The pastel drawing in progress- it was done on a piece of the highest quality, and now discontinued Wallace pastel paper.  I considered this being an oil painting, but then I found a sheet I had preserved for 10 years, so I decided for a chalk pastel drawing.

Continuing to build depth of color in the skin tones and uniform, adding to, and blurring the background . Blending the dusty medium while keeping all the lines- which took a lot of concentration!

the finished drawing. 

My friend Lenny photographing the finished piece in RAW format. It was a royal challenge getting it adhered to the backdrop without smudging the surface.

The finished drawing in the back of my car, on the way to the frame shop.

After hours of photo prep work in Photoshop with dear friend Todd Wagner, I'm here at the printing company in Phoenix, watching Eric, head of the Sublimation department create a design template, so the image fits all shirt sizes proportionately.

Sublimation inks on a large printer.

The color balanced print of my drawing coming out of the large Epsom printer.

Eric preparing a sublimation tee- it's essential to keep it wrinkle free so it takes the print ink evenly. Lining with paper absorbs the bleed through during the press.

Eric preparing a sublimation tank- positioning the print (extremely important for good result).

Now, with it all prepared, it is slid into the press for the sublimation dye transfer.

It is pressed at 400 degrees for 50 seconds. Sublimation ink is unique in that it goes from solid to gas without going through liquid form. The conversion is initiated by heat, and controlled by the pressure of the pressing, and time.

Here it comes out steaming hot, paper and shirt stuck together, then cools down for a minute.

Once cooled, the paper is peeled from the shirt and the gorgeous print is revealed.