Threadless

Boycey
Boycey aka Tom is a 31.74 year old boy, has been a member since November 21, 2009, has scored 38,580 submissions, giving an average score of 2.85, helping 582 designs get printed.

Hi, if you are reading this then you are probably new to Threadless. This is my second year at Threadless, so I still have much to learn myself.

Here are some tips, hints and links for you to look at.

WELCOME!

Enjoy Threadless, have a look around at all the great tees that have been printed.

click me to see all the prints


New World Order by Tony Aguero.


TEE TEMPLATES



From left to right: Threadless tee (layers), Blue jean tee (flat JPEG) & female model (Rodrigobhz download)

Use a photo template for your work to achieve a professional look. The Threadless official templates are great, now go download them from the 'submit a design' section!

Or if you are looking for a wider range of pics, you might want to try the Threadless blank tees and template photographs on Flickr.

You might have to customise some of these yourself though.

Threadless Blank Tee Photos

Rodrigobhz has also recently made these new templates.:

New PSD ready tee templates by Rodrigobhz


FLASH TEMPLATES

If you have a copy of Flash and would like to show more than one page, you can use these slide templates by pihilip.

two or three slide Flash templates

....or you can use an adapted version of pilihip's templates by agrimony.

These slides by agrimony include scroll and zoom features

SPAMMING

Another thing to remember is please don't post links to your work on the design submission pages as most people who have been on Threadless for more than a few weeks don't like it.

how to promote your design by Squatter John

Always try to remember to offer good advice in the critique section if you are using it (rather than sending 'neato check out mine' comments).

A funny 'check out mine' example


PROMOTING YOUR OWN WORK



How to improve your presence on the web

An ongoing discussion about self-promotion, by the wonderful queenmob.


WIP BLOGS

You can also post a WIP on the blogs, which is sometimes better if you just want a quick answer about a small detail such as choice of tee colour or conceptual ideas.

You can post images using HTML. Here is an explanation by Bortwein:



TYPETEES

You might also want to write some slogans. The slogan section has been updated recently, and there is a real buzz about writing slogans now! You can only submit one slogan per day. Here are some links to check out, if you are interested in wordplay.


Slogan advice by Soloyo


The Official Slogan Club

Slogan Shoguns (club)

VOTING



Vote 4 or 5 if you like it and say $5 if you would like to buy it. $2 wouldn't make much sense as it means you would give the tee a low score but you would buy it anyway. :D

GENERAL ADVICE

You can set up a Flickr account to keep artwork on and to upload additional images.

It is recommended to use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator as these programs are the industry standard.

Photoshop tutorial by Valor and Vellum

If you want free copies of any program, Google 'portable+program ;) Although, I can't officially recommend doing that as some sites have viruses or adware in the downloads.

LAYERS

I can reccommend downloading Mike Mitchell's awesome linemaker tool though. It's a handy Photoshop action tool which can make the linework of your sketch go onto a seperate layer.

It is recommended that you use layers unless you are planning to make a simulated process print. Threadless can print as many colours as they like, but submissions which are two colours only are more likely to be selected for printing.

Linemaker tool by Sticky Mike


THE DESIGN PROCESS



No regrets sketches by Phillip Tseng

A few words from Jublin about the design process:

Sometimes you just gotta push through those frustrating moments when it seems like nothing is working and keep at it. Ask for advice, take a break, come back to it later. Eventually, things will start to shape up and it will come out looking nice and sexy. Nicexy

Jublin

Jublin's process blog about Space and Time

You might also find this an interesting read. Murray Mullet posted a blog where printed artists can show their first drafts of their concept or initial idea.

Original Sketches of Threadless Prints


BLOGS

Blog about your own work and other people's work if you like it. It doesn't have to be all ME, ME, ME! You can also make or read blogs about all kinds of other stuff.



A friendly blogger called SuperRyan modelling a new tee. (You can get a discount off of your next tee if you send in a pic).

A cool blog by Threadless staff member wearecareful:

People's favourite comic book artists

FEEDBACK

Try to be honest with people but also remember to show some tact if they have put a lot of work into it.

Feel free to ask any questions, more to come.


HELP-WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?



If none of this makes any sense, you can ask me a question on this blog.

You can also ask Isaboa Joe a question or just say hi at this blog here:

Dear New People

If it's all too much to read, just click the watch this (eye icon)
and come back to the links at a later date.

Hit the hash button from the main menu to go to the last page of a blog.

