here it is, as promised. this post will be about how i usually do my t-shirt paintings. you may treat it as a tutorial but i’m not saying that t-shirt paintings SHOULD ONLY BE done in this manner. i just wanna share to you all my ways. this is not to put you guys in a box and make you lose the interest to explore and discover your own techniques. (enough gabbing, let’s go to the more important matters.)
first and foremost, KNOW YOUR ART-STYLE. know your comfort zone—-what can you do? are you confident in holding a brush? can your art be done easily with a brush or maybe a fabric pen would be easier—-as for the case of the doodlers. it is important to consider these matters.
now if that’s settled, we’re ready to go on with this discussion. HERE ARE THE THINGS WHICH YOU WILL NEED. 
- fabric paints (your primary tool)
- brushes (I use medium hardness.)
- palette.
- water (if you have plenty of empty cups, the better)
- cardboard (or any other material that can be inserted in the shirts to prevent unwanted bleeding through the other side)
- painting knives (optional. you can actually use sticks or disposable utensils. these are just to spoon the paint and mix em if needed w/o making too much mess)
- cloth (for wiping off the paints on the knives and the brushes.)
***if you have a hair blower, this can come in handy (again, this is optional) if you have piles of shirts to work on. it can make the drying process quicker.
I use these cheap but great fabric paint products of TULCO. 
why? because IT’S CHEAP….and the quality is pretty great. the colors remain vivid even after how many washes. in fact my first shirt-art still hasn’t faded. also, it’s environment-friendly. I picked up the classic types because they dilute well with water compared to those rubberized ones. if you want that water color effect, i suggest you get these babies, too. the rubberized paints clot and do not distribute evenly. plus the fact that they cost more than the classics is a bummer. however, rubberized paints are good for silk screen printing.
to economize, i bought only the primary colors plus the shades black and white. and another thing, the real fun starts in the mixing of colors. =) white is an extender—-great for doing skin and putting emphasis on the eyes. but lemon yellow can also be a good extender too. in fact, it’s the lemon yellow that i use more often.
on to the brushes now. 
I use the medium-hard bristles. i find them convenient since i’m mostly after the water-color effect. the medium-hard bristles hold enough water to achieve the desired result. they’re also convenient for painting on fabric w/o primer. the soft ones aren’t too much of a help. i have 4 flats and a little round brush BTW.
the cloth, palette, cardboard and water. i’m sure you already know what these are for.
this next material, which i don’t use often, is very useful for the doodlers and for those who aren’t comfortable with a brush…and for those whose arts are mostly consist of lines—-SOLID LINES. it’s the fabric pen. (it’s permanent, yes.)
above are the materials you will need. these should be in your box of art supplies if you plan on making your own hand-painted shirts. now let’s get down to business. let us talk about the process and i have some little tips to share with you guys which i’ve observed from my first-hand experience.
if you plan on painting people, the skin is one of the primary concerns. it can be quite the challenge.
HOW I DO IT.
I start with light colors. remember that we are painting on a fabric…a cotton without a PRIMER. it’s not exactly the same as painting on a canvas…why starting with light colors is recommended? because one of the pitfalls of fabric is the uncontrollable bleeding. at least with the light ones, you can cover up the unintended bleeds with dark shades after. but don’t hate these uncontrollable bleeding too much. you can actually use it to your advantage. bleeds are art, too. =) but too much is not good.
for the skin, i start off with mixtures of these
red and white and/or red and yellow. the former makes pink while the latter makes orange. plus dilute them with water…it depends on how light you want it. of course adding too much water makes the mixture a lot lighter. you may alternate the pink and orange—-whatever satisfies your taste. use your wide brush and allow it to absorb water first. then just put the colors all over the skin area. **shade isn’t the concern at this stage.
now, when you’re through with this, let’s move on to a darker color…
a mixture of these three colors creates brown/shades of brown. if you want an ochre-ish color, the amount of yellow should be greater. if you want chocolate brown, even amounts are needed. if you want red-head-ish kind of brown, then a greater amount of red is needed. it really depends on how u want the skin to look like.
