Creative Process
I work from the the hundreds of photos that I've taken during my many visits to the Lakes. The process usually starts with remembering a view and looking through the photographic backlog to see if I already have something I can work with.
Sometimes I find the perfect viewpoint but a dull drab photographic day so this is when I add a bit of creative inspiration and colour. I don't always find the view I am looking for, so you may not find your favourite Fell or View. I store the idea away and am making a list of the locations I will need to visit on my next trip to the Lakes. I hope that will be soon.
The colour scheme and the design can be a representation of a mood or a memory. Sometimes it is easy to feel what is right and will 'work'. The blue theme for Great Gable, echoed a dull September day venturing out from the campsite at Wastwater; I was looking up the valley to see I could see the top of Great Gable, I replaced the greys with blues. The design for Maiden Moor was much more difficult, I knew what I wanted, but made 3 or 4 attempts before I settled on a design which captured the essence of the scene. Then the magic starts, what you see on the screen is going to be totally different to what will be printed on a T-shirt.
Why is this? Well printing uses combination of inks CMYK; Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, to create the colours printed on the T-shirt. The design when shown on my computer screen mixes Red, Blue and Green and uses light. What looks fantastic on screen will look duller and paler when printed. So what do I do?
The strategy is to create a colour chart and have this printed on a T-shirt. When I want a colour to appear on the T-shirt I look at the chart, find the colour and then pick the original colour on my computer colour chart. On the screen the design can look a lot more lurid and bright, but I have to be brave. I then get a sample of each design printed to check that the printed colours work. Usually there are one or two tweaks to make, before the final design is ready. The picture shows an example design and the printed output. There can be quite a difference, especially if you are using green tones.
When I'm happy with the design, I then have to produce the templates for the different products. The size of the print area is different for each product so I carefully scale for the design for Women's, Men's and Kid's version of the T-shirt.
The advantage of using a dropshipping solution is that I can provide so many more size and colour options for each design. It would be nearly impossible for me to manage the level of stock required to provide a range of choices in size and colour. Once I have my design I can then decide which colour options to choose.
Fortunately I can do this evaluation electronically. I can check how each design will 'look' on each colour sample. You will notice that some colour options are not available for a design, well this is simply because didn't look very good in the 'mock-up'. The design colours will also print differently on different coloured backgrounds, so I won't offer the T-shirt colour and design combination if I'm not happy with the outcome. As time goes on, I will be able to create additional versions of designs and test them. So if you see a design you like but it isn't available in your preferred T-shirt colour keep an eye New Arrivals as it may be available soon.
So that is it. I'm working on new designs all the time, so I hope to have something you will like (or even love) if not today then tomorrow or the next day. If you are reading this from the Lake District, lucky you, if you're not then keep dreaming, your next visit will be coming soon.
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