Lab Rat

Artist FAQ

Welcome to the RIPT Apparel Artists FAQ

Last updated March 14th, 2012
A lot of our artists have been asking similar questions, which we expected and we’ve created this document to help answer those questions. We realize all of the designers have different proficiencies in their knowledge of the screen printing process and the dynamic problems involved. Some of this information may seem rudimentary, so please keep in mind we are trying to accommodate even the most novice of shirt designers.

Q: What are the size limitations for my artwork on a shirt?
The largest screens that we are currently allowing are 13.5″ wide X 17″ high. For our daily tees, we are currently only allowing front screen print shirts. Our hoodies will utilize the same screens as your t-shirts but will be printed on the back. We cannot print on the front of our hoodies, sorry.

Q: How many colors can I use?
To keep our costs down, yet still allow our artists some creative freedom, we are currently limiting the amount of colors to 5. This means 5 spot colors of ink, plus the shirt color. We are not really looking for CMYK prints, however on a white shirt we can consider a CMYK styled design because the background would be more similar to paper. Please try to stick to spot-color designs and implement halftones when additional hues are needed. When printing on dark colored tees, realize that one of the colors will most likely consist of a white underbase. This means an underbase will take up one of your five colors, even if white is already chosen.

Q: What color shirts are available?
We ask our artists to choose a color for the daily tee shirt garment only, and then we will use our best judgment to choose the appropriate color garment for hoodies, onesies, and kids sizes.

Current tee shirt colors are as follows:

• White
• Orange
• Silver
• Heather Gray
• Charcoal
• Black
• Navy Blue
• Royal Blue
• Turquoise
• Lemon
• Brown
• Army Green
• Purple
• Red
• Cardinal
• Sand

The following colors are not available in both mens and womens sizes

• Kelly Green (Mens Only)
• Army Green (Womens Only)
• Pink (Womens Only)
• Magenta (Womens Only)

You can download the RIPT Apparel Arist Submission kit Photoshop file at this link. The file is a Photoshop file containing approximations of the shirt colors as individual layers. Please use this to create your design mock-ups, which may be flattened jpgs 800 pixels wide..

Q: What other types of printing techniques are available other than standard ink?
At RIPT, we understand our artists’ need to push the limits of the standard printing techniques. Currently, we are keeping it pretty simple and letting the artwork speak for itself. We are not considering printing techniques like foil stamps, embroidery, etc. This is of course all for the sake of keeping costs down for our customers. There may be special cases where an artist has a spectacular idea that would excel from trying a specific technique. We are willing to discuss, but we cannot promise we will be able to provide you with that service.

For now, we will be using standard plastisol screen-printing inks that may use the process of flash drying. Metallic and fluorescent inks are available. We print some tee shirts, all kids shirts, and all baby clothes using Direct To Garment printing.

Q: What about placement on the shirt?
We are currently only allowing prints on the front of tee shirts. However, with that can come specialty placement such as over the heart, neckline, shirt bottom overprint, etc. We cannot break designs up to cover sleeves as well as the front. We can do side prints as well, as long it is all part of one cohesive screen. If the shirt has to be moved during the printing process, we will most likely be unable to do it. We are willing to do SOME experimenting though so have at it!
If you need a special placement, please indicate this on the Artist Agreement submission form.
Our hoodies will have the artwork printed on the backside, with a small RIPT ‘R’ logo over the heart. There may be cases where the RIPT logo ‘R’ is not included on the front side of the hoodies.

Q: What kind of files do you guys need?
For initial submissions, please refer to the RIPT Apparel Artist Submission Kit by clicking here. The following information is regarding finished print files needed after one of your pieces has been scheduled.

Separated Illustrator files (.ai) or .eps files are always the best for precision and alignment. However, we will accept anything that is the proper resolution. Almost anything in the Adobe Creative Suite will be fine. Our staff will be putting the finishing touches on your files before they are off to print, and they are quite experienced in translating artists’ work to the proper screens for production.
Your raster files MUST BE TO SIZE at 300 DPI. Please make sure that your artwork is on separate layers than the shirt color background.

