T-shirts with attitude

I’d been thinking about designing t-shirts for a while, and when a client asked me to save some artwork for her t-shirt store, I thought it was time to get my own out there.

She had researched the options, so that saved me a lot of work. I decided on Teemill, a print-on-demand service for t-shirts and tote bags.

I was pleased to find that they operate very ethically:

Made from organic cotton
Printed in the UK
Renewable energy powered factory

Full disclosure: it’s not a huge earner – t-shirts sell for £19 (you can only change the price on the Pro account), of which you get between £2.50 and £4.50, but I really like the idea of being able to bring my designs out into the world 🙂

Here are some of the designs I’ve been playing with. They’re available in a variety of colours and styles of t-shirt, and some tote bags too. Click on each one to take you to the store (Straight But Not Narrow coming soon) or read more about the designs below the images.

t-shirt design with the text "straight but not narrow"

t-shirt design with the text "drama queer"

t-shirt design with the text "hell yes I'm a goddess just not a domestic one"

t-shirt design with the text "what's your magic?"

“Straight But Not Narrow” t-shirt design

JUNE 2020

Straight But Not Narrow t-shirt design process: another font option

Straight But Not Narrow t-shirt design process: looping the 'g'

The words came to me a while ago and I thought it would make a great ally t-shirt for Pride 🙂

I knew I wanted to use the full rainbow (including the brown and black of course) for this, and I needed a chunky font. I especially wanted the word ‘narrow’ to be in a condensed font. I chose Gotham Condensed for ‘narrow’, but the ‘straight’ needed something… different.

I ended up with a font called Sweet Sans Pro (Adobe Fonts) for ‘straight’ and in lower case, to make it a bit more dynamic and playful. I liked that.

I also wanted to bring in an element to tie it together more; to create a relationship between the two words; to create a feeling of support. So I extended the tail of the ‘g’ in straight, to hook into the ‘o’ in narrow – and positioned the last ‘t’ in ‘but not’ to sit above where the tail comes up.

Then I gave the word ‘straight’ a slight gradient to create some more depth.

Using the rainbow in all of it was overkill, so I decided to use it in the word ‘narrow’ only. I also wanted to tie the shapes together so put a faint heart in the background.

“Drama Queer” t-shirt design

AUGUST 2019

Drama Queer t-shirt design process: creating the swirl

Drama Queer t-shirt design process: skewing the design

I wanted something retro but with a modern feel, so when I came across the Blenny Black font (in Adobe Fonts) I knew I found the right one. I love the swirls!

I loved the swirl of the Q, but the D was looking a bit bland. I wanted to give that a nice swirl, too. I took it from the ‘r’, flipped it and put it in the right place.

Also, I wanted it italic rather than upright. The font doesn’t come with an italic option, so I skewed it manually.

Filled it with a (partial) rainbow, et voilà! 🙂

‘Hell Yes I’m a Goddess Just Not a Domestic One” t-shirt design

OCTOBER 2019

Goddess t-shirt design process: deciding on the letter

Goddess t-shirt design process: creating a custom first letter

Goddess t-shirt design process: adding the 'tiara'

I’m using the Amatic font (Google Fonts) and a swirly font called Watermelon Script (from Creative Fabrica) for the ‘Goddess’ word.

I wasn’t overly keen on the capital G in the script font, but the lower case was not quite right either. So I adjusted the lower case letter a bit until I got the desired result.

Also, I had the idea to add something along the lines of a Victorian cleaners outfit head covering, but it turned out more like a tiara 🙂

Again, I tried a variety of colour gradients, and decided on starting with a goldy yellow on the tiara end and keeping it in the warm spectrum.