After years of requests, deviantART is finally launching a line of clothing - enter deviantART Clothing. The deviantART brand is a business venture that will not only provide the best artists on deviantART with incredible exposure and commercial potential on an entirely new platform, but it will also be marketed and packaged as a premium clothing brand that will separate DA from other apparel companies in the marketplace.

We are calling all artists to help us build this mega-brand by opening the doors with a contest. Each of the contest winners will have their art printed in the first series from deviantART Clothing. This initial series will be a collection of limited edition t-shirts that will be sold here at deviantART.com as well as at select premium retailers worldwide starting this spring.

This contest is just the beginning. This is a brand name that we will be able to use to provide more ways for top-notch artists in the community to have their art seen by the world

The theme behind the brand is simple and familiar: being a deviant. As artists, we are always stepping away from the norm and creating our own style and way of being. deviantART Clothing is what this is all about. We are expressing our thoughts, feelings, and emotions through art. Being able to capture all of these things through and expressing it on apparel is what is the driving force behind the line. Showing one's deviant side and the ability for others to associate and connect with the art is the end goal.

This is what we're most interested in seeing:

What is going on in your head right now?
How do you see envision art in your mind during the creative process?
Express your feelings about the current state of the world?
What are some of the emotions you are going through at the current age/state of your life?

This shouldn't be news to any one; these are the most fundamental that power an artist's creativity. These are the things that have brought most of us here. These are things that we each share, and yet make us unique.

This is not about deviantART as a website, as a company, or as anything else. The deviantART logo doesn't have to be in the design, the deviantART URL won't be emblazoned on the garments. This isn't free advertising for us. This is your design, your talent, your creativity, your shirt. We are your business partners in this, and this is your opportunity to walk in the front door before it closes.


The rules for the contest are simple: Your design must be completely original, and it must conform to the technical specifications described below. Providing these requirements are met, anything goes! Push the limits of your creativity. Remember, your target media is a piece of clothing. You provide the design, and our experts will take care of the rest.

Adobe® Photoshop® (Formats: .psd, .pdd)

• File must be compatible with version 7.0 or below (PC).
• Must have 300 DPI resolution.
• Must use only 1-6 colors.
• Must be sized ready to go to print. (Since photoshop is not vector, it is hard to make art bigger w/out losing its quality when it goes to print.)
• Background layer must be transparent, not colored in.
• Each color must be in its own separate layer, presented as a black & transparent mask. Each color layer will have a black pixel where a color pixel would be in the final product. Please make sure your layers are labeled properly as to what color should be used by the printer.
• One of the layers in the file should be an overview layer, showing the final art in full color as it would look as a finished print.
• In other words, if you have artwork that is blue, red, and white, the file should consist of 4 layers: 3 layers consisting of color layers and flat layer showing how the overall piece would appear. Please see this reference file for a clearer reference.
• All fonts need to be presented as paths, or outlines, rather than plain text.
• You must also include a graphic (based on this template) that shows how the image is to be laid out on a t-shirt.

Adobe® Illustrator® (Formats: .ai, eps)

• File must be compatible with version 10.0 or below (PC)
• Must use only 1-6 colors.
• Sizing and color separation is very easy in vector format. Just make sure you specify in file how many colors the graphic includes.
• Please make sure all of the drawing is in vector. A raster image saved as a vector format will not satisfy the technical requirement.
• If any images used in the graphic are non-vector, please include the non-vector image in the Photoshop format described above.
• All fonts need to be presented as paths, or outlines, rather than plain text.
• You must also include a graphic (based on this template) that shows how the image is to be laid out on a t-shirt.
• Regarding colors, use of Pantone colors (Pantone Coated) is always a plus for color reference. (You can find the "Pantone Coated" library under your swatch libraries in Adobe Illustrator.)

Please note that the vector formats are the preferred method of submission. Also, the full-color overview layer should be used as the preview image of your submission.

Note that you can use any application of your choice, so long as it is able to write to the file formats specified above. For instance, you can use The GIMP, as long as you're utilizing Adobe's PSD format.


To enter the contest, all you've got to do is the following:

Click on Submit.
Select Deviation
Select the Contests gallery.
Select the deviantART Clothing category.
Finish the rest of the submission process and you're entered into the contest!

You don't have to include resource files described above with the deviation itself, but you will need to be able to provide those file before 1 March 2005 in order to be considered elligible to win the contest. (If you do not expect to be available between 16 Fabruary 2005 and 1 March 2005, it might be in your best interests to include the required resource files in the deviation after all.)


Here's a breakdown of the awesome swag the winners will score:

One Grand Prize:

• Your art will be printed as a limited edition garment.
• You will receive garment number #1 with your design.

Four Runners-Up:

• Your art will be printed as a limited edition garment. (Note, the Grand Prize design will be printed on more garments than the Runners-Up.)
• You will receive garment number #1 with your design on it.

Each artist will enter into a business arrangement with deviantART and its partners that will outline the ownership of content, fees paid, the obligations of each party, and so on. This is a powerful career-building, resume-powering opportunity that will help winning artists build a career in the heavily competitive graphic design industry.
In addition, all of the garments printed will be seen in a fashion show run by our own ^Astrophel in New York City in mid-July. More details of the show will be revealed in future announcements.


The winners will be decided by a panel of judges consisting of the following people:

• Angelo Sotira ($spyed), C.E.O. - deviantART
• E. A. Kolb ($dygel), Director of Contests - deviantART
• Matt Carlton (^voodoo-prophet), Gallery Director, Digital Art - deviantART
• Dee Murthy, Co-founder & Director of Sales - FiveFour Clothing
• Andres Izquieta, Co-founder & Creative Director - FiveFour Clothing

The contest will run from 5 January 2005 to 16 February 2005. After the contest ends, the judging panel will pick out the grand prize winner and the four runners and announce those winners on 2 March 2005.

This is a massive opportunity for any and all vector artists out there in the community, and this new business venture will continue to be a wonderful opportunity for deviantART artists to cross the bridge from amateurism to commercial viability.


deviantART Clothing Contest Category
Photoshop Design Example
Shirt Layout Template (JPG)
Shirt Layout Template (AI)