Stenciling is an easy way to get an image on a T-shirt. Compose a design for the stencil on the computer. Grab an image from the Internet and alter it to suit your needs with art or graphics software or create a digital graphic design from scratch. Print the design on card stock or thin acetate. Cut it out with a razor blade and tape it onto the shirt. Roll fabric ink over the image to transfer it to the shirt.
Iron-on transfers offer a way to create an original graphic for a T-shirt. Hand-draw a picture or paint an image on canvas. Digitize it with a camera or scanner. Use graphics software to reverse the image if it contains text. Print the image on a sheet of iron-on transfer paper. Iron a white or light-colored shirt. With the iron on its highest setting, firmly iron over the face-down transfer paper to set the image into the fabric.
Fabric painting requires a bit of artistic skill to create a graphic design on a T-shirt. You can get fabric ink pens for fine-line drawing or containers of textile paint for brushed-on graphic images. Use spray-on fabric paint for air-brush or graffiti effects. Images can be painted or drawn freehand or traced onto the T-shirt. Sponge painting and fabric-paint hand prints or footprints add a distinctive look to the shirt. Use potato stamps to create repeating patterns.
Screen printing is a way to make a run of similarly printed T-shirts. You can print the same design using different colors for variety. Staple a taut piece of silk-screen mesh over a wooden canvas stretcher. Cut out a design with a craft knife on a piece of thick paper. Tape it to the screen. Lay the screen on the shirt and squeegee silk-screen ink onto the fabric. Squeegee over the mesh several times for a clear impression.