In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Mesh Tool in Adobe Illustrator to create a vector T-Shirt mockup template! If you want to skip the tutorial and just use these shirts in your work, purchase the T-Shirt Design Template from GraphicRiver! You can also a try a similar tutorial of mine. Free adobe illustrator t shirt template Free vector We have about (225,282 files) Free vector in ai, eps, cdr, svg vector illustration graphic art design format. Almost files can be used for commercial.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Mesh Tool in Adobe Illustrator to create a vector T-Shirt mockup template!
If you want to skip the tutorial and just use these shirts in your work, purchase the T-Shirt Design Template from GraphicRiver!
You can also a try a similar tutorial of mine, where you can learn how to apply patternsto these T-Shirt mockup templates!
1. How to Draw a T-Shirt Mockup Template
Step 1
Let’s learn how to use the Mesh Tool while creating a photo-realistic T-shirt!
Begin by drawing the shape of half of a shirt with the Pen Tool (P). Fill it in with #F3F3F3.
Create a copy of the shape! Put it aside—we will need it later.
Let’s start using a Mesh! Take the Mesh Tool (U)
and start creating a Mesh grid on the object by placing nodes.
Afterwards, select the nodes on the left edge of the shirt and
change their color to #B7B7B7.
Add some more nodes, as indicated in the screenshot below, and color the selected nodes with #F4F4F4, adding wrinkles to the shirt.
Step 2
Continue coloring the nodes as indicated below. Use these colors:
#DFDFDF#E3E3E3#F7F7F7#B9B9B9
Step 3
Take the second copy of the shirt, reflect it, and continue coloring.
#F3F3F3#B7B7B7#D9D9D9#EEEEEE
Step 4
Finish the second half.
#CFCFCF#C4C4C4#B9B9B9#E3E3E3
Step 5
Draw a sleeve.
#EAEAEA#BDBDBD#B6B6B6#CFCFCF#DADADA#BDBDBD
Step 6
#E9E9E9#C0C0C0#F4F4F4
Step 7
Bend the Mesh into a collar with Effect > Warp > Arc, using -85% Bend.
Object > Expand Appearance of the result.
Step 8
Draw the second part of the collar.
#6A6A6A#979797
Step 9
Combine the collar parts.
Step 10
Assemble the T-shirt mockup!
2. How to Recolor the T-Shirt Mockup Template
Step 1
To get all the colors you can see in the thumbnail, create three more copies of the white shirt we just made.
Grab a copy and proceed to Edit > Edit Colors > Adjust Colors. Change the tab to Greyscale and apply 32% Black. Don’t forget to tick the Convert box.
Step 2
Create two more copies of the grey shirt mockup we just made. Grab the original and recolor it with Edit > Edit Colors > Adjust Colors.
This time, change the tab to RGB and apply 18% Red, -30% Green, and -26% Blue. Don’t forget to tick the Convert box.
Step 3
Take another copy and essentially repeat the last step by going to Edit > Edit Colors > Adjust Colors, changing the tab to RGB and applying 6% Red, 13% Green, and -60% Blue.
Step 4
Take the final copy and convert it to orange with 27% Red, -5% Green, and -41% Blue.
Step 5
Grab one of the original white T-Shirts and convert it to Grayscale with 40% Black.
Step 6
Recolor the grey template to cyan with -9% Red, 20% Green, and 16% Blue.
Download T-shirt Template Adobe Illustrator
Step 7
Take the last white copy and turn it black with 63% Black.
Step 8
Create a copy of the black T-Shirt mockup and recolor it to dark red with 9% Red, -9% Green, and -7% Blue.
Step 9
Congratulations! Your colorful set of T-Shirt mockup templates is done!
Awesome Work!
What now? You can try any of my other tutorials from my profile, or check out my portfolio on GraphicRiver, as well as the original shirts collection we recreated in this tutorial.
You can also try a similar tutorial of mine, where I show a way to apply patternsto these T-Shirt mockups!
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and I’ll be extremely happy to see your results in the comments below!
Related Posts
I thought it was about time I updated my original Illustrator template to look a little more like the current RB t-shirt preview, and also to get the complete set of current Americal Apparel colours for t-shirt backgrounds.
OK – so what’s in the template?
- The artboard is set to the standard 2400px X 3200px that we all know and love
- There’s a ‘design’ layer – ready to accommodate your actual design
- Beneath that there’s a ‘T-Shirt Background’ layer with a few shapes approximating the RB t-shirt preview shape. This is primarily so you can try out different background colours for your design before you upload. I originally just had a rectangle in the shape of the artboard, but this is intended to match the view (approximately) you’ll get within Redbubble.
- There’s also swatches for all the different shirt colours that appear at the bottom of the swatches window. If you hover over each you’ll notice they’re called ‘RB ….’ just to make it a bit more obvious. I’ve tried to cover the full current range (as shown here ). I’ve chosen to just sample what’s shown on screen as the template’s in RGB mode.
Using the template
- First of all Download it from my site and extract to your illustrator program pathCool ExtrasTemplates (on windows – c:program filesadobeAdobe Illustrator…
- In Illustrator go File —> New From Template… and choose your saved Redbubble T-Shirt Template.
- Complete your design in the ‘Design’ layer (or any layer above ‘Background’)
- To see different backgrounds simply select the ‘T-Shirt Background’ layer in the layers window (click the circle) this should select the bottom-most shape only.
- Go to the Tools window and make sure the Stroke colour is set to black and click the Fill colour to bring that to the foreground.
- Now just click away on your RB shirt swatches and preview your design set against all the glorious RB colours. The shadows are semi-transparent so will take the chosen colour.
Once you’re happy then make the ‘T-Shirt Background’ group invisible (so you have a transparent background) and do the following to make the design ready for Redbubble:
- Click File —> Save for Web… (you’ll get a message about ‘how the world’s going to end’) – be brave and click ‘Yes’ to continue – if you’re running illustrator OK you’ve probably got plenty of memory.
- In the ‘preset’ on the right hand side make sure you’ve selected ‘PNG-24’, and that ‘transparency’ is set.
- In the tabs underneath that click ‘Image Size’ and leave all the settings and tick ‘Clip to artboard’. Your image size will now go down to 2400 X 3200.
- Save, upload and put your feet up :)
NOTE: This is now produced using Illustrator CS4, but may well work in earlier versions.
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