Someone in the suggestions for the month asked for a design based on Nyan Cat, a new internet meme based on the characters from San-X in Japan (characters like Tarepanda, Rilakkuma, Kogepan and Afro Ken).
Their images are very stylized, and VERY colorful. 'Nyan' is the Japanese word for 'meow'.
If you haven't seen the Nyan Cat video, click here. Twenty two million views? Really?!?
OK, so it's very colorful. But TeeFurry has a six color maximum (five colors on a dark shirt). And the less colors used, the more profit for them, so they like designs where less is more.
So how about Nyan Cat, as Nyan Spam, in just four colors?
Yes. Full rainbow, just four colors. And two of hem aren't used on the rainbow at all!
Their images are very stylized, and VERY colorful. 'Nyan' is the Japanese word for 'meow'.
If you haven't seen the Nyan Cat video, click here. Twenty two million views? Really?!?
OK, so it's very colorful. But TeeFurry has a six color maximum (five colors on a dark shirt). And the less colors used, the more profit for them, so they like designs where less is more.
So how about Nyan Cat, as Nyan Spam, in just four colors?
Yes. Full rainbow, just four colors. And two of hem aren't used on the rainbow at all!
It needs to be light blue, BTW. Otherwise the green doesn't work.
FacebookPhotobucketI need a break, today has been 100% hectic!!
I also made a darker shirt color. The rainbow stops working if the blue is too light or too dark, but it's fine with this blue.
...and as promised, here's a segment at 100%.
Never in my life. However, there was a thread a couple of months ago where jimiyo mentioned print companies with 'automatics' being able to print at 45 to 65 lines per inch (lpi).
The detailed image I had was for another shirt company that will (board rules) remain nameless and that company asks for images at 3200 by 2400 (200dpi, 16 by 12 inches). Here's the detail of the Nyan Spam Cat from my 300dpi version.
As you see, much clearer. The dots have a cell size of 6, meaning 300dpi ÷ 6 cell = 50 lpi. Right in the sweet spot. And if you remember Wheel's design from not long ago...
...I think TeeFury uses automatics too (look at the metal gradient, the fade from blue to black, the near photorealism of the wood texture).
The fuzziness of the dots disappears when ink is added to fabric, as the surface tension of the liquid ink pulls into a sphere shape.
I've just been watching a few YouTube videos on it. Seeing the process in action makes me understand how the colors are layered, so for Nyan Spam cat, I can see the white going on first. Then the yellow, the red on that (to complete the rainbow ...the orange will be the thing to look for, but two color halftones are done all the time. And that's all the pink done too). And finally the black, to outline everything and to complete the gray (black is only used in the top right part of the design).
There's a new place that has opened in a local mall near my house. It says 'custom screen printing' ...everything in the store is the usual Jersey Shore stuff (Monster Energy Drink shirts), but I'm going to go in there and ask if they do actual one-offs, and how much they cost, and what resolution they work off (because if it's cheaper than ordering one of my own designs from the naming-no-names art sites, I want to see my art in print).
I'm not saying the name of the mall!
We have a custom screen-printing shop here that's actually run by some friends of mine but they won't do an order of fewer than 25 shirts. I used to have to work with them a lot designing shirts for clubs in college.
I went in and asked the guy if they actually custom screen print, and he said "yes" in a thick Eastern European accent. So I asked him how many lines per inch they could handle, or what resolution they wanted the artwork in, he looked blank. So I asked him, "what can you print?" and he said "bring in picture, we print picture." Seriously, think of the most achetype Russian accent from a James Bond film, this guy was talking like that. I asked him how much, he said "twenty dollar, and you buy shirt here we take five dollar off."
Don't think I'll be taking anything there. Guy didn't know the first thing about the process, just knew there were lots of Yankees and Red Sox shirts to sell.
There's another local place, says it's the largest embroidery and screen printing place in this quarter of the state. I think I'll go there, see what they say.
The reason my interest is piqued is because where I live (Scranton, PA) has an event on the first Friday of every month called the Art Walk. They're always asking for local artists to show their work. And I want to have some of my designs up. So I'm looking to see who can print one-off designs, and see where I go from there.
Is it bad that this is all I can think about now? "TeeFurry: For fashion-forward anthropomorphs." ;)
(I am not a Furry!)