Use paintbrushes to brush on water-based silkscreen ink. Water can be mixed in to make the paint thinner and smoother for finer details. Look at images created by abstract artists like Mark Rothko or Op Art painters like Bridget Reilly for inspiration. For a more challenging painting, look at patterns created by Henri Matisse. Painting a portrait or an outline of a person is also an eye-catching design for T-shirts.
Silkscreen ink retains its color and comes in water-based and rubber-based formulas.
Create a design out of text. Names of people or places or catchy phrases always work on T-shirts. Refer to illuminated manuscripts for inspiration on how to decorate letters. Or scan a work of art you made previously on paper or canvas into the computer and print it out onto transfer paper. Make sure the transfer paper is made to work with your particular printer. Photographs also look great as transfers.
Transfers will need to be ironed onto a cotton shirt prior to wearing and will fade after several washes.
Sold in a vast array of colors, textile paints are easy for children to use. Using paintbrushes or sponges, kids can create anything that comes into their imagination. Consider painting animal prints with a silhouette of the animal in the center of the picture.
Some textile-painted shirts will need to be ironed or washed prior to wearing to set the paint.