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Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 9:21 am

I'm conducting a stylistic experiment for my t-shirt art, and I was wondering which look you WIXer's prefer of the two images below?

More realistic treatment?

Image

OR a more stylized, graphic treatment?

Image

Any comments welcome.

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 9:27 am

The first one! :drink3: :drink3:

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 9:34 am

Actually, I would want a combination of the two.
I like the more realistic depiction of the airplane, but would prefer a simple graphic text, rather than the 'dimensional' lettering.

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 9:45 am

I like both of them..... :supz:

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 9:47 am

I agree with Shrike...but another thing to consider might be to put general markings on the aircraft...to avoid favoring a specific restored aircraft.

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 9:53 am

The realistic treatment.

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 9:54 am

1st one. They both are good! 8)

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 9:55 am

Both would look good , however a Spitfire would look so much better ;) :spit

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 10:21 am

JohnB wrote:I agree with Shrike...but another thing to consider might be to put general markings on the aircraft...to avoid favoring a specific restored aircraft.



That was part of my thinking when it came to the graphic treatment. It also lends itself better to alternative printing methods. For example, this F-86 Sabre shirt in my t-shirt shop uses a special process that prints the aluminum parts of the aircraft with a shiny, metallic silver. The process limits me to three colors, though.



For the Mustang, I'm offering both designs, but for new designs I am trying to decide which direction is best to go. Here's another example:

Realistic (with the background in the lettering, another stylistic trademark of this approach):

Image

Or stylized:

Image

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 10:32 am

#2 for me. as to your printing process i'd take into account which 1 is going to hold up better in the laundry, your customers will appreciate that & will buy w/ confidence.

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 11:23 am

Regarding printing process...I've found that printing processes have come a long way over the years and just about any process holds up pretty well. Silkscreening retains its vibrance until the bitter end, but it cracks over time and doesn't reproduce some images reliably. DTG is the most comfortable and can reproduce anything, but fades with time and is problematical on dark colors. (Same can be said of airbrushing, really) Special effects printing like the kind I've been experimenting with doesn't crack or fade but can peel with age and cannot capture small details very well. And almost every t-shirt you buy is 100% cotton, which is comfy but inevitably shrinks.

I've become ambivalent about the process any more. T-shirts just don't last. My goal is simply to make them look as good as I can while they do. Over the years, I've experimented with many online vendors and do business with several of them. I try to play to their various strengths. My own website's t-shirt shack has changed vendors four times over the years, in my never-ending search for the best quality product.

I imagine they will eventually develop a printing method that looks great, reproduces everything, is cheap and lasts forever. And then the EPA will ban it.

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 12:27 pm

--Rivet Counter Alert! --

The first P-40 shirt depicts a P-40E, which is a Kittyhawk. I don't think the Warhawk name came along until the P-40N.

The Flying Tigers P-40 should have Chinese insignia, or plain US Star-and-Circle. By the time what had been the AVG was absorbed into the USAAF the "meatball" had been dropped.

I'll crawl back under my rock now :axe:

SN

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 12:49 pm

My understanding is that the Warhawk was the official US name for all models of the P-40? So sayeth Wikipedia, anyway.

I'll check the roundel, though. That's a good point.

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 1:05 pm

Curtiss was notorious for their lack of imagination when it came to naming aircraft. Internally at least, all fighters were 'Hawk' - Hawk II, Hawk III, Hawk-75 etc, until the the P-40 got 'Warhawk", and the RAF started with Kittyhawk, Tomahawk and such.

All of their ground attack airplanes were "Shrike"s too

Re: Which do you like better?

Wed May 08, 2013 1:10 pm

oops, nevermind.
Last edited by over/out on Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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