How We Design Wolfe & Wyn Artwork - From Sketchbook to Screen Print

Have you ever wondered, "Who came up with this madness?" after picking up a Wolfe & Wyn t-shirt or hoodie?This one is for you.

This gives you complete access to every step of our t-shirt design process, from the initial rough sketch in the notebook to the polished digital artwork, screen burning, and the last ink pull over thick cotton.

We'll use some of our favourites, like Campus Crush, Chase the Apex, and Tiger Punch, to demonstrate how a design is actually implemented behind the scenes of a small UK streetwear company.

Step 1 – The Spark: Story First, Sketch Second

Every Wolfe & Wyn graphic starts with a tiny story.

Tiger Punch began as a feeling: that explosive, slightly unhinged energy when you’re pushing through life’s chaos and still swinging.
Chase the Apex came from our love of motorsport, late-night drives and that constant grind to hit your personal best.
Campus Crush is our softer side – playful, flirty, nostalgic college energy with W+W puppies and crush-core vibes.

Once we’ve got the story, we move to the sketchbook.

This stage is messy on purpose:

We explore character poses (tigers, puppies, knights, racers).
Play with composition: big back graphic, small front hit, badges, banners.
Note down typography ideas: bold block fonts, racing numbers, hand-written phrases.

For example, Tiger Punch started as a rough pencil tiger throwing a punch with way too many details. Over several pages, we stripped it back: stronger pose, clearer silhouette, more attitude.

Step 2 – Refining the Artwork: From Pencil to Pixels

Once the core idea feels right on paper, we move into refinement.

This is usually where our artists and digital tools tag-team:

Clean Linework
The sketch is redrawn with clean outlines – either inked traditionally and scanned, or drawn straight into a tablet. We focus on:
- Strong shapes that read from a distance
- A clear focal point (Tiger’s face, Apex puppy, Campus characters)
- Keeping just enough detail to feel premium, but not so much it dies in print
Composition for Garments
We’re not designing for a flat poster – we’re designing for tees and hoodies on real bodies.
So we test:
- How big the back print should be on sizes S through 2XL
- Front chest logos vs left chest hits vs sleeve prints
- How the design sits on an oversized vs relaxed fit
For Chase the Apex, that meant balancing the racing-inspired puppy art with typography that still felt Wolfe & Wyn, not like a race team logo you’ve seen a thousand times.
Colour & Texture
Here’s where the vibe really locks in:
- Vintage, washed look vs clean, sharp lines
- Limited colour palette so each hue hits hard
- Texture decisions (halftones, distressing, grain) that work with screen printed streetwear, not against it
With Campus Crush, we went softer: pastel-leaning tones, gentler shading, text that feels like a note scribbled in the margins of a notebook.

Step 3 – Preparing for Screen Print: Separations & Screens

Once the artwork feels “W+W ready”, we prep it for screen printing.

This is the unglamorous but essential techy part of the t-shirt design process:

Colour Separations
The design is split into individual colour layers – one for each ink.
- A three-colour Tiger Punch print might become:
  - Layer 1: Base / highlight
  - Layer 2: Mid tones
  - Layer 3: Linework + text
Checking for Printability
Some details look great on a monitor but vanish on cotton. So we:
- Remove hair-thin lines that could break on the screen
- Thicken key outlines
- Simplify tiny textures that would just become blobs of ink
Screen Setup
Each colour gets its own screen. The placement and registration have to be exact so when the ink hits fabric, everything lines up perfectly:
- The Tiger’s eye sits exactly where it should
- The “Wolfe & Wyn – London” tagline doesn’t drift
- The Campus Crush characters stay crisp even on washed or textured garments

This is also where we choose the right ink:

Softer hand-feel prints for everyday tees
Heavier hits or specialty inks where we want the graphic to pop more
Always balancing durability with comfort – no cardboard-stiff prints here

Step 4 – Printing on Premium Blanks

Artwork is only half the story. It needs a body.

At Wolfe & Wyn, we’re obsessive about fabric and fit:

T-shirts: custom-sourced 220GSM cotton, bio-washed for a soft, premium feel
Hoodies: heavyweight fleece ranging from 360GSM up to 480GSM depending on the style and drop
Women’s pieces: premium chiffon, velvet, cotton and other fabrics where the print and drape both matter

Why that matters for you:

The print sits better on heavier, quality fabric
Colours stay rich after repeated washes
The overall piece feels like something you actually want to live in, not just wear once for a photo

When we print Tiger Punch or Chase the Apex on these blanks, we test:

Placement on each size
How the print behaves after wash tests
Whether the ink finish matches the story (vintage, bold, soft, etc.)

Only once it passes that real-world test does it make it to the store.

Step 5 – From Studio to Store: Naming, Editioning & Drops

The last part of the process is about how the art lives as a product:

We give each piece a name and narrative:
- Tiger Punch – fight-through-the-noise energy.
- Chase the Apex – for speed freaks, car kids and anyone obsessed with “better than yesterday.”
- Campus Crush – soft, romantic chaos in hoodie form.
Some designs run in editions (like Tiger Punch Edition 01, Edition 02), so you know which drop you’re wearing. Once a run is gone, it may never come back in the same form.
Because we’re a small, independent brand, we often produce in small batches and pre-order drops, so we:
- Avoid waste
- Keep quality high
- Make each piece feel a bit more special to own

Why This Process Matters

Could we make life easier by slapping a stock graphic on a cheap tee?
Sure.
Will we? Absolutely not.

Taking the time to go from rough sketch → refined artwork → screens → carefully printed tees and hoodies means:

You get pieces that actually say something
The fabric and print feel considered, not generic
Each design carries a bit of Wolfe & Wyn’s world – London roots, late-night sketches, too-many-coffee decisions, and a lot of care

That’s what screen printed streetwear should feel like.

Explore the Artwork from This Story

If you want to see these designs in the wild, check out some of our key graphic pieces:

If you like seeing how things are made, stick around – we’ll keep sharing more Wolfe & Wyn behind-the-scenes as the sketchbooks fill up and the next wave of drops rolls in.