Are You Taking Advantage of These MyWear® Tools?

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with the MyWear platform and designed your first item, you might be wondering if there’s any hacks or tools for even more control during the design process. Lucky for you, there is! Here we’ll walk you through some of the lesser known tools to utilize while designing with MyWear!

Apply Image To

If you only want to apply art to specific sections of your design, use the “Apply Image To” dropdown to add art to desired panels, or uncheck components where you don’t want your art to be applied.

 

Additional Artwork Tabs

If you’re planning on using more than one artwork on your piece, you can use the additional artwork tabs to do so. When combined with “apply image to” you can create pieces that feature multiple works of art on different sections, or it can be used as a tool for even more control over the placement of your art and how it will look on your garment.

 

Clone Tool

Use the clone tool to clone your art to a second (or third!) artwork tab.

 

Center Arrow Button

As you’ve probably figured out, the four arrows located in the artwork tab will align your art further to the left or right, or higher or lower. But, there’s also a small center button which will make your arrows move in smaller increments.

 

Display Order

Use the layer up/down buttons located to the left of your art thumbnail to change layer order.

To set a logo, use a .png file (without a background) and overlay it on top of the other layers.

 

Color Tab

To apply solid color, go to the color tab and uncheck “art” in the component you’d like to apply color to. Click the color box and use the dropper to choose a color or enter a color hex code.

Mirror & Copy Functions

You can also find the “mirror” and “copy” functions located in the color tab. Use these to copy or mirror the art from one side onto the other. For example, for symmetrical sleeves, use the color tab’s dropdown menu under “Mirror” and select “Mirror” to make the left component match with the right. Select “Copy” to apply an identical copy of the art onto the other sleeve.

Once you get the hang of these tools, you’ll find many inventive ways to use them to create truly unique items that your customers can’t find anywhere else. Want a quick visual refresher course? Look no further than our video tutorial!

Stripes: The Perfect Companion for Your MyWear® Line this Summer

As we’ve reported a few times now, stripes have been quietly elevating their status from classic wardrobe staple to one of 2016’s biggest trends. We saw this budding as early as last year, gaining traction through early 2016, and now;  they’ve officially hit their trending tipping point:

Stripes are easy to create, compliment other prints (think polka dots or floral pattern mixing), and go well with multiple colors and styles. Simply put, they’re perfect for incorporating into your MyWear® designs this summer!

To design your own in Photoshop, use the rectangular marquee tool to select the size stripe you want. Then, use the paint bucket tool to fill in the selected area with a desired color. Repeat! Copy and paste your stripe design for an ongoing pattern.

Want to switch it up with a new color scheme, you chameleon, you? No problem! Use the Hue/Saturation dial located in adjustments to give a quick color change!

As mentioned above, pattern mixing is a cinch with stripes, just remember to use at least one matching or complimentary color!

Most importantly, have fun and infuse your own personality into this classic!

Until next time, happy designing!

MyWear® 101: Create Clothing & Accessories On-Demand

For those of you not in the loop yet, MyWear® is a new on-demand eCommerce and manufacturing platform for artists and designers that gives you the ability to launch your own line of clothing and accessories for free.

The integrated platform provides you with everything you need to start selling your own merchandise: design tools, a branded e-store, pattern generation, supply chain, production, and free shipping & delivery to over 10 countries. We’re also the only platform to move beyond the heat-pressed T-shirt, offering apparel in a variety of knits and woven fabrics and advanced silhouettes, like custom dresses, jackets, and even chinos.

So, how do you get started?

1. Register for your free account at LaunchMyWear.com
2. Create and customize your own branded e-storefront: (your brand name).mywearstore.com
3. Upload your art and design products without restrictions on MyWear®’s 3D model.
4. Publish to make your design immediately available for purchase.
5. After your first sale, link your Stripe account.
6. You relax while we take care of manufacturing, shipping, and customer service!

Now, we’ll do a quick crash course on our 3D model:

1. To design on the 3D model, first, you’ll want to upload your artwork. Art can for this can be created in a number of ways including Photoshop, Microsoft Paint, Adobe Illustrator, a photograph, or a picture of something you’ve drawn/painted. We recommend uploading 300 pixel/inch resolution, so your artwork is large and high-res enough to cover your design in full.

2. Hover your mouse over the art you uploaded and select “Design your own”. This will take you to a menu of products to choose from.

3. Now, we get to the fun stuff! When your design first appears on your product, in some cases it will show as a rectangle, one that most likely doesn’t fit the entire piece. There’s an Auto Fit button which will automatically fill the entire product.

4. Or, in order to get your print to cover your product entirely, you’ll want to use the plus sign to scale the art to the whole piece. To make the print smaller, use the minus option. Use the arrows to align it further to the left or right, or higher or lower. The small center button will make your arrows move in smaller increments.  If you’re planning on using more than one artwork on your piece, you can use the additional artwork tabs to do so.

5. To apply color, select the area of your product you’d like to fill and turn artwork off in the color tab, if needed. Choose the color you’d like to apply to the selected section.

6. When finished, double check to make sure art is covering the entire piece and save design in bottom right corner.

Now your design is up and available for purchase on your MyWear® store! Share your newly designed piece with family, friends, and your social media audience! When an order is placed, we’ll manufacture and ship it, and credit your dues to your account.

Happy designing!

LaunchMyWear How-To: Create a Tribal Print

In this week’s MyWear® How-To, I’ll walk you through creating your own tribal print. To do this, you’ll need Photoshop and a little creativity. Easy peasy!

Start by using the rectangular marquee tool, located on your tool bar to your left, to create a couple of lines. Fill them in with the desired color using the paint bucket, also located in your tool bar.

