[molleman]

Hello Guys,

I am looking into printing this design and i am wondering what would be the best method to print this design to a t-shirt via Screen Printing.

The reason i have posted this in Screen Printing as i would like this design to have a good feel when printed on the t-shirt, I do not want that plastic or rubbery feeling. I would like the design feel apart of the fabric.

I have done some research and CMYK seems to be an option using water based inks.

Any help would be great

Below is the design without half tone

below is design with half tone effect and other elements added

I know there is a little more work to get the finished product in terms of design , but any help with printing would be great

 

[headfirst]

There is rarely ever an excuse for using cmyk. Do a simulated process print instead.

 

[bluemoon]

what color is the shirt?
on white, depending on your budget, it would purple, red and at least black, but wold print better if you added a gray too.

On just about anything else, you will need a good sep job and an underbase.

You are losing a lot of highlights there BTW. I would try to keep them.

pierrre

 

[TYGERON]

I like the more graphic, contrasty look it now has.

Yes on the grey and black. Purple could be mixed or a C and M blend. Same with red (Y and M with hint of C)

One point though. The reflections in the glasses are mirrored vertically (or flipped). Was that intentional?

 

[TYGERON]

Not addressing this design, but screen printing in whole.
I believe considering the tons of variables, print set ups, skill levels, looks desired, required accuracy and overall differing print scenarios, no one process should be strongly dismissed across the board. They all have their advantages, disadvantages, strengths and limitations.

 

[Flagrant-T]

There is rarely ever an excuse for using cmyk.

I have to respectfully disagree with this statement. I had gotten away from CMYK for a while, but recently did a few jobs with it that came out great. If the artwork fits in with this type of printing, there are several advantages, two of which are:

1) Really soft hand, almost like a waterbased ink. It goes really nice on the ringspun shirts.

2) Only 4 screens needed. If the order is not huge, this can be a big factor in getting a price that people want.

I can't see the artwork (dayjob computer probly has it blocked) so I don't know if it would be a good fit here, but for a lot of softer looking artwork, or even some retro stuff, it can be a great way to go.

 

[ScreenFoo]

I don't see anything sim process about it--on white shirts, at least--it looks to me like properly halftoned spot colors, perhaps, as Pierre mentioned, with a grey for light tones. And as Ty mentioned, the reflections look funny to me as well.

IMHO, CMYK Rocks, if you can get your head (and your gear) around it--although I wouldn't do it for this type of design.

 

[bluemoon]

this print in particular would be very difficult to do in 4CP for and inexperienced printer. For that matter, even an experienced one!

The issue is that the grays in the image would be contain other colors and and unless the amount of ink deposited can be controlled to the minutest detail, on color would overpower and the gray would turn magenta, yellow or blue shade. In other words, if a particular shade of gray required 50% magenta, 50% yellow and 50% cyan to crate it, unless all the screens are printing at exactly 50% the color would change. If the drift is small the warmer (more red) or colder ( more cyan) shade might come out as a cool effect, the accurately reproduce it would be very difficult. This is a case where simulated process shines. If a gray is used to print it, a deviation in coverage or dot size would change the shade of gray to make it lighter or darker, but it would not make the print more red or blue or yellow. It would also allow the adjustments to the gray to be done with one screen, rather than three (and keeping the three in balance while making the adjustments can be a *****!).

so, in this case, yes, simulated is the way to do it.

pierre

p.s. I would also find out what is the smallest dot size you can hold and use that as the brightest level. This way you will not have any abrupt gradient drop offs in the image (sharp line where a gradual fade should be).

 

[kingscreen]

To make this image look great, I would recommend grayscale separations plus red and purple. I did a quick sep on your image and came up with a 6 color print; Base (if needed), Red, Purple, Grey, Black and Highlight White (if wanted). 45-55 LPI on 230-305 mesh would do the trick. Jolie-seps.psd

 

[Fluid]

this print in particular would be very difficult to do in 4CP for and inexperienced printer. For that matter, even an experienced one!

The issue is that the grays in the image would be contain other colors and and unless the amount of ink deposited can be controlled to the minutest detail, on color would overpower and the gray would turn magenta, yellow or blue shade. In other words, if a particular shade of gray required 50% magenta, 50% yellow and 50% cyan to crate it, unless all the screens are printing at exactly 50% the color would change. If the drift is small the warmer (more red) or colder ( more cyan) shade might come out as a cool effect, the accurately reproduce it would be very difficult. This is a case where simulated process shines. If a gray is used to print it, a deviation in coverage or dot size would change the shade of gray to make it lighter or darker, but it would not make the print more red or blue or yellow. It would also allow the adjustments to the gray to be done with one screen, rather than three (and keeping the three in balance while making the adjustments can be a *****!).

so, in this case, yes, simulated is the way to do it.

pierre

p.s. I would also find out what is the smallest dot size you can hold and use that as the brightest level. This way you will not have any abrupt gradient drop offs in the image (sharp line where a gradual fade should be).

You can eaisly adjust the gcr/ucr to remove any color in the gray areas during separation and not have any of those issues mentioned. Adjusting your cmyk settings fir optimum print is needed on just about every image. No one setting works the same for every image.

- Fluid
Corel Master

Sent from somewhere using T-Shirt Forums App

 

[beanie357]

It seems there are a couple ways to do this. I think it would end up as abilities and art prep expertise question.

Of course dtg is an option for the original as is. Water based as well.

We do both, and would look at qty of garments as a factor.