A Complete Guide of Color Separation for Screen Printing

Do you need a color-separated vector file for screen printing? Well, you can make your color-separated vector file with different software.

Sounds difficult?

No worries. This guide will help you learn this color-separation thing even more easily.

Color separation is a fundamental step of screen printing.

It helps you prepare the artwork into individual layers of color so that you can make a separate screen (stencil) for each color in the design.

Now let’s see How to Make an SVG File in 7 Simple Steps.

Let’s discuss about the types in detail.

It is the most common technique for color separation and is usually done with CorelDraw or Illustrator. Spot colors are pre-mixed inks that create solid colors and are often made by using the Pantone Matching System (PMS).

PMS Pantone Matching System (PMS) is a standard color system that offers a universal language for communicating and identifying specific colors and is widely used in various industries, including graphic design, printing, packaging, and textiles.

Index color separation is a technique that uses square pixels for color shading instead of halftone dots. It’s useful for printing and can be done in Photoshop, with files easily transferred to other programs like CorelDraw and Illustrator

Four-color process technology uses halftone dots of CMYK for photorealistic and detailed images. These dots split the image for screen printing into cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

The four-color process is commonly done with Adobe Illustrator and gives the best results with a lighter or white background.

Unlike the four-color process, the simulated color process uses halftone dots for intricate screen printing, but it utilizes a range of ink colors and can be printed on dark or light colors backgrounds.

The process of separating colors depends on the software you are using.

Here we are using Adobe Illustrator for color separation.

In Adobe Illustrator, you can select specific areas of each color in your artwork and create separate layers or files by using the Magic Wand Tool and Direct selection Tool.

Let’s see how it works.

In first step, use the “Direct Selection Tool” and select the entire image.

In second step, use the “Path Finder” and merge all the selections.

Now, use “Magic Wand Tool” and select the each of the single color that you have in your image just like we do, and make the separate layer of each color respectively.

• Pathfinder: Pathfinder allows you to merged, subtract, divide, and manipulate the shapes and paths to make up your artwork.
• Magic Wand tool: It is a selection tool that lets you click on a specific color in your artwork, and it automatically selects all connected areas of the same color, depending on the design.
• Direct Selection tool: It let you directly select anchor points (the nodes that define the shape of a path) and path segments (lines or curves connecting those points).

Many companies use this technique for commercial printing for most projects; they adopt and purchase exclusive software to separate digital files into the four CMYK colors and transfer these color-separated images or files directly into the printing presses.

Many screen printers and designers use and work with CMYK mode for more color-oriented and high-quality printing projects

As we said earlier, you don’t need to buy software. You’re existing designing software like Illustrator, CorelDraw, and others can do wonders and can effectively use for color separation for screen printing and other purposes too.

All you need is some practice

The CMYK process uses only four colors—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black—which may be blended to create an almost limitless variety of colors and shades in just one printing press pass.

Spot color printing uses a single (different) ink for each color which make it incredibly pricey and precise for use.

The primary difference between spot color and the four-color process is simple: spot color is ideal for printing projects that don’t require many colors without any gradient, such as simple logos.

Whereas four-color process is suitable for projects that require multiple colors or when you need a wide range of color options with gradients.

Color separation is an essential step for screen printing because it helps you to achieve the best results for screen printing, silk screen printing, and other printing purposes by dividing the image or artwork into individual color layers.