Use the polygonal Lasso Tool to begin shaping out an angular design. To do this click corners and the polygonal lasso will connect them with lines. You’ll be using this tool a lot for this particular design, so I recommend playing around with it for a few moments to get a good feel for it.

Once you’ve created a shape, fill it in with the desired color.

Add an additional color, if desired.

Create more space for expanding your design by lengthening the canvas size. To do this, go to “Image” on the Menu Bar, then “Canvas Size”, and shift the anchor to one side. Enter a larger number in the Width box.

To repeat a design, use the rectangular marquee tool to select area you’d like to repeat. Copy and paste (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V) and use cursor arrows to move the desired spot.

Continue creating a design using your Polygonal Lasso Tool and filling it with the Paint Bucket tool, adding additional colors as you go.

From here, it is really just a matter of creating, copying, and pasting, and adding to your design.

Here’s my final pattern:

From here, you can either save and upload to LaunchMyWear or you can add texture. To do this, Go to “Filter” on your Menu Bar and dropdown to select “Oil Paint”. Move around the dials and up the “shine” until you achieve desired effect.

Now you’ve created a one-of-a-kind tribal print ready to be uploaded to LaunchMyWear and turned into an awesome piece of clothing or accessory. Have fun and remember to tweet your designs to @LaunchMyWear.

LaunchMyWear How-to: Create a Print from a Photograph

This is the first installment of a weekly-running tutorial on different ways you can create art for your LaunchMyWear collection. In this one, we’ll explore how to make a print from a photograph!

Today’s tutorial will require Photoshop. Adobe Illustrator is also used for an additional step, but not necessary. Some basic knowledge of Photoshop would come in handy, but fear not if you’re a beginner. There are lots of free resources out there.

Because life if absurd and I’m obsessed with my pets, Andre and Shanté, they will be the source of my pattern today!

Awww

1. Open desired photo in Photoshop. Click on the quick selection tool, located to the left in your toolbar, and select the area you want to feature in your print. You can use the magic wand or lasso to select the area, as well.

2. Create a second blank document in Photoshop.

3. Copy and paste the selected area (ctrl-c, ctrl-v) and use the cursor to drag the layer to its own new Photoshop document.

Double the Andre, double the fun!

4. Use the clone stamp tool or eraser to soften edges. To select the area you want to clone, hold down the alt key while clicking on desired area. Then, click again where you want to apply the cloned selection. If you’re new to this feature, take a few minutes to play around with it. It’s incredibly intuitive once you get the hang of it, but requires a little getting used to. In this case, I’m selecting the white background and applying it to the edges of Andre’s fur, to soften the appearance.

This is getting weird.

5. If you want a cartoon-y effect, I recommend turning up the saturation, which will help keep the photo from getting washed out during the process of making it look more illustrated later in AI. To add saturation, go to “Image” on your menu bar, then “Adjustments” in the dropdown. There, you’ll see an option for “Hue/Saturation”. Turn the saturation dial up and press ok. You can also turn up the exposure under “adjustments”, which I have done here.

6. To create the cartoon-y effect mentioned above, save your saturated document and open in Adobe Illustrator. Go to “Object” in the top menu bar and select “Artboards”, followed by “Fit to Artwork Bounds”, which will be necessary for saving/exporting the file later on. From here, you can click on your image and an “Image Trace” box should appear. Use this to change the preset to 16 colors.

You can also use the pen tool, located on your toolbar to the left, to trace your photo and create an outline.

7. Return to Photoshop after exporting your art from Adobe Illustrator (don’t forget to check the “Use Artboards” box when exporting!) . From here, create a background color with the paint bucket tool.

8. Enlarge your canvas size and copy and paste your photo repeatedly until you begin to create a print. Here, I added Shanté to the mix in the same way that I did with Andre earlier.

9. Keep going until you develop the desired size and look.

10. There you have it! After re-sizing to 20MB or less and saving, your artwork is ready to be uploaded to LaunchMyWear. You can also size it into a square and use the tile option when uploading to LaunchMyWear.com Your print is now on its way to being turned into an incredible one-of-a-kind item. You’re not going to find this scarf anywhere else, that’s for sure!

Have fun! And, as always, tweet you designs or questions @LaunchMyWear.

Turn Art into Merchandise and sell with MyWear®!

 

Register for your free account at http://www.LaunchMyWear.com. After you’ve signed up, you’re ready to create your first piece! Follow along for the steps and helpful tips I’ve learned when designing products.

1. First, you’ll want to upload your artwork. I usually create my art in Photoshop, but you could also use Microsoft Paint, Adobe Illustrator, a photograph, or a picture of something you’ve drawn/painted. I recommend uploading 300 pixel/inch resolution, so your artwork is large and high-res enough to cover your design in full. The one I uploaded here is 4000×6303 px and 19.4 MB.

2. Hover your mouse over the art you uploaded and select “Design your own”. This will take you to a menu of products to choose from. I’ve selected the Plus Size Fit & Flare.

3. Now, we get to the fun stuff! When your design first appears on your product, it will show as a rectangle, one that most likely doesn’t fit the entire piece. There’s an Auto Fit button which will automatically fill the entire product.

4. Or, in order to get your print to cover your product entirely, you’ll want to use the plus sign to scale the art to the whole piece. Use the arrows to align it further to the left or right. To make the print smaller, use the minus option. If you’re planning on using more than one artwork on your piece, you can use the additional artwork tabs to do so.

5. To apply color, select the area of your product you’d like to fill and turn artwork off in the color tab, if needed. Choose the color you’d like to apply to the selected section.

6. Now your design is up and available for purchase on your MyWear® store! Share your newly designed piece with family, friends, and your social media audience! When an order is placed, we’ll manufacture and ship it, and credit your dues to your account.