Here are a few rules of thumb to go by:
In Illustrator, label the proper PMS colors that you expect the ink to be on the finished design. Save your files as .eps files and OUTLINE YOUR FONTS if any are used. Also please OUTLINE ANY STROKES that may be included in the your design.
In Photoshop, make sure your file is set to 300 DPI, and have your artwork at the proper scale. If you want your art to be 10 inches tall, make sure it is 10 inches tall in the file at 300 DPI.

Q: Can I sign / add my signature to my art?
YES! We actually encourage our artists to add their signature to one of their screens. Don’t make it the focus of the design, but it’s definitely cool if you can sign the art to give it your own personal flair and calling card.

Q: How do I separate my colors into usable screens?
If you are aware of how to separate colors in Illustrator or separate your artwork into color channels in Photoshop, by all means, please do this. Otherwise, RIPT will take care of this delicate procedure for you. There may be some back and forth between you and us before we agree upon a finished piece of art. You will always get the chance to see your art before it is put into production, however the printed piece will almost always have differences from the original digital piece. Underbases may or may not be used on your artwork and that is up to the discrepancy of RIPT.

Q: How do I send you the files?
We will contact you if your design is selected for print and at that point we will request final hi-res artwork. It might be a good idea to compress the file into a .zip, .tar, or .sit. If your finished file is over 10 Megabytes, we suggest using a file upload service such as ge.tt. You can then send us the link to download your work. We currently do not provide an anonymous FTP to submit your work. If you have your own FTP, upload your file(s) to your own site and send us a link to download it.

Final print files are no longer required for initial submission to RIPT Apparel. Instead, your mock-up art files should be submitted via our online artist agreement. If you have already sent you file in via some other means, you will still need to fill out an artist agreement for your shirt.

Q: I’ve submitted a design. How do I know if my work has been selected or not?
Once you have submitted a design to RIPT via our online artist agreement, we have 30 days to consider the design before you can revoke our ability to print it. If you haven’t been contacted within 30 days of your submission date, we are either still considering it or have passed on the design. We no longer send rejection notices for rejected submissions.

Q: I’ve submitted a design but I’ve either sold the full rights to it elsewhere or don’t want to print it anymore.
If you wish to revoke a submitted design after 30 days, please contact support[at]riptapparel.com by email with the name of the design and date it was submitted. Once we have scheduled a design for print, it can no longer be revoked and will be printed at RIPTapparel.com on the date indicated in your sales date email. Please be aware that once a design is submitted, it cannot be revoked for 30 days as per the information in our online artist agreement.

Q: When do I need to get you the finished work files for production?
Once RIPT has confirmed with you that you will be creating a design for sale on their site, you will be given a live sale date and a deadline for your artwork prior to that. We will contact you for the final hi-res artwork.

Q: How many shirts will be printed with my design?
We print a one-time run of the design that is for sale on our site. We make exactly as many as are ordered plus a few extra to account for product spoilage. One of these extra tees is for the RIPT vault and one is sent to the artist as a gift for providing us their design.

Q: How do I get paid for my design work that is sold on RIPT?
All artists receive $1 per garment sold during the 24-hour period that their design is featured for sale on RIPT. We will send your payment by Paypal within a week of your design being sold. You will also receive one of your own tees from RIPT.

Q: Can I order more shirts or other garments and ship them with my free artist shirt?
Yes, please email us at support[at]riptapparel.com and we will hook you up.  If you know ahead of time, let us know the day before your shirt goes on sale and you will will be issued a coupon code.  Every shirt you purchase in addition to your free artist shirt will cost $10 like all other shirts sold on RIPT Apparel.

Q: Can I get one of those sweet hoodies or a onesie for my little one instead of a free t-shirt for me?
Yes, but you have to let us know before your design is done being sold by emailing us at support[at]riptapparel.com. We will then give you a coupon code for the value of your artist tee ($10) plus free First Class shipping via USPS. Realize that if you want a hoodie, the shipping will end up costing more than the shipping for the free tee, so there will still be some shipping costs incurred.