[Tourino]

Greetings, everyone. I am trying to figure out what is the best way to get this particular picture to be print ready for silk screening?

I was thinking magic wand with a tolerance of 20 but this is what I ended up with. Not good.

I want to be able to make this with just one color white if possible. Your suggestions?

NOTE: The black background is the actual picture I have to work with. The client will have me printing these on different colored shirts along with text. See the 2

attachments.

 

[treefox2118]

I would just manually outline the image and charge them an artwork fee. 5 minutes, $20, done.

 

[johnnyb57]

Sorry no help here, but is that boston ?

 

[UltraSeps]

Well, if it was only going on black and the only ink used is white, here's a down and dirty way to get "okay" results.....

Convert image to RGB.
Duplicate the Red channel of the RGB's.
Invert it.
Make this duplicate channel into a spot channel - white ink.
Print that channel to film.

See attached screen shot.

 

[Tourino]

I would just manually outline the image and charge them an artwork fee. 5 minutes, $20, done.

I'm an Illustrator fan and doing Photoshop is a bit challenging for me. When you say do a manual outline I'm not familiar with an OUTLINE tool in Photoshop. (excuse my naivety please)

 

[Tourino]

Well, if it was only going on black and the only ink used is white, here's a down and dirty way to get "okay" results.....

Convert image to RGB.
Duplicate the Red channel of the RGB's.
Invert it.
Make this duplicate channel into a spot channel - white ink.
Print that channel to film.

See attached screen shot.

Sounds great. You said with an "okay" result. What would give me a much better result? I want quality prints. Thank you in advance.

 

[Em11]

You can halftone it and print the white. there is a halftoned .psd file attached to this.

 

[dot-tone]

I have also attached the separated file like Em11. Mine is done in a similar if not identical way, but I've included the sep as a 1 color grayscale channel sep to print out incase you are not familiar with pulling the sep over from RGB layers into channels and printing that out.

In mine, it's an example of increasing the resolution simply for the need of a cleaner, smoother dot. You can't do that with all files, but for this one, it worked without image loss. I increased mine to 1200 ppi resolution. If your printer is only capable of less than 1200, it will simply kick out the extra data. This is also basically what UlstraSeps was indicating you should do.

Dot-Tone-Dan

 

[miktoxic]

Sorry no help here, but is that boston ?

i'm thinking boston or chicago.

 

[miktoxic]

Sounds great. You said with an "okay" result. What would give me a much better result? I want quality prints. Thank you in advance.

well this is when your biz accumen comes into affect. you have to be able totell your client(s) what is possible with what you are given to work with.

obviously if you want the print to look as realistic as possible it will have to be printed with halftones. so then it becomes whether or not does your client have the budget to spend on a one color (white halftone) or a greyscale which will mean at least one more color (grey).

what thes people have done for you is over and above what this board is all about. it's about teaching you how to do it. not having someone just do it for you.

i'd like some work done for free. wonder if they'll do that for me.

 

[johnnyb57]

You see it, simply put it could be an easy dtg job ? No

 

[dot-tone]

well this is when your biz accumen comes into affect. you have to be able totell your client(s) what is possible with what you are given to work with.

obviously if you want the print to look as realistic as possible it will have to be printed with halftones. so then it becomes whether or not does your client have the budget to spend on a one color (white halftone) or a greyscale which will mean at least one more color (grey).

what thes people have done for you is over and above what this board is all about. it's about teaching you how to do it. not having someone just do it for you.

i'd like some work done for free. wonder if they'll do that for me.

MikToxic,

Some things can be a good will gesture. It's not very taxing. I'd rather provide this job in an accurate manor, so that he can see what it should be. Ultra seps provided a method to get there.

I can relate to what you have said. Forums are to gain knowledge but that is not all they are for. Comorodery, pricing, connections, sources etc. like a few big names in the industry that post here and occasionally offer something for free, sometimes you do things for people for free. Not big things, but simple, quick things.

I'm in the business of art and seps for other screen printers as one part of my screen print life and as you know in business, very few things are free but every now and then, we can throw someone a bone in some small way. I am comfortable with my choice.

I had made some of the same comments as this one you've made back in the day on other forums, all the while, behind the scenes, still giving someone something occasionally. It seems one can be dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. I've been on forums heavily for over 15 years and know the bends in the river. For everyone that feels you should teach, there is another that feels you should do it for them and for everyone you charge, there is another that feels it should be free. Ya can't always win.

Will I do something for you one day for free if you ask? It's very possible but only at my leaser and if everything fits. For example, I was up late and couldn't sleep, so I entertained myself with this out of interest. Thats all.

Thanks
Dot-Tone-Dan

 

[miktoxic]

MikToxic,

Some things can be a good will gesture. It's not very taxing. I'd rather provide this job in an accurate manor, so that he can see what it should be. Ultra seps provided a method to get there.

I can relate to what you have said. Forums are to gain knowledge but that is not all they are for. Comorodery, pricing, connections, sources etc. like a few big names in the industry that post here and occasionally offer something for free, sometimes you do things for people for free. Not big things, but simple, quick things.

