A Handpainted T-shirt Project I did for a client in Singapore - The Start of my Humble Beginnings

Hi, ASEAN Hive Community! Let me share with you an art project I did 12 years ago. It's a handpainted t-shirt I did for a client in Singapore. The client found my website through a Google search.

The client happened to be a wildlife or bird photographer in Singapore. She sent me an original reference of the rail babbler. She flew from Singapore to Cebu to meet me. She ordered about 15 t-shirts as she would give them to other photographers who participated in the photography workshop or something like that.

This was one of my side hustles in Cebu as I raised funds to buy a Nikon DSLR camera. So, yes, as you can see, all the photos were low quality. I am writing this to show you my humble beginnings and how I achieved the things I want to be.

I need to invest in the following:

Textile inks - this brand is popular for silk screen printing in Cebu, Philippines

I bought several paintbrushes.

My working setup testing and mixing colors.

My paint palette

Testing it out in an old t-shirt

With one t-shirt, I just sketched the bird with a pencil and painted directly to the t-shirt.

I was nervous about painting this because I made a smudge on the t-shirt. I needed to be careful with all the T-shirts.

I made a white border around the bird.

I added some green background to hide the smudge paint. I showed this t-shirt to my client but she never wanted the green background.

I took these photos using a Samsung Galaxy Y. My first ever Android phone.

It's time to paint the t-shirts officially

Since she ordered 15 t-shirts, I realized I needed to create a stencil of the bird to make the process easier and faster.

So that I can do silkscreen printing as the first base layer of the painting.
You can also see above the printed photo of the rail babbler from the client's original shot.

When the ex and I did the first base of silkscreen printing, it was easy for me to paint, all smooth.

It was also smart to create a stencil of the letters.

The first t-shirt

The second t-shirt

She made a repeat order after three years

Good thing, I didn't throw the stencils at that time. Everything was well-kept.

The ex and I broke up already so it was me all alone to do the silkscreen printing. Thanks to my high school teacher for teaching us how to do silkscreen printing.

It was getting better.

Hi, it's me, Rox! The artist behind the handpainted t-shirt.

I got an iPad mini this time so the photos looked better than 3 years ago.

This was the blank canvas of a t-shirt before I started to paint.

This is the inner side of the T-shirt after finishing to paint.

Ready for Delivery!

The client was having a vacation in Cebu and ordered the t-shirts at the same time. Did you know, I finished painting all these T-shirts in 15 days? Oh my god! I was in a panic I needed to be in a hurry. I had to deliver it to her before she flew back to Singapore.

Because of this handpainted T-shirt project, I was able to buy a DSLR camera in 2013. The wedding photography gig and the repeat order of the t-shirts also helped me to fund my 2015 travels to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and back to Japan. Well, I had my online job as well so it helped me so much.

Writing this on Hive as a reminder to myself that I have beautiful old memories of my past, took photos using my old phone and an old version of my iPad mini, for documentation purposes.

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