Artist resources · print production

Art that survives the press

Everything you need to hand us a file that prints right the first time. We print direct-to-garment — ink goes into the fabric, not on top of it — which means the garment is part of your palette, and a few decisions you make in your art program decide whether the shirt looks incredible or muddy. This page is the whole rulebook, in plain language.

4500 × 5400 px standard 300 DPI minimum PNG transparent sRGB color 100 MB max

01 · the one-minute spec

If you read nothing else, read this.

Hit these six numbers and your file will pass intake.

Canvas size4500 × 5400px — full front / back
Resolution300 DPIat final print size
File formatPNG-24transparent background
Color modeRGB / sRGB8-bit, no CMYK
LayersFlattenedone merged art layer
File sizeUnder 100 MBper placement

Send the working file too. Alongside the flat PNG, upload your layered source (PSD, AI, AFDESIGN, PROCREATE, CLIP). We never redistribute it and we never edit your art without asking — it just means a colorway request or a sleeve variant takes an hour instead of a re-draw.

02 · how DTG actually works

Three stages, and each one puts a constraint on your artwork.

Understanding the machine is the shortcut to designing for it.

01

Pre-treatment

A water-based solution is sprayed across the print zone so the ink bonds to the fibers instead of bleeding into them. Pre-treatment allows multi-color designs to adhere evenly and keeps color from fading in the wash. On dark garments the sprayed area can leave a faintly visible rectangle on some fabrics.

What this means for you

Designs that fill the zone edge-to-edge hide the pre-treat box better than a small mark floating in the middle.

02

Printing

An industrial inkjet lays down CMYK inks. On dark garments it prints a white ink underbase first, then your color on top of that white layer. Light garments skip the underbase entirely.

What this means for you

Anything at 0% opacity stays garment-colored, and near-white tones on a white shirt will simply vanish.

03

Curing

Heat bonds the ink permanently to the fabric — a conveyor dryer on production machines. Cured correctly, DTG prints hold up past 50 washes when washed cold, inside out, and kept away from bleach and high heat.

What this means for you

The print is in the shirt, not a patch on it. Expect a soft hand, not a rubbery vinyl feel.

03 · print areas by product

Build one file per placement.

Each at its own canvas size. Don't scale a chest logo up from a full-front file — start fresh at the right dimensions.

Full front
15 × 18 in

4500 × 5400 px

Primary placement — where the design lives

Left chest
4 × 4 in

1200 × 1200 px

Secondary mark — logo, wordmark, small icon

Sleeve
3.5 × 3.5 in

1050 × 1050 px

Accent placement — drop number, artist handle

PlacementCanvas (px)Print sizeNotes
Tee — full front / full back 4500 × 5400 15 × 18 in Our default. Art rarely fills the whole box; center it and let the rest stay transparent.
Tee — left / right chest 1200 × 1200 4 × 4 in Redraw at this size. Thin details that read at 15 in disappear at 4 in.
Tee — sleeve 1050 × 1050 3.5 × 3.5 in Keep it vertical-safe; sleeves vary by size and the platen crops tighter than you expect.
Hoodie / crewneck — front 4500 × 5100 15 × 17 in Pouch pocket eats the lower third. Keep essential art in the top 60% of the canvas.
Hoodie / crewneck — back 4500 × 5400 15 × 18 in Full canvas available. Best surface for large narrative pieces.
Tote bag 3600 × 3600 12 × 12 in Square composition; don't crop a rectangular tee design into it.
Mug, 11 oz 2475 × 1155 8.25 × 3.85 in Wraparound. Leave a 0.25 in gutter at the handle seam on both ends.
Sticker / die-cut 1500 × 1500 5 × 5 in Cut line follows the alpha edge — no stray semi-transparent pixels.

These are DRXP.SHOP house sizes. Blank manufacturers differ by a fraction of an inch, so each blank has its own exact template. If a drop uses something outside this list, we send you the exact canvas dimensions with the brief — build to that, not to memory.

04 · print size checker

Will it print?

Enter your file's pixel dimensions. This tells you the largest size it can print at without going soft, and whether it clears the placement you're aiming for.

×

300 DPI floor

Max clean print size15.0 × 18.0 in
Effective DPI at this placement300 DPI
Clears it.

Full resolution at the target placement. Export and send.

05 · design rules that decide the outcome

The difference between a print that looks like your art.

...and a print that looks like a photocopy of your art.

