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Prepress Photoshop Action.

Save time editing images for printing. This action is made for Prepress editing so you can have print ready images!! This methods are most used in gravure-offset-flexography printing. All the staff we see in the supermarkets are modified (colour separated ) so they can get better print results. That is what you can do with this action!!! This action has been tested and working on Photoshop (English versions) CS3,CS4,CS5,CS6,CC.

This action runs only with CMYK images. If your image is in RGB mode please change it to CMYK from the Image menu MODE > CMYK

I really want to try out riso printing, to the point where I searched Ebay and Gumtree in the hope I could get a bargain, an unwanted riso printer. However, they’re a few hundred quid and I feel that I should probably try out test prints somewhere, before I actually buy one.

Anyway, it’s tricky to track down places where I can try this out and I wanted to experiment at home. Also, the thing about risograph printing is that the idea is to print hundreds if not thousands of copies, which I don’t need at this point.

So I had this idea to pretend to prepare artwork for screen printing / riso printing and to just try out the technique on my old inkjet printer at home. 

Below is an example of an experiment I did. The image on the left shows the artwork printed out as a flat image. What you see is what you get!

The image on the left shows the artwork printed on the same sheet in two stages. First I printed the cyan part off and then I fed the same sheet of paper through the printer and printed the magenta part. This then resulted in the overlapping effect you’d get if you were screen printing or using a risograph printer. 

Above: Inkjet vs fake riso

Above: The two separate artworks prepared for inkjet printing

First time I did this I actually fed the paper through upside-down, resulting in the outcome below, where some really nice overlaps and lots of negative space are created on the page - I love it when accidents happen!

So then I was thinking how I would have to prepare the artwork if suddenly I got the opportunity to get it printed on a riso printer. So basically, same as silkscreen printing I would create colour separations which would be used in greyscale. This would then be used directly on the riso printer making masters of each artwork. The first run would then be printed using master one with cyan ink followed by master two with magenta ink.

I really enjoyed working in this way as I am restricted to using only a few colours and having to think about the layout and potential overlapping and the effects created. 

I tried out another example using three colours and simple shapes:

Again, the one on the left is a flat image printed on the inkjet and the one on the right has been separated and fed through 3 times in total. 

Below is a close up. I particularly like how the black line doesn’t line up perfectly giving it an offset look which you’d often get with silkscreen printing.

Above: Artwork set up ready for the 3 feeds in my inkjet

Above: Artwork set up for silkscreen printing or risograph printing

I am very pleased that I have tried this idea, as I can now experiment at home. It helps me think in a particular way which helps me with my creative thinking - really using a creative process allowing for “happy accidents” and Heureka moments.