Ivan Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I just wanted to share a couple of my recent (questionably successful) Minimate related ventures into the Print On Demand (POD) world. I'm curious to see what you guys think. About a month before SDCC this year, I decided I wanted to have a Minimate T-Shirt that I could show off in meatspace at the convention. My only experience in this area was a screen-printing class in high-school, but from what I remembered, it seemed that my Minimate wallpapers would be well suited. (Of course the POD companies don't silk-screen unless you are doing a large run and want to pay setup costs. ) After some searching and comparison, it seemed that the only option available was printing on light colored shirts so I settled on customink.com. And a little while later this arrived in my mailbox: Pretty nice results I think. The only problem is it's a white shirt. Nothing wrong with white, I just prefer dark shirts. Jump forward a couple months and I see a promo for printfection.com, and they say that they print on dark shirts. Excellent! After some transparency tweaks and creative masking I sent in an order. They actually have a helpful forum on their site, and through it I discovered how they print on dark shirts. It's a two step process where they lay down a white layer then the color layer. This made me a little apprehensive, as the image I chose has a ton of transparent gradients. Here's what came back: The Minimate didn't turn out nearly as green as I wanted and the there is quite a color shift on the horizon line. Overall it just looks washed out. Not bad, just not exactly what I wanted. On the plus side it's much better than I feared. If I do anymore, I'll either stay away from transparent gradients or super-saturate the colors. What do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBT! Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Three words... Cool and Froody! Nuff said T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minijeff Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Simply amazing! I love them.... did you make the Spiderman graphic?..thats awsome! I personally ove the white one and would gladly wear something like that lol....Ive been toying with getting a shirt done a local place here but havent found the right graphic for it..again well done! Jeff of the Minis Jeff of the Minis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antacost Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 That black shirt looks awesome! I love how the graphic turned out. Even if it isn't exactly what you were wanting, it still looks bitchin. I also agree with Jeff. The white Spidey shirt looks great. Sometimes you've just got to wear a white shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM2 Dinobot Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Well if you don't like that white Spidey shirt, let me be the first (of many, I'm sure) to say I'll be happy to take it off your hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rad Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Great work Ivan. Loving the spidey shirt. I think white t's are fine. Like Antacost says, although the black shirt wasn't what you wanted it still looks absolutely superb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcastick Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 They look great to me! I may have to look into this one day myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aapje Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 they look really awesome, i wish i had one except almost no one in holland would get it cause almost no one collects mates 'round here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Holy crap! Send it to me now!!!! I once tried to make a t-shirt using the Hulk mini image from the promo poster, but never saw it to completion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omendreamer Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I personally prefer the Spidey one, but that might be because I never could gather much enthusiasm for the blank promo 'mates. The little webline is what causes it to be made of win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fujis Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 What do I think? I want them both! Well done Ivan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacksun1520 Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Those are incredible Ivan, I love 'em. Much better than my attempt: It's a very small pic I know. All I did was take a photo of a Spidey mate, crop him out and print it on an iron-on transfer with my injet printer at home. Your results are much, much better and way more professional. My shirt is VERY faded from being washed, the iron-on isnt very durable. I would actually pay money for yours... mine, not so much. BS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyd Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Very nice! That Spidey looks great on a shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Donster Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Nicely done Ivan, keep up the good work, I would love to see more :biggrin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappy Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Wow. While you are the final arbitrator since you can view them in meatspace, I must say the look very good on the ol' monitor. Neat idea. Too bad you can't mass produce these without getting in trouble with DST... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambitron Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I'd buy one of those. Those are totally awesome! I have a t-shirt for about everything else that I love or collect so this is a natural step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadpool Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I like the black one, but who wouldn't want to wear their wallpaper on their chest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted November 14, 2007 Author Share Posted November 14, 2007 Thanks everyone. The black shirt is starting to grow on me. It does have a certain charm to it. I'd like to make these available to others, but I get all my knowledge on Intellectual Property Law from Wikipedia. (Can elephants really peel a grapefruit faster than any other mammal?) So I'm afraid to poke that dragon. I'm hoping the fact that I created the images will prevent DST's (or worse, Marvel's) legal team from suing me into the stone age. But if threadless.com can sell a shirt with Darth Vader pruning a tree and not face the wrath of Lucas's mighty ninja lawyer clan, why can't I do something similar. Is the Vader image considered parody? I know mine isn't. More research is required. On the other hand, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rad Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 But if threadless.com can sell a shirt with Darth Vader pruning a tree My kid has that t-shirt waiting for him. The size says two, my kid says three! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Work 4 Mates Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Like 'em both. Well done. Make some 3xl's and sell them to me. Rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Customizer Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 That black shirt looks awesome! I love how the graphic turned out. Even if it isn't exactly what you were wanting, it still looks bitchin. I also agree with Jeff. The white Spidey shirt looks great. Sometimes you've just got to wear a white shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elmeaux Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Pretty nice results I think. The only problem is it's a white shirt. Nothing wrong with white, I just prefer dark shirts. Have you looked at cafepress.com? You can do dark shirts there. Earlier this year I did some shirts, hats, etc through them for a diorama project that went to Star Wars Celebration IV. I didn't order any product myself, but I everyone who did said they were happy with the results. Your Spidey image looks like it would work fine. You may want to check that out. E> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Minimator- Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Daaaaaaaaaaay-um!! Excellent, I actually do love the Spidey one more, but the other one came out real nice too. Two questions-where do I get my hands on those graphics and how much do they cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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