I have been looking at all the derbys and seeing all of the shirt ideas, and decided i wanted to start making my own, however i don’t know what program to use, or how anyone is making their designs. Any suggestions???
This gets asked a lot!!! Might even be a permanent thread for it in the world of shirt.woot by now.
I believe the most common answer is Adobe Illustrator.
However the free option is inkscape.
Personally, I’m not good at vector graphics so the occasional times I enter I use Adobe Photoshop
The free option being GIMP.
Maybe some of the actual designers will have something else to say, but . . . . they don’t come down here too much (other than the regulars over at the cyberpub - but they are cooler than other shirt designers!)
I did my current entry in Photoshop, but normally I use Illustrator just because it’s less of a resource hog on my computer when I’m working at print size.
A free program like Inkscape or the Gimp would probably be a good place to start if you’re not really familiar with Adobe software (or pleased with the price tag). There are lots of tutorials about using these programs, but sometimes I like to just go with trial and error.
Good luck!
i usually just settle for “error”.
without error, to what could we compare success? 
mediocrity?
I guess that depends on whether you’d drop mediocrity into the error bucket.
i think of “mediocre” as being of middling quality or “ordinary.” neither error nor extreme success.
SO i have made a submission i would like to enter in inkscape, how do i convert it to a jpeg, or into a file type that is suitable for woot to use???
Should be something in ‘save as’ under the file menu.
sounds like you may benefit from additional reading. here are some links stolen from ehalcyon’s sig:
unofficial derby rules
designing for the derby
tips for new designers
in short, you will need 3 files to submit: a print ready, a comp, and a detail. the last time i entered the derby (which admittedly is quite a while ago), the print ready could be submitted in .svg format, which is inkscape’s native format, so you can do a “save as” for that one. the comp and detail are bitmaps (.jpg format with minimum compression is highly recommended); inkscape can export to various bitmap formats using the “export bitmap” selection on the file drop-down menu.
hope this helps!
File >> Export bitmap
how do i create a print ready file? im confused on the subject, can someone help??
there are more artists on “world of woot shirts” than there are here, but the short answer is: if you have photoshop, the print ready is your design saved in photoshop’s default format. if you have gimp, you can also save in this format. if you have illustrator, you can save in illustrator’s format. if you have inkscape, you can save in .svg format.
read the links i posted a couple of posts back for more help. they were written in some detail with more skill than i can muster.
I’m trying to submit a shirt for the first time, but I’m having some issues. When I make a file of the size and resolution woot wants for the print-ready file (in photoshop) I end up with a HUGE file (over 1 Gb). What am I doing wrong?
hard for me to say exactly. how many layers are you using? are they all the full size and resolution? many layers at 4800x6000 px can use a lot of memory.
make it into a png:
go to “save as”.
click the drop-down menu box next to “save as type”.
Click where it says "Cairo PNG (*.png).
now you have it!
p.s. can anyone help me with making the print-ready file in Inkscape?
is your design already in inkscape? just sub the .svg file.