Last week I had another art workshop for teens, and this time I taught a new class that I added this year… A T-Shirt Painting class.  We had a lot of fun and everyone’s T-shirt turned out AWESOME!  And so unique, everyone had a very personal vision for their shirt.  Here are a few pictures from the class…sorry about the quality, I forgot my camera so I took these with my phone. 😦

This is the shirt I painted for a sample.

Wow, have fabric paints changed.  I found all kinds of colors from neon to soft pastels and from shiny to matte finishes.  Just be sure to prewash your t-shirt without fabric softener.  I also put cardboard between the front and back of the shirts so the paint didn’t bleed through to the back of the shirt.  Drying time was also pretty quick, just be sure to make thin coats of paint, I learned when I was painting the eyes of my fairy, that if you get too much paint it gets way too gooey and can turn into a mess.

I also had everyone create a pencil sketch first, then outline it with a sharpie and slip it under the front of the t-shirt to use as a guide as they painted.  Since the t-shirts were white the sharpie showed through really well and you can see that some teens placed their paintings in different areas of their shirt, not necessarily centered.  I moved my fairy sketch to the side and painted some of her up on the sleeve to be more whimsical.

This class was held at the Hastings Branch Library as part of their summer program and was filled to capacity.  Such a great creative group!  I really enjoy teaching art and craft classes to teens, they are always so fun and enthusiastic about creating art.

Do any of you teach art to teenagers?  If you do, what is your most popular class?  My most popular classes are Manga/Anime drawing, Jewelry and now… T-shirt painting!

Have a wonderful creative day, Janell