Design a T-shirt with Vectornator

Illustration of Michele Mangano aka @maiki.mang

There are many ways to earn money from your Vectornator creations. In this article, we will dive deeper into how one can create a profitable t-shirt design using our software. We will also discuss TeePublic, as it is one of the top places to sell t-shirts online.

Why vectors for t-shirt designs?

There are several reasons why one should consider using vector artwork instead of raster-based. First, it is easy to adjust and separate colors. Your designs will be clear, crisp, clean and vivid when they are printed on clothing.

With Vectornator you can begin designing graphics for t-shirts easily and on the go.

First, consider your market

Many designers have a specific style, so consider who your designs would be best suited for. Just like creating any type of design, think about your target audience.

If you can keep your target audience broad, then you might have the potential for more sales on sites such as TeePublic.

Create sketches first

When designing anything a sketch will create a foundation for your artwork. Sketches can be both on paper or be done digitally.

Keep your sketches simple and be willing to make changes during the process.

This will also give you time to explore your concept.

We thought Maiki’s artwork would look incredibly stylish on clothing. This piece, in particular, has a hip cool look and would create a fashion statement.

Make sure the design is balanced

This is probably the most important aspect when creating a design for a t-shirt. For the most part, well-balanced graphics tend to sell better. A well-balanced design can be more appealing to the eye. With that being said, you still can experiment as rules are made to be broken.

Maiki’s final design saved as high-resolution PNG allows it to be printed on almost any color of the t-shirt.

Think about how your design would look on a t-shirt

This is very important as not all ideas translate well onto clothing. So imagine what your Vectornator creation would look like on a t-shirt.

Will your design work on several different colors of t-shirts? How will it look on various types of t-shirts? Such as classic t’s, tank tops, crewnecks, baseball shirts, etc. Would your artwork work well on a hoodie too? The more versatile your design, the more products it can be sold on.

The great thing about creating a design on Vectornator is that the colors can easily be adjusted. Thus, you can create variations of design and then upload them to your TeePublic shop.

Work hard on your concepts

Take your concepts seriously and put time into developing them. Take your time, make sure your concept is well thought out.

You can even attend meetup groups for artists and get feedback on your designs. Sometimes getting peer feedback can mean the difference. It is better to get feedback from other creatives as opposed to friends. Friends and family tend to tell you what they think will make you happy, whereas peers are more critical and offer up solutions to make your concept better.

Once you finish your design or designs it is time to upload your work to TeePublic

Uploading to TeePublic is very easy. First, make sure your design is saved as PNG. Usually, we like to save our PNGs high res and around 45 inches by 45 for example. This allows your design to be printed on many products. Also, setting your PNG to a resolution of 300 dpi is recommended.

This is just an example to show how easy it would be one to manage designs using TeePublic. Please note, this is just a mockup featuring Maiki’s artwork and we are not selling the work of artists.

Experiment with your shop

Highly detailed shirts can be amazing, but sometimes it is better to go with a simple design first. Once you set up a store on-site such as TeePublic, then you can see what types of designs sell better and then create an online shop that has similar designs.

Promote, promote, promote…

Once you have created a shop on TeePublic and uploaded your first design, it is time to promote your work. You can promote your items on social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Be patient. Your online shop might not be an overnight success, but if you continually promote it your fan base will grow over time and you will see your sales go up!

Feel free to use Vectornator to design a t-shirt, then share your design with us on Instagram and to tag us in your design.

Also if you do create a TeePublic shop then share your link with us. Our team is always looking for trendy t-shirts to wear during summer.

Always feel free to ask questions, give feedback and share your ideas on our community on Spectrum or a feature request.

Use the hashtag #Vectornator and tag us on social media to have the chance to get featured: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Reddit

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