Here it is…the final step in the process – printing the shirts! Take a look inside to see how it’s done!

Click the image below to see the final installment to the Birth of a Design series on YouTube!

I just want to take a moment and say thanks to all of you who have kept up with this series and commented, emailed, and participated in it. The response has been great and I certainly appreciate all the support. I plan on providing more behind the scenes videos and posts in the future so you can get a better look at what goes on here at Fright-Rags. So thanks again and make sure to let me know what you think by commenting below or on the YouTube page!

- Ben

THIS SHIRT IS NOW AVAILABLE! CLICK HERE TO ORDER!

Ok, here is the next installment of our “Birth of a Design” series! Step inside for a video that shows my process for getting these designs ready for printing!

Please note that this is just an overview of the color separation process. I just wanted to show you how a design is broken down into layers in order for it to be translated into the final look on the shirt. There are a few steps not included mainly because I thought it would be a bit boring to sit through me cleaning up some files…and I don’t want any of you to fall asleep watching this stuff If anyone is interested, I can go into more depth in future videos. But for now, sit back and watch Zombie vs. Shark come to life through multiple layers of color!

THIS SHIRT IS NOW AVAILABLE! CLICK HERE TO ORDER!

Welcome to another addition to “The Birth of a Design” where I’m taking you on a journey from the concept phase of the design all the way to finally printing it on a shirt. If you haven’t read part one yet, check it out here! Otherwise, read on for another addition….

After our last discussion about the Zombie Vs. Shark design, I let Jeff go off and do his thing with the illustration to see what he could do with my comments. A week or so later I received an interesting email from him :

“Ok so I was like more than half-way through the coloring of zombi vs shark last night…when the most horrid thing happened.
I REALIZED IT SUCKED!

Well, the drawing as nice I guess, but not as dramatic as it SHOULD have been, SO I had a quick freak-out, and RE -DREW THE WHOLE THING!”

I had to laugh because the initial sketch was exactly how I pictured it in my head. But then he showed me his re-worked version, which was this….

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!

He did it…he made it even better. We both agreed that this was the way to go so now it was on to final color and text. A day later, he sent this over:

At this point, I was undecided on whether or not to include any text on the shirt. I just felt that the illustration was so good that any text would compete with it. But one thing I knew for sure….the text would have to be much more dynamic than this if we were going to have it as part of the design. So, I decided to try my own hand at it and show Jeff what I was going for:

Although my idea was just a guide to let him know what I was going for, he still had reservations on some of my choices like the blue drop-shadow, and typeface. I encouraged him to go for it and try to whip up something sick. And Jeff, as always, did not disappoint:

And there you have it, the finished design! But wait, how does that exactly get onto the shirt you are wearing? Stay tuned…much more to come!

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Today, I’m kicking off a new segment on the blog featuring all the steps we take in creating the best, most kick-ass shirt designs for you! I’m going to take you behind the scenes and show you exactly how we do it…everything from the concept phase up to actually printing the shirt. So take a look inside for Part One of our series…

PART ONE : EARLY SKETCHES

When I first started Fright-Rags, I designed all the shirts myself. I had the ideas, I picked out which ones I liked the best, and I drew them up. As much as I enjoyed creating the designs, it began to take longer and longer for me to come up with unique looks for the ideas…and as the business grew, so did my responsibilities as the person ultimately in charge of running it. So, I made a decision one day to look for outside designers and I now have a few solid people I work with that help bring my ideas to life.

The concept for this shirt started on the Rue-Morgue message boards in a thread about an upcoming design I was about to release. Someone mentioned how cool it would be to do a “Zombie VS Shark” design based on the now infamous scene in Fulci’s Zombie. Here is the infamous scene!

As soon as I read that post, I thought that was perfect. And who better to do it? Jeffrey Zornow!

Jeff is the man behind such Fright-Rags classics as Father’s Day, Party Time, and CHUD, so clearly he’s got the chops to get this done right. Apparently he thought it was great too because before I had a chance to write him, he contacted me about the same post and wanted my opinion. So, right then and there it was decided that we’d take it on….

At this point I let Jeff go for it…he’s damn good at coming up with something right out of the gate, so I wanted to see his vision. A week later, he returned with this sketch: 

 I saw it and flipped…it was awesome! But in my opinion, it still needed some work. For one, I felt the box was to confining, and I also wanted the text to be different. I wasn’t sure if it even needed the tagline, either. As much as I don’t mind text on a shirt, it has to serve a purpose. And for this design, the gore needs to be upfront and center…nothing should take your eye away from the most awesome (or only?) zombie vs. shark battle in history.

So, I wrote back with some changes, and altered the design myself to look like this:

Ok, I’m going to leave it here because there are more versions to post soon! Look for part two in a week or so where you will see this design start to come alive as I continue to unveil the process of choosing the perfect look for our next killer design! Stay tuned!

-Ben

THIS SHIRT IS NOW AVAILABLE! CLICK HERE TO ORDER!