# Screen Printing from a Photograph



## Dorian Geist (Jun 18, 2008)

First post, I have been around the boards for quite a while learning. I moved out to LA recently and I am surrounded by resources and one of the places called the screen depot makes all the screens... on to my question: I mainly design from photographs, I tweak the photos in photoshop and I have been designing at low resolution with the intentions of having another more advanced artist recreate the work for the final print. I was more of the designer/idealist and they would be the creator/artist, however I would like to try and do the final artwork from the beginning now to speed up the process. 

What am I going to need to do in order to go from photo, to screen, to shirt. I realize the answer will probably involve halftones and higher mesh count screens, but I really need a detailed explanation. Please ask me questions if I was not clear enough, I intend to be more active on the site now that I am becoming more involved in the entire process of screen printing.


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## midwaste (Apr 8, 2008)

Well, I would say the first thing that would be helpful will be to learn to convert photographs into vector shapes, using Illustrator if you have the means. After you learn the simple shapes, you can learn to create the halftones, which is a much more involved process, although there are many, many posts on the forum that will help you out greatly.
Research the different options available as far as presses or beginner kits, and evaluate them with regard to what your intentions are (how many colors, tight registration?, quantity planned, etc). Now and down the road..
Research the different type of inks and emulsions. Do you want to use waterbased or plastisol? Each requires different sets of equipment.
Basically:
Art>Emulsioned screen>Burn>Washout>Setup on press>Print>Possibly Flash>Cure.
Each step has its own set of equipment and pitfalls.
Good luck!


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## spreadingink (Feb 10, 2008)

I disagree with the last post. If you are going to do photo realistic work on t-shirts you need to learn how to do high end color separations, and manipulate colors into channels in photoshop and then be able to learn the color theory and what works well on press. There is a lot to this. We started out specializing in this type of screen printing several years ago (4 now to be exact) and it takes a lot of time and patience. You can buy tools that will help you with seps and also probably help you on how to do it manually, but it still it going to take you some time. You will need high mesh screens (we use a lot of 280, 300, and 335). You are going to have to a RIP - raster image processor to be able to output halftones, and will need a very good exposure unit. It helps to use newman roller frames as this is an area where you can increase consistency. I'd be glad to help more, but understand that this is not one of those areas where a few posts later you are going to have all of the answers. 

As for this type of work we really almost never vectorize it and in fact if creating it almost always end up in photoshop with it even if we started the artwork out as a vector piece.

I hope some of this helps and while I realize it is not especially specific there is a lot to learn here so hard to answer a general question of how to do this with a specific answer.


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## midwaste (Apr 8, 2008)

Yeah, I guess I was assuming by "tweak the photos in photoshop and I have been designing at low resolution", that the intention was not full-resolution photography screenprinting.

Perhaps you could post an example of your design so we would have a better idea of what your needs would be?


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## spreadingink (Feb 10, 2008)

Agree with Fred - that is the easiest way to start. You can learn alot of the screening techniques etc... by doing this and then you can move to muli-color which will be more about learning seps and applying what you learned doing it one color to multiple screens.


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## Dorian Geist (Jun 18, 2008)

Thank you very much for the answers. I did intend to start with just one colors, I am interested in the simulated full color process but I know I will need to start slow. 

There are local companies here in LA that will handle the screen building/burnings. I am looking to purchase a 4 or 6 head manual press in the next few months.

When I get home tonight I will post a photo of one of my designs I have lost interest in, but still shows what i am trying to accomplish. They designs are typically just 1 or 2 colors, but I want to make sure I have a lot of detail with shading in those few colors. I recognize some of the issues with dot gain and registration problems when dealing with halftones, and layered halftones. Another question:

- with a higher mesh count will I have any problems using a manual press?


I will post a picture tonight of an older design and from that I assume you all can be much more helpful, thanks again for the replies you guys are a big help.


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## spreadingink (Feb 10, 2008)

No, other than it will be more laborious to push the ink through higher meshes, but you can still print up to about a 305 with some effort.


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## Dorian Geist (Jun 18, 2008)

Its likely, I will highly regret ever putting this anywhere on the internet. I am hard on myself and my work. So let me preface and say this was an idea that was done a long time ago and has since been completely tossed from the line. Judge me kindly..... actually don't judge me at all based on this design. ha okay in the pursuit of knowledge here is my shame...









okay, so I will not explain the concept or while the silver is beveled, but focus on the girl who on the shirt. She was intended to have lots of shading and more depth. The idea is dumbed down a little to where she is more of a solid black color. So imagine it with more depth. I think from what has already been said that I understand what my next steps are.... a big concern I have though is the actual printing part, Ive read some horror stories with dot gain and halftones being very hard to work with... Ehh everything is a learning process.


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## spreadingink (Feb 10, 2008)

One of the best things to do is to make sure you set up Photoshop to properly simulated the dot gain that you will get on screen. I would set it up to display a 30% dot gain in the color settings. This will help when you are viewing channel seps. Do you know how to take your colors into channels?

Dave


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## YOKII (Nov 10, 2007)

Hey,,many Ways To Skin A Cat,,they Say......the Answer For Me Lies With A Thing On Photoshop Called "index" A Bit Of Reasearch And You Will Get It Sussed...use Index And The Rest Is So Easy....do Your Art At 120 Dpi And To Size First.....you Do As Many Colours As You Want To Print Useing The Index Thing...looks More Natural Than A Bitmap/halftone Etc....good Luck!!!


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## Dorian Geist (Jun 18, 2008)

Dave, which version of Photoshop are you currently using. I seem to have limited options relating to my halftone manipulation. And to answer the question bluntly I do not know how to pull my colors into channels. I am familiar with what the channels are though. 

Yokii- I can not find that index thing you are talking about... any more details? It sounds to good to be realistic for the level of quality I am wanting.


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## midwaste (Apr 8, 2008)

Nothing wrong with the design, stop beating yourself up! 

To get "depth" on the girl's face is going to require some serious halftone action. Probably way more than you want to start with. IMO, would make more sense to eliminate most of the midtones and try to simulate a halftone on certain areas. This is what I mentioned above regarding vector graphics, its a good place to start.

In all actuality, you are really only looking at three colors on that design, black, silver/gray, and white.

It looks to me like you are trying to simulate the new "hot" look, which is distressed images, scratchy lines, etc. Don't know how much screenprinting you have done, but you have to realize that you pretty much arent going to get a drop shadow/emboss, etc. with screenprinting without going FULL ON into crazy halftones, 6+ color setups.

Nothing against Photoshop, but, being a beginner, Illustrator is something you should look in to.


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## YOKII (Nov 10, 2007)

the index thing is hard to explain how I do it.....If I get some time later I will try my best to explain...


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## Dorian Geist (Jun 18, 2008)

Thanks midwaste, the silver beveled part was suppose to show the artist that it was foil... in no way did I intend to print the shirt as it appears exactly. 

As far as it being the new hot look.. I did it approximately a year ago but never took it to press. A partner and I have printed quite a bit of simple 1-3 more spot colors mixing with different chemicals and thinners to get different results, and we delved into quite a bit of cut and sew which slowed us down considerably considering our knowledge and experience. So from that I am taking a large step backwards, re-working the designs and beginning from the start with more experience from failure. Thanks to everyone so far for the explanations and direction. I am always interested in tutorials if anyone has any to offer, and if anyone has any more comments please let me know. I will likely wander into a shop here locally and see if I can speak to someone about this in more depth, and likely pay to have someone show me the ropes a few times through... anyone know of some good screen printing shops local to Van Nuys CA?


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