i took pictures of my progress (this one’s the one i was working on last night) and we’ll try to get notes on these things;) 
in this piece i started with orange, diluted with much water and pink on some highlights, like around the eyes, lips, temples, etc. then used the brown for prior emphasis on shadows w/c will come later. in faces, it’d be wise to use the little pointed soft brushes, which you can buy in almost every artstores out there.
this, too can be very useful when it comes to lining the lashes and shadows in and around the eyes. srsly. get one of these or anything that is similar if you can.
now that i;m through, i’m ready to put shadows. a little tip in doing black shadows. take a very little amount of black and dilute in water til the color gets lighter than murky and use either your big brushes or the medium ones to apply the shadows. remember our brown pre-shadows? just follow the contours of those pre-shadows. and if there are unintended blotches, you may remedy them by adding some more water directly on the fabric using the medium-hard brush i told you about.
the bristles quickly absorb water, which is really practical in matters like these.
as the shadows settle, it should most likely look like this (focus on the face)
you see the black bleeding out of the line of the face? this is why i always want to start with lighter shades. those things can be really stubborn but trust me, you will learn to love them. you may adjust the darkness as much as u please but bear in mind that you cannot work continuously. take time to set the paint dry first to avoid ugly smudges especially if you are now working on the black parts. if the paint is dry, then you can resume painting. if you’re really chasing after deadlines, for those who wanna freelance, use your hair blower to be quicker.
remember, the skin need not be exactly realistic or exactly that of your reference. just play around with it…do whatever you please. but if you succeed in doing hardcore realistic skin on fabric, tell me how=) heheh.
notice that the picture above still has no lashes and the outline of the eyes aren’t defined yet. it is so because i like to do it last. i want the colors to set dry first before i work on hard solid black lines to avoid smudge. again, the little pointed brush is very helpful around these areas. 
just put a point of white paint on the iris to put a little life to the eyes. you know these tricks, i’m sure.
still focusing on the head part, i did the rest after i felt satisfied with the face and the skin color. notice that the bleeds around the face during the early stage are no longer visible now? because the hair color has already covered the flaws, thus it’s “cleaner”.
when i’m all done with the figure, i usually splatter paint on the shirt to cover up the background. i dunno, there’s just something in splattering that makes me happy. the act itself is already very liberating. it’s very expressive especially when a great music is playing while you’re splattering. JUST FEELS LOVELY.
i usually stop right here….cuz i still want to see the white of the shirt and i don’t want the splatters to be overpowered by other colors. i want it as a messy piece of art. but as you can see, there are still bleeds around the shoulders and back part——almost everywhere. if you really want to get rid of these, color your background with a darker color. but for me, these bleeds are artsy. =)
ADDITIONAL TIPS:
always remember that these fabrics vary. some cloths don’t bleed as much as the others. so choose the right fabric for your taste. try with cheaper ones for practice if you must.
another thing, if you’ve made errors, you can use your white extender to cover them up. although there are materials that can really erase fabric paints but they may damage the fabric, so i still go for the white extenders. OR you just apply water directly on the blotches to even it out and spread the color.
be careful, however, with the amount of water you use in diluting. when the paint is wet, it normally looks darker. there are cases that you seem satisfied with the color intensity when you see your work wet but as it dries up, it might turn out to be a lot lighter than expected. thus leaving the piece looking pale.
that’s why take time to pause. allow it to dry up so that you can assess if the color intensity is good enough for you. if not, just add some more.
WHY I LIKE WATER-COLOR EFFECT:
because i like my shirts to maintain their softness. if you do not dilute with water and just directly apply the paint on the fabric, when it dries up„ the fabric becomes hard and sometimes flaky and it will lose its flowiness. and it becomes thick on the painted part.
———i hope you’ve found things useful in this post. if you think i have missed other important points that need to be discussed or if you have other questions regarding this or clarifications, just tumblr ask me and i;ll answer if i can. i really hope i have helped you guys. thanks for all your support. and just always remember to have fun. keep in mind that you do shirt arts for yourself and not for commercialism. if you plan to freelance, market your works as fine arts and not plain fashion. love what you do. ENJOY PAINTING.
