Monkey in a Dryer tips on sending art files for screen printing

Here are some important tips on preparing and sending files.

We understand that not everyone is a graphics wiz. Heck, if they were, we'd be out of a job :D Because of this, we get a huge variety of files sent to us. Some of them - great, some of them... not great.

Please read through these guidelines:

Illustrator (.ai or .eps) (CS5 or lower) is the BEST option.

Photoshop files (.psd) are also acceptable if your design is a minimum of 200 dpi @ actual final print size. To check this, go under [IMAGE]-[IMAGE SIZE]- and look at the document size in the popup window. Note that using artwork that was originally small to start with (72 dpi) and simply increasing the dpi to 200 can result in fuzzy, blotchy, and many times unusable artwork! Also please try to keep each print color on its own layer whenever possible.

WORD is NOT a design program and M.S. PAINT is pretty iffy. If these are your only options, please let us know beforehand.

Be sure you are able to either provide, rasterize or outline all fonts used in the file. Though we have over 5000 fonts in our collection, we, invariably, never seem to have the one you have chosen. At the very least, please provide the NAME of the font so we can try to download it. Note that if we have to pay for the download - we will add this fee to your bill. We WILL let you know beforehand if we are going to do this.

Files such as .jpgs, .pngs, .tifs or even scanned ink drawings are acceptable IF they are of a reasonably good quality. If they need to be reworked by us, a fee of $50/hr may apply (tallied in :15 minute increments).

If you got your image off the Internetwork - it's probably going to be pretty small. (tip: when "Googling" images - keep the "image size" tab on "Large or Extra Large Images" to be safe). Increase the size of your image to 300dpi at the final print size and take another look at the image to see if the colors are distinctively separate - (i.e. where one color meets another - is it crisp or kind of blurry, blotchy or jaggedy). Remember that because it may look pretty good as a small image on your screen - it may be a completely different story once we have to blow it up to t-shirt size.

Spot colors are ideal, but full color images are usually fine. 6 ink colors is our max, but we can often times seperate your artwork using fine half tones to "create" more colors. Depending on the artwork - this may not always be the best option - but we have had some pretty good luck with most every design.

Special effects, such as foil, suede ink, glitter, glow, puff, metallic inks, flock, glow-in-the-dark, etc. may be used in your design at an additional cost.

Our maximum print area for standard screen printing is 14" wide x 17" high (35.6cm x 43.2cm). We can do oversize and allover printg for an additional fee.

OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE: THE QUALITY OF THE ARTWORK CREATED AND READIED FOR PRODUCTION DIRECTLY AFFECTS THE FINAL LOOK OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT. IF YOU DECIDE TO USE SELF-DESIGNED OR PREVIOUSLY-DESIGNED ARTWORK THAT IS LESS THAN 100% PERFECT TO SAVE A FEW DOLLARS IN ART CHARGES, THEN IT IS REASONABLE TO EXPECT THE FINISHED PRODUCT TO BE LESS THAN 100% PERFECT. WE SIMPLY CANNOT PRODUCE PERFECTLY PRINTED CUSTOM LOGO PRODUCTS WITHOUT PERFECT DESIGN AND PERFECT PRE-PRODUCTION.

Here are some useful design tips when considering t shirt artwork:

TIP #1: PHOTO EDGES:

A common error many clients make when preparing their artwork for a tshirt is that they forgot to consider the edges of the image.
If we were to print the image as is, it would look something like this. Notice how the top, bottom & side edges come to an abrupt stop. This gives the design an unfinished and unprofessional look.
Consider, instead, treating the edges of the image with a more artistic edge finishing or a gradient fade off. Perhaps it may even be best to simply remove the offending objects that aren't completely in the photo. This makes the image look more like it was meant to be on the shirt, rather than just pasted on with not much thought.

TIP #2: LARGE GRAPHICS ON DIFFERENT SIZED SHIRTS:

Another issue that clients don't often consider when designing their graphic is the variation of sizes that shirts come in. For example, they may want Bonnie to be in the dead center of the shirt and Clyde to be right under the arm pit as shown in the example here. That's fine and all for, say, an XL shirt. But...
...take a look a what happens when we print the same design on a small sized shirt. As you can see, Clyde is in a totally different position. That's because the width of a small is quite a few inches less than that of an XL shirt. If positioning is crucial, it may be necessary to make different sized screens for different sized shirts.
Consider, instead, treating the edges of the image with a more artistic edge finishing or a gradient fade off. Perhaps it may even be best to simply remove the offending objects that aren't completely in the photo. This makes the image look more like it was meant to be on the shirt, rather than just pasted on with not much thought. If this is an important factor for you and your design, please check with us on the EXACT measurements of each shirt size in the brand you are considering for your project. We suggest, at the minimum, you should create one graphic sized for shirts ranging in sizes S-L and another graphic sized for shirts in the XL-XXL range. Please note that we will only do different sets of screens if there is a minimum of 24 per graphic size. For example: if you are ordering 24 shirts in the total order and 12 are in small to large range and 12 are in the XL-XXL range, we would not be able to offer you two sets - as only 12 shirts would be printed with one set of screens, and 12 would be printed with the other set. Your order would have to be something like 24 (or more) shirts in the S-L range and 24 (or more) shirts in the XL-XXL range for us to be able to offer you two different sized graphics. Make sense?

