Creating a simple T-shirt mockup in Adobe Illustrator

What is a T-shirt mockup?

In Graphic Design, a mockup is a digital version of a design that helps appreciate how the real work will look when produced. For most people, getting a mockup template comes easier to do this but I also appreciate vector graphics a lot as well as illustrative works so I most often design my own mockup. In this post, we'll look at a few things on how a simple T-shirt mockup can be done in Adobe Illustrator. There are actually alternative ways once you are familiar with the tools.

Let move into the process...

We will need to draw a very simple T-shirt then we add the design to it. To draw the shirt, I created a rectangle as a guide to help me keep my drawing proportionate.

By using the shortcut M or selecting the rectangle tool from tools panel, I had my rectangle and then press Ctrl + R to bring the ruler. If you watch from the image below, I made some guidelines from the ruler to help keep the shirt proportionate. Once you drag from the ruler, you get the guidelines pulled along and you can position as you want.

The next thing is that I selected the pen tool or press P to select. The first half of the shirt was created. To ensure everything looks uniform, I select the created half, right-click and then selected Transform then Reflect horizontally and click copy. 

The copied half then has been moved to the left side and now we have our shirt. With both shapes selected, the shape builder tool was selected and then as I moved it across the middle line as can be seen in the picture, both shapes became joined.

Also, the neck for the shirt was drawn, first half first then transformed by reflecting it to get the other half. Transforming one part by reflecting it makes sure that every thing is kept in proportion so we do not have a distorted drawing.

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After doing all the essentials and thought that the drawing is cool, some colors would be needed to add a realistic and nice touch to the shirt so we can start putting on the design. I wanted to get a high contrast with the mockup so I went for a red with a high intensity of black. I decided to make one part a little lighter to add some light effects to it. This I think make the shirt look very cool and simple. All right we are almost there.

Having finished with the shirt, I added my designs as I wanted and that is it. Remember all the graphics are in vector so everything was created right in Adobe Illustrator.

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A faint ellipse was added at the bottom of the shirt as a shadow to add a touch of realism to the mockup.