[RSpill]

Hi,

I've been doing artwork for shirts for a few years now, but just now getting into doing color separations....I had no idea so much went into them!

Does anyone have a good reference, or know where to find one, on when to setup white underlays. Such as on what color shirts and ink combination need underlays.

Thanks!
Ryan

 

[Celtic]

Hi,

I've been doing artwork for shirts for a few years now, but just now getting into doing color separations....I had no idea so much went into them!

Does anyone have a good reference, or know where to find one, on when to setup white underlays. Such as on what color shirts and ink combination need underlays.

Thanks!
Ryan

Hi Ryan,
I'd say that if the artwork has halftones and is going on something other than white shirts, then you'd always want an underbase.
If the design goes on anything other than white or ash, you often want an underbase.
If your customer is going to use opaque inks and it's spot color, then no, you wouldn't need an underbase on any color.
Every printer has their own way of doing things, so it would be a good customer relations thing to just ask them ahead of time (then you're covered).

 

[JeridHill]

If you do full color photo work, you would need a white underlay for practically every color, otherwise the color of the shirt would change the tone of the image. That being said, if you manually create the seps in Photoshop or something similar, you can create a similar color background and do the separations according to the shirt color. So light colors may not necessarily need an underbase. If the designs would be printed on multiple color shirts, then they would. The key is to try to keep the integrity of the design on the color of shirt being printed.

 

[RSpill]

Thanks! That helps. I don't really do much full photo work....mostly vector art in illustrator. I'm just trying to get a good understanding of when and when not to use an underbase.

 

[Texsource Scott]

Hi,

I've been doing artwork for shirts for a few years now, but just now getting into doing color separations....I had no idea so much went into them!

Does anyone have a good reference, or know where to find one, on when to setup white underlays. Such as on what color shirts and ink combination need underlays.

Thanks!
Ryan

It's a good rule of thumb that when you are printing colors on colored shirts you may want to use an underbase. This depends on the opacity of your ink as well. If you are using Union's Maxopake ink you may not have to use an underbase on certain colors. For example you wouldn't have to use an underlay under an Athletic Gold print on black. You would print, flash, then print again. You should use the underbase whenever you want your colors to pop. Just yesterday I saw one of my customers print jobs and it didn't look so hot. They tried to print red on a navy garment. The red was dull and unpleasing to the eye. If they had used the underbase white the red would have turned out vibrant. There is no specific combo that should be followed when determining when to use an underbase. Sometimes trial and error is the best way to determine. Good luck. On another note, different series and brands of ink will vary in results.