The Whole Shirt, One Ink

The Whole Shirt, One Ink

Produce ONE image: a children's tee photographed flat for a product page, carrying a one-colour print. Follow every line. Replace only the FIELDS block; everything after it is fixed.

First — do you have the fields?

If any field below still has braces around it, stop and ask. Put all the questions in one short message, and show the example under each one so they can see the shape of a useful answer. Wait for the replies, then draw. Never fill a brace yourself: a value you invented is a value nobody asked for, and it will look exactly as considered as the ones they did give you.

Ask in whatever language they are writing to you in. Translate the questions and the examples; do not make someone read English to tell you what they want.

The examples are only examples. If someone answers a question, use their answer; never fall back to the example because you prefer it.

If the fields are already filled in, ignore this and carry on.

Fields — replace these six lines only

• The garment and its colour: {the item, and its shade}
• The print's title: {the words, and the lettering style}
• The motif: {what is drawn}
• The small extras and the sub-line: {badges, flags, and a line}
• The ink, and the print width: {one colour, a width, a collar drop}
• The framing: {how much of the garment is in shot}

The framing law

This is a product image. Somebody has to be able to see the shape of the thing they are buying.

The whole garment sits inside the frame with clear ground on all four sides — the hem fully visible, both sleeves complete to the cuff, the collar entire, and white around the outside of all of it.

A reference run of this style produced a genuinely lovely print and cut the hem off the bottom of the frame with both sleeves running off the sides. As artwork it was fine. As a product image it was unusable: the garment had no shape and no length, which are the two things a buyer is looking for.

Check the frame first, before judging the print.

The print law

Specify it the way a screen printer would, because that is what makes it producible rather than merely drawable:

• One ink. Flat, solid, one colour everywhere. No tints, no screens, no 50% grey, no second colour, no gradient. If the motif needs shading to work, redraw it as line.
• A stated width, in centimetres, and a stated drop below the collar. The print sits on the upper chest, centred, at that width and that drop.
• Even line weight, and nothing so fine it would fill in or drop out on press. Hairlines are the first thing lost.

The print's layout

Built like a real tee graphic, top to bottom:

1. 1The title, widest element, in bold hand-drawn lettering with slight irregularity — clearly readable, never wobbly.
2. 2The motif beneath it: one to three simple line figures, drawn with clean outlines and a little interior detail, no rendering.
3. 3The extras either side or between: a round stamp, a small pennant, a few trees, short marks. A handful, not a scatter.
4. 4The sub-line under the group, small, in caps.

The garment

Laid flat and square to the camera, sleeves opened slightly outward, collar even, no model, no hanger, no props, no scene.

Soft cotton with light natural creasing, visible seams and stitching at the collar, cuffs and hem, and one gentle shadow beneath. Realistic but not heavy — this is a catalogue shot, not a still life.

Never

• ✕ any part of the garment cropped by the frame
• ✕ a second ink, a tint, a screen or a gradient in the print
• ✕ line weights too fine to print
• ✕ a print that fills the whole front, or one placed off centre
• ✕ a model, a hanger, props or a background scene
• ✕ heavy shadow, 3D rendering, or a distorted mockup

The result

A shot that could go straight onto a product page: the whole shirt visible and square, one ink on the chest at a width a printer could set up, and a graphic that would still read after a hundred washes.