Art Life Hacks – Painted Day of the Dead Shirt

Want to paint your own shirt or make your own Day of the Dead shirt? Here’s an art life hack that I learned from a job I had where I had to paint t-shirts:

Here’s what you will need:

• t-shirt
• fabric paint in a squeezable bottle with a fine tip (choose either flat or puffy paint)
• a colored pencil (white for dark shirts; light blue for light shirts)
• a blank canvas or piece of cardboard that is about the width of the shirt

First, come up with the design you want and practice it on paper. Then, grab a blank canvas or piece of cardboard and slide your t-shirt over the top.

Next, carefully sketch out your design on the t-shirt with your colored pencil. Once done, practice using your fabric paint on a paper towel or piece of paper just to get used to how the paint flows out of the bottle. After that, start tracing your penciled lines with your fabric paint. Hint: if you are right-handed, start filling in all of the lines going left to right so you don’t drag your hand through the paint; reverse this if you are left-handed.

Hint: if you mess up, try to cover it up by creating a new, un-planned design over it.

Let it dry on the canvas for 72 hours. Follow the setting instructions indicated on the bottle of your fabric paint.

Once dried and set, be sure to get fully in costume for your Halloween party or Day of the Dead event.