TIP #3: OVER THE SHOULDER DESIGNS:

Often a client will want a design to go up on the shoulder and over the sleeve & collar. It can be done, but...
...take a look at what happens when the ink goes over the bumpy seams & ridges or creases and folds so prevalent in these areas. The image will not print smoothly and leave chunks of the image out, or may even deposit clumps of ink up in these areas. It's just the nature of printing on these non-flat areas and is pretty unavoidable. Many people don't care about this and may actually prefer it, but we wanted to make you aware of it beforehand.
Go take a look at shirts printed like this in the department stores. You will see the same clumping and breaking of the image - unless the shirt was printed BEFORE it was assembled. Unfortunately, printing a shirt before assembly is a cost forbidding option for low quantity shirt orders.

TIP #4: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VECTOR & RASTER:

Artwork created in programs such as Illustrator & Corel Draw is known as vector art. It is a smooth looking artwork created using lines called paths. These paths are mathematical rather than pixel based. So if you draw a triangle, for example, the program remembers the angles of the three sides and how long each side is in relation to each other side. Because of this, you can make the triangle as small as a bee's knee or enlarge it to the size of an outdoor billboard and it'll look exactly the same - 3 crisp lines forming the triangle.

Additionally, each color and path is it's own element that can easily be separated from each other. This, plus the fact that each color is solid in tone, makes it extremely easy to separate the colors needed to create the different screens needed for screen printing.
Elements such as text and basic solid shapes should always be vector, if possible.
The downside to vector is, of course, the somewhat cartoony look you get from it. This can be compensated by the use of gradients, but it will still never look as realistic as a photograph.

Pixel based artwork created in programs such as Photoshop is known as raster art. The image is made up of tiny little dots, called pixels. When zoomed in closely on the photo, you can see each individual colored dot making up the image. But when you zoom out, your eyes blend the dots into each other creating a smooth looking image of tones and shades.
So for our triangle example, the program builds the shape filling it in with a bunch of pixels. When you increase the size of the triangle - the program has to fill in the triangle with more pixels. Not only does this drastically increase the file size, it also tends to make the picture look like crap. Say the original triangle picture was 500 x 500 pixels, for 250,000 total pixels and you doubled the size of the image to 1000px x 1000px. The file is now 1,000,000 pixels. The program has to "make up" the rest of the pixels in the image. How it'll often do it is by blurring each of the original pixels. This leads to a blotchy, and often unusable image.

Because of the blurriness of the raster image, it is often difficult, if not at least, very time consuming to separate each color out of the image. Especially when a client provides a very small image that needs to be blown up to t shirt size.
The best method for working with raster artwork is to make sure your file size is set correctly. You can check this in Photoshop by going under: [image]-[image size] and making sure your "document size" is set to the final measurements you want the artwork printed at and the resolution is set to 300 pixels/inch.
Your monitor can only display at 72dpi, so when you work on the file at 300dpi - the image has to increase in size on screen, but it'll still print at the correct size (the width & height you set earlier).

So, a recap: Vector is good for easily resizing images to ANY size and for nice crisp shapes and colors.
Raster is good for photographs, but be sure to create artwork at a minimum of 300dpi @ final print size.

MORE TIPS COMING SOON!

Feel free to use one of our Illustrator or Photoshop templates to show placement and the size of your design:

Boring legal stuff:

Unless otherwise arranged prior to production, all artwork and digitizing for your order remains the property of Monkey in a Dryer and will be maintained at our facility for our exclusive usage in executing your orders. Because our policy is to render artwork and digitizing services for production orders solely on a cost-recovery basis, any transfer to the client of rights to artwork or digitized materials prepared or contracted by our personnel is subject to reasonable release fees, commensurate with the creative services rendered and at a value as determined solely by us.

It will be assumed that any artwork you submit is being used in full compliance with all applicable laws regarding it's usage. You will agree to assume any liability resulting from claims against Monkey in a Dryer for service marks, infringements of trademarks, copyrights, patents and personal rights.