I'm in the business of art and seps for other screen printers as one part of my screen print life and as you know in business, very few things are free but every now and then, we can throw someone a bone in some small way. I am comfortable with my choice.

I had made some of the same comments as this one you've made back in the day on other forums, all the while, behind the scenes, still giving someone something occasionally. It seems one can be dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. I've been on forums heavily for over 15 years and know the bends in the river. For everyone that feels you should teach, there is another that feels you should do it for them and for everyone you charge, there is another that feels it should be free. Ya can't always win.

Will I do something for you one day for free if you ask? It's very possible but only at my leaser and if everything fits. For example, I was up late and couldn't sleep, so I entertained myself with this out of interest. Thats all.

Thanks
Dot-Tone-Dan

no probs dan and i hear what you're saying BUT teaching someone how to do it via typing a tutorial or posting a vid is much more helpful in the long run for that person who will undoubtedly run into the same circumstances again and again in his career.

if the person can't do it with his limited experience then they should have to pay like the rest of us to have it done. it's called keeping designers in business and making money. if everyone gave away everything for free how are you going to feed your family? doing what you are doing is eroding the whole concept of the graphic designer business platform to which we all here try to maintain an income.

 

[dot-tone]

miktoxic,

I hear ya. I have been preaching the same message to other artist for many years and still preach the same message. Still tho, I have done this like once last year, so, please cut me some slack. LOL. I agree with you. People who do stuff for free "often" do degrade the value. Still tho, it's ok to do something as a gift now and then.


I am working with Torino today via phone and since he's wanting a little more work, more colors and that fact that more colors are needed, Masking is needed and as a result, I'm doing a training session for a small fee by phone.

Thanks
Dot-Tone-Dan

 

[Skinbus]

A very kind gesture no matter what. We could use more of this type of generosity from everyone & we'd be in a better place. Kudos Dan.

 

[johnnyb57]

Well I'm back in the day when sign writers where artists, an gave nothing away for free (they felt like it was a nail in the coffin, which it was) Because to steal the work, you did it at a lower price, that's how you got it(do you see what I'm sayin)... If you have something that seperates you keep it (heck you spent the time developing the style)... It's got to back bein self sufficient.... Just look at the youtube videos, the in depth ones, you'll get 90% of what you need the rest is up to you, you have to bring your cards to the table to play...

 

[Tourino]

First of all, I have more than paid "my dues" in the t shirt game over the years. I have been OUTSOURCING my work to graphic designers for "over" 20 years. I've been shafted many a time by being OVER charged for what I now have learned to be "super easy" artwork design and the color separation (mostly just text and silhouette work.)

Not going to go too far into this because this is NOT the reason for this FORUM or this POST that I created but, I was having TROUBLE with getting the results that I wanted from creating this logo for my client. So, I turned to TSF for information/data. If this is not one of the reasons for this site being in existence then please let me know.

I thought for forum members that this is one of the places to go to give and receive support from other t shirt "professionals" and enthusiasts within the industry? I am a "production" graphic designer and have been full time freelancing for the past 2 years. I'm an ILLUSTRATOR guy, not really a Photoshop guy.

For anyone who has done graphic designing full time with NO OTHER SOURCE OF INCOME to pay your bills, you can understand the importance of a great site like this as a resource. And for the record, I trust TSF more than I do youtube tutorials. But that's just me.

 

[Tourino]

So....with that being said....

I want to 'thank you' official, Dan for helping me out and going well beyond the call of duty by fully explaining to me how to do this job "right." This saint was gracious enough to give me a personal tutorial on how to separate this and clean it up.

It's people like you, Dan, who make our industry the GREATEST profession in the World. This helps towards balancing off the war of the bumb, over charging, rushing, putting out sloppy artwork graphic designers who are out here. You know those guys just trying to make a quick buck. We must ALWAYS remember to "pay it forward." The CREATOR is watching us all and again I say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your skill, talent, patience and extensive hours of your time for free just to help a fellow graphic designer.

Just for the record, my target market in this business are "start up" businesses and non-profits. Sometimes I get big fish clients, but 80% of the time I get the small fish. So learning how to separate colors "properly" helps me to save my customers some money, which in turn helps "me" to save customers (repeat customers that is.) I hope that made sense to you all. It did to me. LOL

D, you need to change your name to DAN THE MAN!! LOL

VIVA LA DAN D-TONE!!

 

[johnnyb57]

Sorry if I upset you (was generalizing)... You are right that's what this forum is all about... There was one guy lookin for free art, and stated he thought that was what this forum was for ? If your last post was directed toward me, I'm sorry

 

[Tourino]

And lastly, thank you to all who offered POSITIVE information to my question and on this thread.

I guess I should be thanking the people who gave NEGATIVE information as well. (pause) I don't have enough time to be that gracious-I got work to do. LOL Just kidding. Thanks to you'z too. LOL

Tour