Want to learn Adobe Illustrator? Check out our FREE template, quick start guide

The difference between a shirt that sells and a shirt that sits?

It often comes down to the artwork.

To produce vibrant prints that pop, screen printers need to master every step in the production process. That begins with art design.

Vector graphics programs like Adobe Illustrator provide plenty of tools and options to help screen printers transform killer art concepts into polished final designs, but they can also be intimidating to learn and navigate for beginners.

Texsource's Mike Hoey, a 35-year screen printing industry veteran, and art design guru, has just the quick start Illustrator template to get you started along with a short instructional video to walk you through its use.

The free t-shirt template features three artboards allowing printers to output their design and create a customer approval proof within a single file.

Simply drop in, resize and center the graphic using built-in guides. You can even recolor artwork thanks to a handy swatch panel pre-loaded with Texsource's versatile line of Gen Series Inks.

The included information block includes fields for description and job numbers, along with other information customized to your specific needs. Once completed, artboards can be saved as a PDF and sent to customers for final approval.

The idea is to create a useful tool screen printers can employ today but which is also flexible enough to be modified for everyday use.