Computer Graphics with Photoshop

Author

Need some advice

Matt

2006-05-17, 6:19 pm

Let me start by saying that I am not in graphic design in any way at all...
I'm an editor at a video production post house. I do use Photoshop quite a
bit in my work and that's what's gotten me into this current situation.

Per the clients request I took his basic logo and added a little hand drawn
cartoon character to it for a commercial. He loved the design and now wants
me to provide him some artwork so that he can have t-shirts made for various
events. He spoke with a t-shirt printer and relayed the specs to me...
nothing too complex, just a 4 color bleed jpg. Now the 4 color bleed is
where I begin to have problems.... I thought that bleed was the area beyond
the border of an image off the trimmed area. Could they mean 4 colors and
then various shades of these colors (and to get these shades I assume I just
adjust the opacity of the color)?

Mike Russell

2006-05-17, 6:19 pm

"Matt" <mttmrrsn.nospamme@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote in message
news:LMHag.51919$MM6.43853@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
> Let me start by saying that I am not in graphic design in any way at
> all... I'm an editor at a video production post house. I do use Photoshop
> quite a bit in my work and that's what's gotten me into this current
> situation.
>
> Per the clients request I took his basic logo and added a little hand
> drawn cartoon character to it for a commercial. He loved the design and
> now wants me to provide him some artwork so that he can have t-shirts made
> for various events. He spoke with a t-shirt printer and relayed the specs
> to me... nothing too complex, just a 4 color bleed jpg. Now the 4 color
> bleed is where I begin to have problems.... I thought that bleed was the
> area beyond the border of an image off the trimmed area. Could they mean
> 4 colors and then various shades of these colors (and to get these shades
> I assume I just adjust the opacity of the color)?

Nothing that complicated. I think in this case "bleed" means extra space
around the outside of the image for them to work with, as opposed to a
definite border. It can be blank, but its more important if your artwork
has a colored background. For a shirt, this would to allow the silk screen
some leeway to frame the logo as necessary.

You seem concerned about the four colors - if your logo does not use all
four CMYK colors, or if you use spot colors, then it will be considerably
cheaper to print using fewer colors. Logos almost always rely on spot
colors to avoid disasters such as printing an orange or magenta logo instead
of a red one.

If possible, give the printer a quick call. If you're going to do very many
of these, order a Pocket Pal - this is an inexpensive handbook published by
International Paper that describes the major printing processes and
terminology. When someone rattles off a term you don't understand, you can
look it up alphabetically.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/

Matt

2006-05-17, 6:19 pm

"Mike Russell" <RE-MOVEmike@Curvemeister.comRE-MOVE> wrote in message
news:qcIag.7947$fb2.7098@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net...[color=darkred]
> "Matt" <mttmrrsn.nospamme@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote in message
> news:LMHag.51919$MM6.43853@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
Sorry, I had a little typo/miss quote in my description... I was trying to
get the point across that he said that the "bleed" was a color and various
shades of that color and I thought that a bleed was the extra space in an
image for trim.

I am concerned about color,I am assuming that I just need to pick 4 pms
colors and that I can adjust the tint of those colors to create additional
shades as he described?

I'm just assuming at this point that the printer mentioned the word bleed to
him and then went on to describe colors and he thought that bleed was the
term for the colors.

Mike Russell

2006-05-17, 6:19 pm

"Matt" <mttmrrsn.nospamme@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote in message
news:Y%Jag.48744$iB2.27467@bignews4.bellsouth.net...

[re logo design for shirt printing]
> Sorry, I had a little typo/miss quote in my description... I was trying to
> get the point across that he said that the "bleed" was a color and various
> shades of that color and I thought that a bleed was the extra space in an
> image for trim.

Your definition is correct.

> I am concerned about color,I am assuming that I just need to pick 4 pms
> colors and that I can adjust the tint of those colors to create additional
> shades as he described?

That's not usually how it's done for two reasons. First, Pantone colors are
not necessarily transparent, though they may be. This means that printing
one on top of another will give unpredictable results. CMYK process colors
are designed to be used this way, and will give predictable results. The
second problem is that with a shirt design, any halftone pattern will be
very coarse. For these reasons, most shirts use line art with areas of
solid color.

> I'm just assuming at this point that the printer mentioned the word bleed
> to him and then went on to describe colors and he thought that bleed was
> the term for the colors.

There may be other miscommunications as well. Best to talk with the printer
before paint hits cloth. I suggest you post to comp.publish.prepress and
see what they have to say there.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/