# Tints and Shades of same color still count as one color?



## bubbleyumbunny (Dec 10, 2007)

I'm an illustrator and I work primarily in Adobe Illustrator. A lot of what I want to produce on shirts is very flat/graphic, and I've limited myself to no more then 4 colors. BUT I do use tints and shades of the colors - do the tints and shades still count as one color? For instance if I have Pantone 5493 at 100% and 60%, is that still one color?

Also, I am curious how I should set my art up to prepare for the printing process. What makes it easier for a printer? Should I put each color on it's own layer for instance?

And one more question~ Just thought of it - once, I had to design a line of t-shirts for this clothing company, and they wanted a "distressed" look - so I created my own texture in photoshop - the company told me this also counts as a screen. How does the distressing process work?

Thanks! That's all the questions I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'll have more!!!


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

bubbleyumbunny said:


> For instance if I have Pantone 5493 at 100% and 60%, is that still one color?


If you print it as a half-tone, yes.



bubbleyumbunny said:


> Also, I am curious how I should set my art up to prepare for the printing process. What makes it easier for a printer? Should I put each color on it's own layer for instance?


For some printers just having the colours set as spot (Pantone) colours will be enough, but some will appreciate/require colours to be on separate layers. I'd ask your printer how they want the file setup - since you know what you're doing, it's not likely to be difficult.



bubbleyumbunny said:


> once, I had to design a line of t-shirts for this clothing company, and they wanted a "distressed" look - so I created my own texture in photoshop - the company told me this also counts as a screen.


That... makes no sense. It sounds like someone between you and the printer didn't know what they were doing and was feeding you bad information.



bubbleyumbunny said:


> How does the distressing process work?


You place the filter over the image, knocking out some of the colour, and then the screen is exposed that way: you simply don't print ink where the distressed pattern is.

Screenprinting is done one colour at a time; a solid blue square is simply one screen of blue. If you want it to be distressed, then the film output is a non-solid (distressed) blue square, and it's still one screen of blue.

You need to make sure the distress pattern is coarse enough for the detail to get held on the screen (very fine distressing will actually just fill in as you print, so it simply won't be distressed), but that's about it. Not a lot to it.

The only reason to require another screen would be if you were faking the distressing by printing it over the top of the design, instead of simply _not_ printing those bits of ink. Which would be really, _really_ stupid.


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## bubbleyumbunny (Dec 10, 2007)

thanks for the response~ the distressing process you described makes so much more sense to me now!

but i am curious about the "half-tone" - is this printing with "dots" vs. .....? is this something all printers offer, and what is the quality like?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

bubbleyumbunny said:


> but i am curious about the "half-tone" - is this printing with "dots" vs. .....?


Yep, eye-fooling dots a la process colour, as opposed to solid continuous tones.



bubbleyumbunny said:


> is this something all printers offer


Not all, but probably most.



bubbleyumbunny said:


> and what is the quality like?


Quality is subjective, but I think it's fine. At a distance you can't tell (that being the point after all) and close up I actually kind of like it.


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