So you want to read more? Finding time to plow through your favorite books can be one of the hardest things in the world. It really can. With all of the things that can stack up in a given day, for most of us, we have trouble finding more than fifteen minutes to dedicate each day to the book we hope to one day finish.
We all want to live our lives better. We want to enjoy our activities more thoroughly, we want to cherish our relationships, and ultimately…we want to be happy. It’s really what it comes down to. We, more than anything else, want to be happy. We even do things that don’t make us happy in the near-term in hopes that eventually, it will make us happy. For example, going through four years of schooling in hopes that one day it will earn a higher wage, which will lead to a bigger house/nicer car/travel options, and hence: Happiness.
The following post goes into detail on how we pull off the age-old classic photo effect: vintage. We’ve used this technique for a number of our past photoshoots and it is a wonderful way to transform a “normal” image into something quietly spectacular. I will keep this tutorial as understandable as possible, in hopes that the photo editing techniques listed will be useful for both Photoshop aficionados and brand spanking new editors. All of the steps should be taken with a grain of salt, that is: What works for the image I have may or may not work for your image. The settings I use should be altered for your image in a way that works for you. That being said, I hope that the steps I outline will give a basic, solid understanding of a great way to turn your boring photo into a vintage, kick-ass photo. Without further ado…I present to you Photo Editing Techniques: Vintage Photography.
Last year, the good people over at T-Shirt Magazine approached me, asking if I would be willing to contribute material to their book entitled Launch a Kick-Ass T-Shirt Brand. Of course, I was thrilled at the opportunity to help out…and several months later, the book is officially available on the T-Shirt Magazine Website, and Amazon.com. The book is available in hard-copy, digital format, or Kindle; so if anybody is interested in ever giving the t-shirt industry a whirl…this book is a great place to start. I mean it…they didn’t just tell me to say that!
Let’s start with this: There are tons of methods to effectively design a t-shirt. Seriously, tons. You can take do photo-based designing, do it all by hand, or do it all exclusively in Illustrator & Photoshop. The following is a t-shirt design tutorial explaining one of the more popular, thorough methods: Starting with something hand-drawn, converting it to the web using Illustrator & Photoshop, and voila! Apologies in advance if this has been simplified a bit too far, but I wanted to keep the tutorial down to just six steps. If you have any questions or comments, make sure to drop a note in the comments below or send over an email! With that…I invite you to explore my version of the t shirt design tutorial.
A big part of running a clothing company is effectively dealing with retailers, selling your brand, and building a solid list of reputable dealers for your brand. This, of course, is no small task. In fact, it is often one of the most difficult elements of building a brand. Every other brand is competing for the same shelf space, and in a time where retail continues to decline, the landscape is only becoming more competitive. However, there are certain things that you can do to put yourself in front of your competitors, and make the potential buyer give you more than a second thought. First things first…building an effective line sheet that does the trick to garner interest, provide the necessary information, and prompt a sale.
Prior to jumping into the world of running your own business, it’s important to understand just what it is that you’re getting yourself into – and how you can make the most out of it. Today’s post focuses on what I believe to be one of the most important lessons vital to understanding before you start a business – you get out what you put in. Things will not happen on their own, and if you want to see things in your business change (for the better), it is up to you to make it happen.
The first thing that needs to be understood when you start a clothing line is that nothing happens overnight. Nothing. In the early stages of running Check Your Six, I constantly found myself filled with feelings of anxiousness and anticipation. Why had this brand not achieved the level of international success that I had envisioned when I started the company? Why was my brand following not massive? Am I ever going to see this brand reach the heights that I so desperately desire? I was either having a tough time curbing my problems of time management, or I was making the same mistake that small business owners across the world suffer from on a regular basis. I was expecting to shut my eyes a poor man with a small company at night, and open them a rich man with a large company in the morning. Of course, this is one of those feelings that unless you make a conscious effort to combat, it is only natural to suffer from. You want to wake up in the morning and find the basement that you have been remodeling suddenly finished! You want to wake up in the morning and find the small business that you love so dearly to suddenly be the colossal business of your dreams! Unfortunately, it is one of the most dangerous mistakes to make in the early stages of operating your business. It can be, and often is, utterly demoralizing. Ask any business owner if their road to profits took longer or shorter than they had originally anticipated. You show me a man or woman who tells you that it took shorter than expected, and I’ll show you a good liar.