Question regarding black and white, and RGB to CMYK

[tortoresen2]

When converting a Procreate drawing from RGB to CMYK in Photoshop, will black (originally r0g0b0) be printed in c60m50y50k90 (or some other variant)? I've already changed the profile to CMYK, but the eyedropper tool in Photoshop still says r0g0b0 when I'm hovering over black areas.

Cheers!

 

[Tom Mann]

Yes. The only reason you are not seeing it is that you don't have any of the color readouts set to CMYK. Click in the upper right hand pull down menu and select "panel options" (as shown below).

Tom M

 

[tortoresen2]

You're right, thanks a lot for that! I'm new to all of this, but isn't c75 m68 y67 k90 pretty high numbers, or will that look like "proper black" when printed?

Just to make sure I've understood this correct: I can draw/paint in Procreate, which uses RGB, and then when I change the profile to CMYK in Photoshop, the work will be printed out in "rich black" (i.e. c75 m68 y67 k90 or some other CMYK combination)?

 

[Tom Mann]

I don't use or know anything about Procreate, but any image brought into PS in one of the standard RGB color spaces (eg, sRGB, Adobe RGB, or ProPhoto) will be correctly converted to CMYK values. All of the CMYK numbers are high to give the maximum / deepest blackness (opacity / coverage).

Also, you should be aware that there are literally thousands of different CMYK variants. For each, the CMYK numbers corresponding to RGB = 0,0,0 will each be somewhat different because the printers / inksets / papers to which they apply are different, so, be sure you are using the variant of CMYK that is appropriate for wherever the file is going.

That brings me to my final question / warning. These days, even large volume offset printing operations are accepting, if not actually preferring RGB files instead of risking that their customer (ie, the graphic artist) will do the correct conversion to the variant of CMYK that each of the various offset presses that they may have in their plant needs. Similarly, inkjets certainly shouldn't be fed CMYK files because their printer driver software is specific to that printer and does that conversion automatically for you. So, my question to you is why do you need to make this conversion?

Tom M

 

[tortoresen2]

I'm writing and drawing a graphic novel. I'm almost done writing, but I still have a lot of work to do before I think it's worth submitting to a publisher. As a result, I don't really know where the file will end up going, but I want to make sure I don't create a lot of extra work for myself later on. I'm very curious, though, about what "format" most digital artists work with these days, and if me working with RGB is a mistake.

 

[Tom Mann]

Stay with sRGB until the last possible moment, ie, if and when you need to convert to some variant of CMYK. As I pointed out in my previous post, that there is a good chance you will never have to do the conversion.

Also, I suggest sRGB, not Adobe RGB, and not ProFoto RGB because the smaller gamut of sRGB is the most similar to any of the CMYK color spaces.

Tom M