wanttobreakin

Hey Everyone....

Like a lot of other people... i am attempting to start a t shirt business online.

I am pretty good with graphics and computers... however i haven't used illustrator much. i'm pretty good with photoshop, but that seems to do me no good in the screen printing world.

i have a few questions:

1). i have the latest version of illustrator (CS3).... what i would like to know is what format are screen printers or custom plastisol transfer vedors looking for in the artwork i submit? are they just making sure the text is converted to outlines? i know everything has to be a vector, but i can convert photos to vectors using the "live trace" option in illustrator... will that still work for screen printing/.

2). when i create a file with more than one color... how do i give that information to the vendor? do i have to have the file set up in some sort of way where they know that certain parts will be white, some will be red, etc...

3) it seems like a lot of vendors use "spot" colors or "PMS" colors. i've done some research on these, so it seems like i need to get a PMS chart, but i was wondering how to get these colors in illustrator. i tought i found out, but it seems like you can just create any color as a spot color. how do i choose colors to put into my design that the printer can match? which is the best method to avoid "color matching charges?"

i'm basically trying to avoid the artwork charges that screen printers charge when they have to work on a file.

like i said, i'm pretty good with the computer, and really good with photoshop, so it's not like i know nothing at all....

i'm just new to the business and just want to find out how to submit a file to a printer and have it "print ready."


I would appreciate any insight into this matter..... Thanks everyone!

 

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Unik Ink

1. .eps format works well with most printers. You might have to save down to an older version if you are sending to a printer that has Illustrator 10 for example. Always convert text to outlines, or send the font file with the artwork. Converting pictures to vectors can work, but it loses tone value. If I have a b/w photo with spot colors in the design also, I convert the photo to grayscale, and when printing separations the photo will print on the black plate, and the other spot colors will print on their own plate.
2. Open your swatches from the Window menu, and double click the colors that you are using. Change the option from "process" color to "spot" color. If you want a 3 color design, only use those spot colors. Don't use different shades of the color that you want by using the eyedropper tool on the CMYK spectrum bar.

3. PMS colors- Window/Swatch Libraries/Color Books/ PANTONE solid coated or uncoated. There are your PMS colors. If they have to mix to match a specific PMS, then they will charge. Tell them to use the closest thing on their ink shelf to whatever PMS color that is in your design if exact colors are not required.

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Unik Ink Specialty Printing - oversize & all over printing
Impressions 2008-2010 Awards winner

 

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wanttobreakin

Thanks Unik Ink!

I checked out the pantone swatch library and that definitely helped a lot!

a couple questions if you don't mind...

what is the difference between a PMS color and a SPOT color? it seems that everyone in the business has a PMS color chart, so it's easy just to say which value of the PMS you are using... however... how does that work with a spot color? for instance, when you use CMYK in a graphic, it's easy just to see what the values are for the C, Y, M, and K. is it just that easy to click on a color and select "spot" and the printers will be able to use that color?


other question:

when i have my design all ready to go... do i need to separate the colors myself? you had said something about a photo and separating the grayscale.

in photoshop.... images can be "layered"... do the printer's require the same thing? do i need to have each color in it's own "layer?"

how do they separate the colors if i dont?


Thanks again!

 

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Catbox

PMS colors are a way to make an exact match of a color(or as close as possible)... a spot color is a way to represent a single color...
like if you wanted to separate the red or blue or green from a design... so you can have a 2 color/3 color design etc... then when you print out the spot color separation it will have only the areas that need that individual color for your design...
Photoshop 911: Spot Color Separations with Photoshop
How To Make Color Separations in Illustrator | eHow.com

 

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Plugin

is it difficult to transition from photoshop to illustrator? I'm going to be learning how to use photoshop better first?

 

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Catbox

I learned photoshop first and then needed to learn Illustrator... Illustrator was kind of foreign at first but after spending time with it and doing tutorials... it started to make sense(it was a lot easier to learn after being very proficient at photoshop though)
... You can do tshirts with either program...Corel is even really good... I would pick one of them and get really good at that... just have fun with it and don't get too bogged down if you get frustrated... and sooner than you think you will be making amazing graphics... good luck

 

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