Color & contrast

Do this
  • Design for the garment color you're targeting. Tell us the colorway you drew for and we build the blank list around it.
  • Keep 20%+ luminance separation between your art and the shirt. Charcoal art on a black tee disappears from three feet away.
  • Test your palette against black, white, and heather grey before you finalize. Most DRXP.SHOP drops ship in at least two garment colors.
  • Use rich, saturated mid-tones. DTG reproduces these beautifully — detailed, full-color work with photographic accuracy is the format's strength.
Not this
  • Neon and fluorescent hex values. They exist on your monitor, not in CMYK ink. Expect a duller, chalkier version.
  • Metallic gold, silver, foil, glitter. There is no metallic ink. Paint the illusion with gradients instead.
  • Pure white on a white garment. No underbase is printed on lights, so white ink lands on white fabric and reads as nothing.
  • Relying on a CMYK proof. Work in sRGB. Converting to CMYK before delivery shifts your color twice.

Detail, line weight & edges

Do this
  • Minimum 2 px line weight at 300 DPI (roughly 0.5 pt). Anything thinner breaks up in the weave.
  • Minimum 12 pt type at final print size. Zoom to 100% at print scale and read it on screen — if it's hard there, it's worse on cotton.
  • Hard alpha edges. Anti-aliased edges are fine; a soft 40 px feather into transparency is not.
  • Flatten before export so blend modes, clipping masks, and adjustment layers bake in exactly as you see them.
Not this
  • Gradients that fade to transparent. Ink can't fade to nothing — it bands, then stops in a visible step.
  • Drop shadows on a transparent background. They print as a grey smudge halo around your art.
  • Hairline outlines and 1 px details. Fabric texture eats them. Thicken or delete.
  • Semi-transparent layers left unflattened. Opacity behaves unpredictably against a white underbase.

The transparency rule, stated once

Whatever is transparent in your PNG comes out as bare garment. Not white. Not off-white. The literal fabric. If you want white in your design, paint actual white pixels — and remember they'll be invisible on a white blank.

06 · what the fabric does to your art

DTG uses water-based inks, so natural fibers absorb it best.

Here's how each blank in our rotation behaves.

100% ring-spun cotton

The best surface we print on. Smooth face, tight weave, deepest color saturation, sharpest edges. Comfort Colors and the cotton Bella+Canvas bodies live here. If your design is detail-heavy, ask for a cotton blank.

Cotton-poly blends

Blanks should be at least 50% cotton for proper ink absorption. Expect slightly softer edges and a marginally lighter color reading than pure cotton — usually invisible unless you're comparing side by side.

Heather & triblend

The flecked yarn shows through the print, giving a lightly vintage, washed look. Great for distressed and retro work, bad for flat graphic precision. Bold shapes survive; fine linework doesn't.

Dark garments

A white underbase is printed first, which lifts your colors but also makes anything semi-transparent look chalky. Blacks in your art print as ink on top of white on top of black fabric — so pure black areas are better left transparent, letting the garment do the work.

Light garments

No underbase. Ink goes straight into the fabric, which means lighter tones read softer and more transparent than on your screen. Bump your lightest values a step darker if they matter.

Our standing blank rotation: Bella+Canvas, Next Level, and Comfort Colors. The drop brief always names the exact body and colorways so you can design against a real garment instead of a guess.

07 · export recipes

Step-by-step for the programs our artists actually use.

Pick yours.

  1. New document: 4500 × 5400 px, 300 pixels/inch, Color Mode RGB, 8-bit, Background Contents Transparent.
  2. Edit → Color Settings → set RGB working space to sRGB IEC61966-2.1.
  3. Design. Keep the art on layers above the transparent base — never fill the background layer.
  4. When finished: Layer → Flatten Image (on a duplicate of the file, so you keep your layered original).
  5. Image → Trim → Transparent Pixels, then re-center on the full canvas if the placement needs it.
  6. File → Export → Export As → PNG, check Transparency, uncheck Smaller File (8-bit), Convert to sRGB on.
  1. New document in RGB Color mode, artboard 15 × 18 in, Raster Effects set to High (300 ppi).
  2. Expand all live effects and strokes: Object → Expand Appearance, then Object → Expand.
  3. Convert type to outlines: Type → Create Outlines. This prevents any font substitution downstream.
  4. Check for stray points and unfilled paths: Select → Object → Stray Points, delete.
  5. File → Export → Export As → PNG. Resolution Other → 300 ppi, Background Transparent, Anti-aliasing Art Optimized.
  6. Send the .ai alongside the PNG — vector source means we can resize for any placement without quality loss.
  1. New document: 4500 × 5400 px, DPI 300, Color Format RGB/8, Color Profile sRGB, Transparent Background on.
  2. Design in Pixel or Vector persona as you prefer — vector layers rasterize cleanly at export.
  3. Document → Resize Document only if you need a different placement; never scale a raster layer up past 100%.
  4. File → Export → PNG, Preset PNG-24, ensure Embed ICC profile is on and the matte is set to transparent.
  5. Under "Area", choose Whole Document so the canvas dimensions survive the export.
  1. Create canvas → Custom Size → 4500 × 5400 px, DPI 300, Color Profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1. Note the layer limit this size allows before you start.
  2. Turn off the background layer in the Layers panel — the checkerboard is what you want.
  3. Avoid textured brushes with heavy low-opacity buildup at the edges; they export as faint ghosting.
  4. Share → PNG. Do not use JPEG — it destroys the alpha channel and adds compression artifacts.
  5. Also Share → Procreate file and send that as your source.
  1. New → Illustration, Width/Height in pixels at 4500 × 5400, Resolution 300, Basic expression color Color.
  2. Uncheck Paper in the Layer palette so the background exports transparent.
  3. If you drew in a Monochrome or Grey layer, convert to a Color layer before export or tones will posterize.
  4. File → Export (Single Layer) → .png. In the dialog set Output image → Draft/Paper: off, Expression color RGB color, Quality/Scale 100%.
  5. Send the .clip as your source file.