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queenmob
   queenmob on Aug 30 '11 at 4:25pm
This guide is so freaking awesome!
2 days later
Boycey
Boycey on Sep 02 '11 at 8:00am
Updated! :) Hope it's OK!

Updated: promoting your own work & screenshot of tee templates.
4 days later
toukee
toukee on Sep 06 '11 at 10:27pm
Thanks man! This is going to be super helpful. I'm actually going to send this to a couple of friends too. I'm trying to recruit them to come on here and make a little group for ourselves.
40 days later
Manupix
Manupix on Oct 17 '11 at 12:13pm
Long overdue bump
2 days later
ican.kamil
ican.kamil on Oct 20 '11 at 10:00am
Hi all, I'm newbie on threadless.... let's make a friends and share cool stuff!.. :D

Regards!
9 days later
Manupix
Manupix on Oct 30 '11 at 8:19am
Bump
josephmaas
josephmaas on Oct 31 '11 at 1:43am
Two colors more likely to be accepted? Yes but why? Due to the poor economy Threadless needs to conserve ink?

I know, I know, problems with full color artwork, special inks, problematic screens, yada, yada, yada, but it seems that this is, well, yesterday's thinking???

As an artist that pretty much does 100% full color work, i've encountered comments on my submissions here on multiple occassions, like, "Crazy niiceeeee design, but that won't print on a teee!".

I just watched a demo video on YouTube about software called T-Seps. Never even heard of this one until this evening. But it looks as if, IF one us using correct software on the printing side, then it's no problem converting full color graphics for t-shirt printing that's bright and vivid, retains plenty of detail.

I hope I'm not just doing my usual "wishful thinking" here.
agrimony
   agrimony on Oct 31 '11 at 1:52am
the profit margins are just better for 2 color designs. its easier to screen print and everything.

but dont worry too much about colors, sim print takes care of pretty much everything. Although I myself prefer sticking to the more traditional tees because they feel so much softer

if your design is good, threadless will print it, regardless of how many colors u used
19 days later
Miluette
Miluette on Nov 19 '11 at 4:25am
Very nice guide. I appreciate it!
4 days later
jain.prince1489
jain.prince1489 on Nov 23 '11 at 5:26am
u r doing a great work by posting these blogs....
7 days later
Manupix
Manupix on Nov 30 '11 at 7:35pm
Changing your av was a bad trick, Mr TS!
2 days later
Vafann
Vafann on Dec 03 '11 at 5:43am
Thank you very much for this! :)
33 days later
Manupix
Manupix on Jan 05 '12 at 12:27pm
Some one pliz make this blog sticky!

*staffwink*
21 days later
queenmob
   queenmob on Jan 27 '12 at 12:36am
Hey did you use my profile pick for an example...cooool!
11 days later
Manupix
Manupix on Feb 07 '12 at 3:34pm
bounce!
18 days later
Manupix
Manupix on Feb 26 '12 at 12:55pm
boumpse
Phauxe
Phauxe on Feb 26 '12 at 2:15pm
Things like this post are absolutely amazing and so appreciated. Thanks!
jdokalios
jdokalios on Feb 26 '12 at 2:38pm
Thank you for posting this.
2 days later
ikalt
ikalt on Feb 29 '12 at 6:49am
thx!
15 days later
EarthAngel2012
EarthAngel2012 on Mar 16 '12 at 6:14am
Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to do this ! I am green when it come to different sotware uses. I cant afford to buy photoshop so I am using Paint.net for creations. I want to submit designs but cant because i do not know how to upload the t-shirt template in the program I am using. Is there any tutorial on how to upload or create your own t-shirt templates in any design programs?.
Someone suggested me using GIMP or Inkscape, how do I upload the t-shirt templates in these ? Or how do I create and use my own
Thomas Orrow
Thomas Orrow on Mar 16 '12 at 6:29am
You can try Gimp if you like:

http://www.gimp.org/

Although, Photoshop and Illustrator are the gold standard in the design industry.

To upload the official template files, go to this page:

http://www.threadless.com/submit

Then click on the zip files, download, unpack & enjoy!
39 days later
Manupix
Manupix on Apr 24 '12 at 2:22pm
bumpitybump
26 days later
Wharton
Wharton on May 20 '12 at 6:33pm
BUMP!
mirisch
mirisch on May 21 '12 at 4:34am
Awesome blog!
3 days later
Heretic07
Heretic07 on May 24 '12 at 1:06pm
Thanks for this post man, I'm new here, and this has been really helpful!


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