Rookie Printer on Art

[Iamavol]

Greetings all,

I have been printing off and on for about 9 years...Army duties have prevailed.  However, retiring in a couple of months and I want to print full time.  One of the biggest issues I have is art.  I hate it when a customer says "just make it look good".  Since I am not a graphic artist, I spend HOURS on working the design.  Any recommendations on training I can do to learn more about art seperations, etc.  Thanks

[blue moon]

hire somebody to get started and pass the cost to the customer. This will help in so many ways you can not even imagine!
It might be one of your best business decisions as you will learn from the pros and your customers will learn to pay for the art. Just tell them you have to send the art out and you need to cover your expenses. Most will agree. . .

pierre

[tiffany]

We found a graphic artist who was interested in some side work when were getting started.  Most of our client base wants logos and basic art, and only a small percentage are actually looking for great art.  So, when we had someone interest, I would contact the artist to hammer out time frames and costs that I would then include in my quote to the customer.  The other bonus to that is that I could see the end result, what the customer liked, and if I wanted to figure it out myself, it was a quick google search for instructions on how to create that effect.

[srabadan]

The only other thing I would add is to try and develop some sort of 'test' you can use to determine if potential candidates are familiar designing for screen print.

The world is thick with folks who think they perform design duties after watching a few youtube videos or reading a couple of for dummies books. These people will waste your time and affect your profits if you are paying them by the hour. To add the most functionality to your shop you are looking for someone who can turn all the clipart, bad scans and garbage art you get from customers into print ready files quickly.

I might suggest finding some designs you have printed successfully, giving your candidates the original art and seeing if they can give you back a file that will output to film and print as well as your original sep. Give them a time limit you feel would be reasonable and take the cream off the top.

[Sbrem]

What Pierre said... we do most, 99.9%, in house, but we have very experienced people. Our artist only does art, no double duty for her. (though she had no problem helping in the shop if asked, but that's like once a year). If you are not an artist, they you are wasting very valuable time doing it yourself. That's not to say you can't learn to do things yourself, but you'll make money while letting someone else help, then study what they do so you aren't always reliant on the outside source...

Steve

[Frog]

Good clipart is a big help as well. A collection and online sources has helped me with a lot of my stuff.
Printwear, this month, has a article on using clipart and templates to simplify some of the process.
http://read.uberflip.com/i/631221-february-16/76