08 · pre-flight checklist

Run this before you send.

Files that clear all twelve go straight to mockup — everything else comes back to you, which costs both of us a day.

0 / 12 clear

09 · naming & delivery

Correct filenames mean your art routes to the right SKU.

Without anyone guessing.

DRXP-[ARTIST]-[DESIGN]-[PLACEMENT]-[VERSION].png

Example: DRXP-KZU-NEONWOLF-FRONT-v2.png

Artist code is the 3-letter code on your agreement. Placement is one of FRONT, BACK, CHEST-L, CHEST-R, SLEEVE-L, SLEEVE-R. Version increments on every revision — never overwrite.

How to send it

Upload to the shared drive folder we create for your drop. One folder per design, containing the flat PNGs, the layered source, and a plain-text note listing your intended garment colors.

Files over 100 MB

Or any placement you're unsure about — ping us in the Discord artist channel before you export. Five minutes there saves a re-render.

Day 1

Intake check against this spec. If something fails, you get a specific note, not a rejection.

Day 2–3

Mockups generated on every approved colorway and sent to you for sign-off. Nothing lists without your yes.

Day 3–5

A physical sample is printed on the primary blank for any first-time design. We photograph it and share both the win and any surprise.

Listing

SKUs built, product page written, drop scheduled. Your royalty ledger shows the full formula per unit, not a flat total.

10 · the care card we ship

Every DRXP.SHOP order includes this.

Worth knowing, because it's the honest answer when someone asks you how long the print lasts.

Wash

Cold water, inside out, gentle cycle. Mild detergent only — no bleach, no fabric softener, no oxygen brighteners.

Dry

Tumble low or hang dry inside out. High heat is the fastest way to age a DTG print.

Iron

Inside out, low heat, never directly on the print. Steam is fine at a distance.

Expect

A slight softening after the first wash as the pre-treatment residue clears. That's normal — the print settles into the fabric and stays through 50+ washes with this routine.

11 · questions we get

The things we get asked.

My art is 2000 px wide. Can I just upscale it?
Not for a full-front placement — upscaling invents pixels and DTG shows every one of them as a soft, mushy edge. Two better options: redraw the piece at full canvas size, or use it at a placement it genuinely covers. A 2000 px file prints beautifully at left chest or sleeve. Run it through the size checker above to see exactly where it lands.
Can I use a photograph in my design?
Yes, and DTG handles photographic detail better than any other apparel printing method. The requirements are the same: 300 DPI at final print size, sRGB, and the photo must be yours or properly licensed for commercial apparel use. Stock licenses that cover "editorial use" or "personal projects" do not cover merch.
Why does my print look lighter than my screen?
Two reasons. Your monitor emits light; fabric reflects it, so everything reads a step darker and less brilliant in the hand. And on light garments there's no white underbase, so the fabric shows through pale tones. If your piece depends on a specific hue, say so and we'll run a physical sample before listing.
Can I do an all-over print?
Not with DTG. Direct-to-garment applies ink to defined print zones rather than the full garment, so edge-to-edge coverage needs sublimation on a separate set of polyester blanks. We can do that as a special run — bring it up early, because the file spec and the blank list are completely different.
What if I want a design on both a tee and a hoodie?
Send two files. The hoodie front canvas is shorter and the pouch pocket takes the lower third, so a straight copy of the tee file will have its bottom cut off or hidden. Same art, recomposed for the shorter box.
Do you edit my artwork?
Only with your explicit approval, and only for production reasons — repositioning within the print zone, or flagging a color that won't survive the press. We never alter your composition, and we send back anything we touch before it lists. You keep every right to your work.
How many colors can I use?
No limit. This is the main advantage of DTG over screen printing — full-color, gradient-heavy, photorealistic artwork costs the same to print as a two-color design. Complexity is free here. Use it.

Ready when you are

Send us something worth printing.

Not on the roster yet? Start at the partner program page. Already in? The Discord partner channel is the fastest way to get a file reviewed before you commit to an export.

Partner program Join the Discord

Questions on a file? support@drxp.shop

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