How to Make a Shirt Mockup: Guide for Beginners
Have you ever thought about how to create a T-shirt and an awesome print on it without involving complex processes? It is true that designing always starts with creating a layout in Photoshop, and sometimes you need to learn a lot of tutorials and master this program to create a high-quality production. Shirt mockups allow you to present the items you design professionally, showing your audience examples of what the products will look like in the end.
T-shirt graphic designs are a perfect way to promote and showcase goods to the customers. Mockups are also the initial way to start your clothing business. There are different kinds of designs you may consider using to develop your brand. And now attention! You do not need to have Photoshop skills to produce a high-quality result. There are many resources on the Internet that help in a couple of clicks to work out a mockup and see the end product. Now we offer you to figure out the main ways to create mockups without Photoshop.
Why Use Mockups?
Mockups are a very useful tool for designers. Surely every member of this profession sooner or later starts using it. The reason is convenient: images of any product always have a better view in the natural dimension. You can use mockups to present your design, putting it in a “live” environment. Mockups are useful for demonstrating a good or item to a potential customer. For example, it will be appropriate for the presentation of a business card, photo album, book, t-shirt, cup, and much more. Another benefit of these solutions is the ability to test products while they are still in development and to make edits before they go into production or print.
The main advantages of using prepared items are the following:
Project presentation. Models allow you to consider the future project in detail. A mockup presentation is like putting on virtual reality glasses, immersing yourself in the project completely to identify all its pros and cons
Reducing the number of edits. A prepared model helps to understand how the idea will look on the result, and whether it needs changes. Moreover, it often saves money and time for the designer. And you do not have to spend fabulous amounts of money to redesign t-shirts and reprints.
Development of corporate identity. You just download a set of templates and try the development on various items. From pens and mugs to calendars.
Saves the budget. Printing design sample banners, business cards, signs, and t-shirts is costly and time-consuming. It is faster and cheaper to optimize your work with mockups and test your idea in an online format before printing.
Basic Types of Mockups
A mockup is a layout of an image that is needed to evaluate the style of a product before release. Technically, a mockup is a PSD file with layers and objects that can be formatted.
The mockup is added to the picture of the real object so that the client can appreciate what the design will be like. If desired, light and shadow, captions, and perspective distortions are applied to test the visual appearance of the product in conditions close to reality.
The technology of creating a mockup depends on the task that the customer has set for the designer. Here are the most common formats of mockups:
Static image. A scaled image of the client’s corporate identity or logo is overlaid on the object’s photo. This is the standard and simplest version of a mockup.
Editable file in PSD format. You can make edits to the entire composition or individual objects and details. This variant is considered more convenient for use.
Mobile application. You may create a video mockup in Adobe After Effects. This option allows you to evaluate all the advantages and disadvantages of the concept.
4 Basic Steps to Create a Shirt Mockup
Now let’s get to designing a mockup that, in a few clicks, will become the basis of your awesome shirt collection.
1. Choose a suitable template
Open a site where you are comfortable working with mockup development. These may be Placeit, Mockupmark, Printful, etc. These platforms allow you to create designs of any complexity for free. So, go to a resource and use a filter to select a template. Most resources imply that you can specify the model, gender, age, etc. Also, most websites have tags by which you can find stylish and relevant suggestions. This can refer to holidays, times of the year, and other occasions. After marking all the criteria, the platforms will give you the most suitable results among which you can choose the perfect pattern.
2. Perfect fabric color
After selecting the template, you need to focus on the color of the shirt, because mostly the sites offer only standard white options. You can choose any color and apply it by seeing in real-time how it will look.
3. What image is better to choose
First of all, remember that the image must be high quality. And based on this, your shirt will immediately have a presentable and stylish look. Most mockup platforms work on a system of uploading and placing the image on the t-shirt. Or you are offered ready-made images that you choose and at once watch the premade design. It is recommended to use .PNG, and .JPEG image files.
4. Loading the finished product
After you place the images, add captions, and hand-designed prints you can upload the ready-to-use item and get a high-quality mockup. It will be completely ready for printing.
Conclusions
A mockup is a very important tool for creating a high-quality product. It helps to present and test the idea, minimize the designer’s mistakes and customer’s costs. There are a lot of ready-made templates on the web, which will help you to get finished products or become the basis for your unique creation. If you want to learn how to develop a corporate identity yourself, then use the tips from our guide and create a top-quality and stylish mockup in a short time.
