless possibilities. Your biggest
challenge will be to weed through those ideas, do some
experimenting and pick the best ones.
For some examples of what is described here, refer to
www.PalmieriConcepts.com in the "Examples" and "T-shirt"
sections. Look at these examples think about how you can apply
these to your own work. Have fun!