art prints
While I use a number of different print media that have separate preparation procedures, my general process for creating a finished print is similar regardless of the medium. Often I will begin with an ideation session: I will draw a multitude of thumbnail sketches, discard most of them, and choose a few to make larger scale sketches. I research my subject matter, find references, and make several sketches. After arriving upon a mostly-complete idea, I prepare a plate and then play around with printing as many different ways as possible. If I've done my job right, at least a couple will turn out as strong finished prints.
shirts and wearable art
I use a similar ideation process for creating a new shirt design: thumbnails to sketches to a finished image. In order to print an image, I first have to make a stencil. I use a heat pen to cut through a thin plastic sheet for the stencil. Several stencils layered on top of each other creates an image with multiple colors. My medium of choice is Designmaster Colortool spray paint, which dries quickly and doesn't fade when washed in a regular washing machine.