- Dec 03, 2020 Design a Shirt is another free t-shirt builder that’s built into a website that allows you to order shirts. The tools allow you to add images and text on all different colors and styles of shirts. The best feature of this tool is the Idea Gallery, which includes some basic templates to help you start a shirt design project.
- It depends on whether you want to design templates for printing yourself - eg for re-sale or just need a quick and easy designer to print one or a many designs for your own use. Photoshop is probably the best tool for designing for printing for re.
Design that tee for free
Maya 2018. There’s a reason t-shirts took over the world, ever since they evolved from underwear to outerwear in the mid-20th century — they’re easy to wear, easy to wash, even easy to make. They’re also an easy choice for people who want to represent their group; be that a rock band, a sports team, a professional project or a branding campaign for your new company.
Design a Shirt is another free t-shirt builder that’s built into a website that allows you to order shirts. The tools allow you to add images and text on all different colors and styles of shirts. The best feature of this tool is the Idea Gallery, which includes some basic templates to help you start a shirt design project.
Before you start talking to graphic designers, you might try and design your own t-shirt. It’s easier than you think, especially with the range of software freely available online.
These tools can help you make eye-catching t-shirt designs using photos and illustrations. Many include clipart, background textures and text manipulation options to help you get the design just how you want it. You might even want to use more than one software to combine effects. If you want to
Here’s our rundown of the best image editing and graphic design software — and it’s all free.
Inkscape
This open source image editor is specialised in vector graphics, making it the free counterpart to Adobe Illustrator. It’s among the most respected of free design software because of its huge range of advanced tools and effects, allowing you to make whatever t-shirt design you have in mind with useful features like path-based text. inkscape.org
Krita
You know Krita was made with designers in mind because they have a set of tutorials to guide you through the more complex aspects of the software. Created by artists and completely free, Krita includes customisable brushes and tools for you to fine-tune your designs, and is particularly suited to cartoon or comic-style illustrations. krita.org
GIMP
The grand daddy of free photo editing and graphic design software, GIMP has long been the free alternative to Photoshop for millions of users. Maslach burnout inventory (mbi questionnaire. Stocked with customizable tools and updated regularly by its team of volunteers, GIMP is as good as you’ll get without spending a penny. gimp.org
CorelDraw
Car mechanic simulator free download mac. Graphic designers use CorelDraw for a range of vector designs. It’s particularly useful for t-shirts because it comes stocked with clipart and images that you can use, and has a clean, intuitive design. Some new users may find it difficult to learn, but there’s plenty of manuals and tutorials for budding designers. coreldraw-graphics-suite.en.softonic.com
CustomInk
This in-browser designer is made specifically for t-shirts, and is one of the easiest designers to use. There are hundreds of images included from various categories, and easy options to add names and numbers for shirts for your sports team or project group. customink.com
Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator Trials
Here’s a bonus suggestion – taking advantage of the Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator free trials. There’s a reason Adobe is the leading industry standard for image editing — their tools are the best, and the updates keep coming. Adobe software is far from free, but both Photoshop and Illustrator come with free seven-day trials. If you’re just looking for a quick job, you might consider doing it on the best software out there. adobe.com
Printing t-shirts or apparel? At ICON Printing we offer fast turnaround screen printing, DTG printing and embroidery with a wide-ranging catalogue from t-shirts to caps to bags. Get a quote in 2 minutes online.
Whether it’s your first time designing a t-shirt, or you’re new to design all together… this is for you!
At ICON Printing we’ve spent a decade at the centre of London’s creative industries, printing t-shirts for everyone from WeWork, Boiler Room, Google, Topshop and the Tate.
We field countless queries about t-shirt design – if you want some more guidance – take a look at our step-by-step guide of how to get your merch printed – or just give us a call. For now, we’ll walk you through some of the top software programs for designing a t-shirt – and if you’re looking for a budget option, check out our picks of the best free t-shirt design software.
Adobe Illustrator
Part of the Adobe Suite, Illustrator is one of the most commonly used programs amongst graphic designers. Working in vector graphics (which is what we need for screen printing or embroidery!) means you’ll be able to create multi-dimensional, layered illustrations, logos, and typography. The downside? The price tag.
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop is also part of the Adobe Suite, however as it’s not a vector program it has different uses. With this program, you’ll be able to edit high-quality images and create unique photo effects. In addition, you can create on line work as you would on Illustrator, however keeping in mind it will not be vector (which means it won’t be suitable for a screen print, however DTG printing will be possible). The downside? Again, price tag.
For more tips for getting the most out of the t-shirt printing process read our guides on screenprinting, DTG printing, CMYK vs RGB file types and fonts.
CorelDraw
CorelDraw is a free downloadable program making it a great budget option for beginners. As a vector graphics program, you will have lots of freedom with designing and gain many of the same features as Illustrator without cashing out before you’re ready. The downside? If you’re new to design, this program isn’t specifically for t-shirt designs so it can take some time getting the hang of things.
Graffix Pro Studio
Created specifically for designing t-shirts, this program is very easy to use and a great option for beginners. The downside? While it will make things nice and simple, this also means you are quite limited with what you can do on the program. Unfortunately, this one comes with a price tag.
Inkscape
Our last recommendation is another free vector graphics program. It works pretty similarly to Illustrator and again allows you to create a range of multi-dimensional graphics suitable for screen printing and embroidery. The downside? It can’t handle very large files as compared to Illustrator.
Want to learn more about the t-shirt printing process?
T-shirt Design Studio Software
Best Free T-shirt Design Software
If you’ve found this guide useful and want to learn more about the t-shirt printing process and how to get the most out a printing job, have a read through some of our expert guides, covering everything from screen-printing to branding, from in-depth features to quick tips and tricks. Here’s a selection of some our favourites: