White Photoshop Illustration for Tissue Paper Printing

[essaichay]

Hi there,

I'm creating an illustration to be printed on tissue paper and fabric but I'm currently creating it in Photoshop as it's easier and quicker for me to create the style that I'm going for (There's a lot of shading and I'm not well versed in doing that in Illustrator).

I'm using the brush tool in the white swatch to create the illustrations then placing them in an Illustrator file with a background in one spot colour. I've looked at seperations in Illustrator and all seems well, but some of the printers I've contacted have told me that they'd need the files in an EPS format.

Surely if the separations are fine then it shouldn't be a problem printing right? Or am I missing something here? If I've completely got it wrong then I'd be grateful for any explanations.

I've attached an example for you to look at.

Thank you!

 

[PPT25]

1. when you place the .psd file into illustrator--make sure to check the 'link' check box in the place dialog (your example file is one layer and the embedded image cannot be separated from the background
2. assuming that the background spot does not print--put in on a separate layer--behind the .psd
3. saving as illustrator eps-will cause the .psd to become embedded--so send the .psd file also.
4. white ink does not always print as expected--there are transparent white inks and opaque white inks
5. for best results--find a printer that can deal with an .ai file

 

[essaichay]

Ah thank you so so much!!! You have been so helpful .

1. when you place the .psd file into illustrator--make sure to check the 'link' check box in the place dialog (your example file is one layer and the embedded image cannot be separated from the background
2. assuming that the background spot does not print--put in on a separate layer--behind the .psd
3. save as illustrator eps--and make sure to send the .psd file with the eps file
4. white ink does not always print as expected--there are transparent white inks and opaque white inks

 

[PPT25]

read updated posting

 

[essaichay]

Ok sure - I'll try to find a printer that can deal with ai files.

Thanks again!

 

[WharfRat]

If they insist on an .eps file
why not just save from PS as a Photoshop .eps?

M

 

[PPT25]

If they insist on an .eps file
why not just save from PS as a Photoshop .eps?

M

I examined the original poster's .psd file--I tried saving this particular photoshop file as an eps--it has a solid white background when placing it into illustrator...which means a RIP or imagesetter would see white on white i.e. nothing

 

[zoran]

I would suggest simple way to achieve this.
Open your Yarn3.psd file in Photoshop, hit Comm+I (Invert).
That will change your image to Black, change it to Grayscale since it is still RGB.
Save as Photoshop EPS.
Send the file to printer and if they complain, find another printer.
This is what you will get (attached file)

 

[essaichay]

Thanks guys for all your help!. Ok I'll try both methods and send the printer two options as they may prefer one over the other. I can now carry on building the illustrations and not worry about redrawing.

I examined the original poster's .psd file--I tried saving this particular photoshop file as an eps--it has a solid white background when placing it into illustrator...which means a RIP or imagesetter would see white on white i.e. nothing

I would suggest simple way to achieve this.
Open your Yarn3.psd file in Photoshop, hit Comm+I (Invert).
That will change your image to Black, change it to Grayscale since it is still RGB.
Save as Photoshop EPS.
Send the file to printer and if they complain, find another printer.
This is what you will get (attached file)

 

[essaichay]

Sorry, one last question (or two): Would the printer register the different tints in the illustration? As all I did was change the brush opacity to create the shading. Effectively they will be printing the background spot colour and not use white ink right?

Thank you.

I would suggest simple way to achieve this.
Open your Yarn3.psd file in Photoshop, hit Comm+I (Invert).
That will change your image to Black, change it to Grayscale since it is still RGB.
Save as Photoshop EPS.
Send the file to printer and if they complain, find another printer.
This is what you will get (attached file)

I examined the original poster's .psd file--I tried saving this particular photoshop file as an eps--it has a solid white background when placing it into illustrator...which means a RIP or imagesetter would see white on white i.e. nothing

 

[PPT25]

Sorry, one last question (or two): Would the printer register the different tints in the illustration? As all I did was change the brush opacity to create the shading. Effectively they will be printing the background spot colour and not use white ink right?

Thank you.

I thought this was going to print in WHITE--now you are saying you want to print in a spot color--that makes this whole process different--because--IF you want the 'yarn' to be white on a colored background (dark fabric for example) it would need to be printed in a solid spot color and then printed over the spot in white ink--IF you want it to print in a spot color and have the background show through--then the white illustration would need to be 'knocked out' of the background and the yarn would be the color of the background (and this) would require that the art be created in an entirely different fashion--see attached and next post also

 

[PPT25]

or like this

 

[essaichay]

So sorry I didn't explain myself properly. I guess I'm really unsure about the best/easiest way to achieve what I'm looking to achieve!

I initially thought that by looking at my separations in Illustrator and seeing that the illustration still looks the same (didn't disappear) even when deselecting CMYK and leaving the spot colour selected, that the illustration already knocks out of the background spot but perhaps this isn't the case?

Ideally this is what I'd like to achieve (with a different design, colour and with shading): Samsung Tissue. In that link the background is printed on white tissue paper so I thought that I could achieve this with my illustrations as I only really want to use one spot colour to keep costs down. I thought that by having the background printed so the illustrations knock out there'll be less chance of error as as you've said white ink can be a bit unpredictable, and perhaps more costly to use?

I did ask the printers about this but they're not really giving me advice on this as I haven't agreed to go ahead with it (I'm trying to calculate cost etc and whether I'd need to redraw!). I did think to redraw my illustrations in layers of varying opacities of black then using spot colour channels but this is a lot more time consuming.

Ok I'm getting really confused now! Let me know if you need me to explain anything further.

View attachment 3598

I thought this was going to print in WHITE--now you are saying you want to print in a spot color--that makes this whole process different--because--IF you want the 'yarn' to be white on a colored background (dark fabric for example) it would need to be printed in a solid spot color and then printed over the spot in white ink--IF you want it to print in a spot color and have the background show through--then the white illustration would need to be 'knocked out' of the background and the yarn would be the color of the background (and this) would require that the art be created in an entirely different fashion--see attached and next post also
View attachment 3598

or like thisView attachment 3599

 

[zoran]

We misinterpreted that you want to print in white.
In such case what you have original AI file is good as is.
Printer is asking for EPS probably thinking you might have vector version for highest quality printing, in your case your Yarn has shades so the vector is out of question.
Tell them it is all you have and it will be fine or seek another printer.
And also make sure you supply actual PSD file or make sure it is embedded in AI.

 

[PPT25]

change the .psd file to CMYK--your current file is RGB and THAT will cause problems.
THEN-build your file so it looks like the example of 'Samsung Tissue' (multiple images placed into an illustrator file over a spot color background--with artboard sized to the size of the final printed piece) then saving as EPS will work, or .ai, or PDF
View attachment Untitled.pdf

 

[rich apollo]

First, your illustration is in RGB. Change it to grayscale, or CMYK.

Second, you don't need to take the file into Illustrator at all. You can create your spot color channel in Photoshop. You can save as a PDF, or EPS, right in Photoshop.

Third, the printers probably don't want to deal with your native files, that's why they're asking for EPS. They can drop EPS straight into their workflows. EPS from Illustrator flattens transparency. With your illustration being in RGB going onto a spot color background in a CMYK Illustrator file - that could be problematic.

Is the file built to size? If it's supposed to be enlarged, then that could be an issue, too.

 

[essaichay]

Thanks for the help guys. Sorry, I created the example in a hurry so I forgot to switch to CMYK but I will do for the final illustrations.

I plan to lay out the illustrations to sheet size so all the printer has to do is print without having to lay it out on their side, otherwise I may just give a repeat square so they can duplicate it over a sheet - whatever's easier for them I guess.

@rich apollo: I'm purposely creating the drawings bigger than need be in case I ever need to scale them up (ideally I would've created these in Illustrator but I don't know how to yet, properly or efficiently).

Thank you again!

First, your illustration is in RGB. Change it to grayscale, or CMYK.

Second, you don't need to take the file into Illustrator at all. You can create your spot color channel in Photoshop. You can save as a PDF, or EPS, right in Photoshop.

Third, the printers probably don't want to deal with your native files, that's why they're asking for EPS. They can drop EPS straight into their workflows. EPS from Illustrator flattens transparency. With your illustration being in RGB going onto a spot color background in a CMYK Illustrator file - that could be problematic.

Is the file built to size? If it's supposed to be enlarged, then that could be an issue, too.

change the .psd file to CMYK--your current file is RGB and THAT will cause problems.
THEN-build your file so it looks like the example of 'Samsung Tissue' (multiple images placed into an illustrator file over a spot color background--with artboard sized to the size of the final printed piece) then saving as EPS will work, or .ai, or PDF
View attachment 3600

We misinterpreted that you want to print in white.
In such case what you have original AI file is good as is.
Printer is asking for EPS probably thinking you might have vector version for highest quality printing, in your case your Yarn has shades so the vector is out of question.
Tell them it is all you have and it will be fine or seek another printer.
And also make sure you supply actual PSD file or make sure it is embedded in AI.