Start with one brief and plan a collection
Pick a buyer and occasion, such as a birthday gift for a gardener. Choose a style and two or three colours you can repeat across the collection. Use AI to suggest ideas, then pick the ones you’d want to sell.
Suggest six original 11oz mug design ideas for gardening gifts. Keep a consistent retro style with navy, leaf green and warm yellow. Give each design a different subject. For each idea, give me one image prompt and one short slogan to check and edit.
Generate each illustration as its own file. Once you like one result, keep its style and palette in the prompt and change one thing at a time. Try a watering can, seed packets and a wheelbarrow to make a related set.
Save a master layout with your colours, font and front and back positions. Duplicate it for each design so you can swap the illustration and wording without rebuilding the wrap.
Prompt for flat artwork you can edit
Create an original flat illustration of a watering can and two sprigs for a white ceramic mug. Use bold, clean outlines and a limited navy, leaf green and warm yellow palette. Keep the motif clear at a small size, with space around it and a plain background. Leave out text, logos, shadows and mug mockups.
Add the slogan or personalised name in your design editor. Check spelling, line breaks and legibility at the size it will print. Ask the AI for a simpler version if details are cramped. Use large shapes and good contrast on the white mug.
Get the file ready for the 11oz mug
- Place the artwork. Use the 205 × 96 mm mug template at 300 DPI (2,421 × 1,134 pixels). Use the placement guide to check the front, back and space near the handle.
- Check the print size. Zoom in for rough edges, garbled details or a background box you didn’t intend. If a small image looks soft at the final size, generate a larger source or redraw the affected parts.
- Export and name each design. Hide the placement guide and export the flat PNG, JPG or PDF at up to 8 MB. Save each approved design separately in the seller portal so it has its own SKU. Copy that SKU to the matching listing or variation.
- Test your first design. Order a half-price mug sample and check the colour, layout and readability before listing the collection. Photograph the printed mug so buyers can see the result.
Check what you can sell and how to describe it
Check that the AI tool permits commercial use and that you have permission to use any reference artwork, fonts, logos or characters. Search slogans for possible trade marks before printing them on products. UK trade mark search · UK copyright licensing guidance.
For Etsy, disclose AI use in the listing description when you use it to create an item. Also disclose your production partner where required and follow the rules for listing images. Etsy Creativity Standards · Etsy Listing Image Requirements.