What's new
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Photoshop for screen print designs?


yadnom1973

Member
Messages
17
Likes
0
I’ve come here because I’m a little confused and need some advice. I have to make designs for several screen prints and I need to do this while I’m away on holiday so I grabbed my old macbook pro and Cintiq 13HD on the way out the door thinking this would do the job.

I’ve been using Krita at home on the PC and have come to like it a lot but now I’m here I find there is a bug on Macs, or older ones like mine at least, that means you cant draw curved lines. I really need to use curved lines so I’m looking for something else. The only other thing on this macbook is copy of Photoshop CS6 and it can draw curves just fine though all the pencils seem to be just blobs that react very little to the pressure of my pen.

To go ahead and use Ps for the screen prints I need to be able to lay down solid shapes and marks on each layer. I can see how to adjust the opacity to try different inks but I need to be able to change the colors of each layer and am unsure how best to go about this?

Really I don’t want Ps to see them a colors as such as I’d like to try and export to Krita after to put down the Print Tones for shading. I want each layer to just be a kind of alpha channel I can apply color’s too to test different pallets out.

I’m not sure if that made much sense but any advice on how to use Ps CS6 for this kind of work would be much appreciated, as I’m new to using Photoshop like this.
 

IamSam

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
22,721
Likes
13,258
Hello and welcome to PSG.

Just a real quick question, have you been told or read somewhere that Krita won't work on your Macbook, or have you actually tried it?
 

yadnom1973

Member
Messages
17
Likes
0
I'm a big fan of Krita and very sad that I'm locked out for the next few months so I shall qualify that statement in so much as my Macbook is an early 2011 and is running Maverics.
But yes, for me on this kit it can't draw curved lines, it put's little angles in there. If you do it slowly their not so obvious but still it's not good for much like this. I've been struggling with it for a few days and talking to the guys at KDE on the team and they say yeah, that's the way it is for old Macbooks and they have nether the time nor inclination to address problems on soon to be out of date hardwear running an out of date OS, which I understand. Apparently it's not so bad on the newer Macbooks, but still there never the less. Sounds like a mess but I'm not an Apple boy so I'm not too concerned, I just need to get through this next few months and try to get this work done.
 

sc00t

Well-Known Member
Messages
68
Likes
37
What about Astropad if you have an iPad with you?

Failing that, if you're struggling with curved lines in PS, for whatever reason I always found Illustrators pen tool more intuitive (anyone else, or just me?)

I'm not familiar with Krita. Sorry.
 

yadnom1973

Member
Messages
17
Likes
0
Thanks for taking the time to try and help me out sc00t. I’ve a Cintiq HD13 and a macbook pro with me and to be clear I’m not struggling with curved lines. There is a bug in the program I normally use to sketch out these illustrations for screen-printing, (Krita) that puts little corners/angles in any curved line you try to put down so I’m looking for a replacement app.

Photoshop seems to be working fine. It’s just a matter of me understanding how to do what I need to do in Photoshop.

At the moment I’ve 3 layers all with different parts of the sketch on stacked on top of each other. By playing with the different layer opacities I can get all the correct shading I need, now I just need to apply color.

I’ve done 3 layers, one for each color as it’s a 3 color print. I’ve drawn them all in black but now I need to find a way to adjust the colors. I need to be able to choose a layer and change every pixel on that layer to the color of my choice.

What’s the easiest way to go about this so I can quickly try out different color combinations.
 

sc00t

Well-Known Member
Messages
68
Likes
37
Google "Pen tool tutorial for photoshop" and stick beginner/intermediate in or something as well depending on your level of expertise.

Recolouring 3 layers...

1.jpg
I am presuming you have three "shapes" each in their own layer, because there's no screenshot or whatever in your reply post. Above, I've created 3 shapes.

To recolour them, double click on the shape in the layers panel (the layers window can be viewed by clicking Window >> Layers, if it isn't already open)

2.jpg
As you can see in the above screenshot, once you double click the shape, RIGHT where my arrow is pointing to, you get the colour selector.

Pick your colour, click OK, voila! colour changed.

3.jpg

If you are using the PEN TOOL to create the shapes, make sure "Shape" is selected from the drop down which will appear in the top left of Photoshop when the Pen tool is selected. You'll need to select "shape" BEFORE drawing the shape.

4.jpg

Hope this helps?
 

yadnom1973

Member
Messages
17
Likes
0
Thanks for the reply sc00t but I'm a little confused by the example. I have three layers for 3 different colors for a screen print image. I'm not too sure about these shapes? I think the description of "solid shapes and marks" may have confused the issue. These are essentially illustrations, so each layer is part of the final drawing. There are no big squares or circles as such to click on, or well there may be, I don't know yet but even if there is they will be part of a more complex whole drawn mostly with a brush tool.
And if I try to double click in the layer window on one of the layers all I get is a Layer Style window pop up.
 

IamSam

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
22,721
Likes
13,258
We could easily avoid any further confusion if you were to post screenshot examples. To do this on a mac, hit shift > command > 4............then use your mouse to click/hold and frame the screenshot, release click.

I suspect this could be what your asking.

If I have this image....
Screen Shot 2017-01-21 at 8.38.41 AM.png

...and I have the BG on a separate layer...
Screen Shot 2017-01-21 at 8.38.56 AM.png

...and the hair on a separate layer....
Screen Shot 2017-01-21 at 8.39.06 AM.png

...I can adjust the colors of each layer by adding and CLIPPING a Hue & Sat layer set to colorize
to change the color of those layers.
(note: this is only one example, there are other ways to do this)
Screen Shot 2017-01-21 at 8.39.27 AM.png
Screen Shot 2017-01-21 at 8.39.36 AM.png
 

yadnom1973

Member
Messages
17
Likes
0
That's about right. I've not got any screen shots as I've not started yet. I was not eager to put work into anything without knowing the workflow first. I've given the hue and saturation layers ago now and think Ive got it worked out.

Thanks for the help, N.
 

IamSam

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
22,721
Likes
13,258
Again, without seeing what your trying to do, it's difficult to offer advice.

A better way than using the H&S layers would be to use solid color adjustment layer.........they are much more versatile for color adjustment.

Here I have made a selection of the face and neck.
Screen Shot 2017-01-22 at 11.19.00 AM.png

I then add a solid color fill adjustment layer........the selection adds it's own mask.
Screen Shot 2017-01-22 at 11.16.45 AM.png

And now I can add and quickly adjust the skin color in a matter of seconds.
Screen Shot 2017-01-22 at 11.20.46 AM.png

Minor color adjustment...
Screen Shot 2017-01-22 at 11.21.48 AM.png
 

IamSam

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
22,721
Likes
13,258
I forgot to mention that the layer mask on the color fill layer takes the place of the separate layer............but it can also be used if you do have the layers separated.

note: The solid color fill layer is clipped to the separated skin layer.
Screen Shot 2017-01-22 at 11.26.52 AM.png
 

yadnom1973

Member
Messages
17
Likes
0
I get the feeling you want me to show you some sketches or pictures but this kind of defeats the point. It's a screen print design with 3 colors and I'm looking for a set up to do many different designs. Screen prints are made of several layers, each of a single colored ink stacked one on top of the other to make an image. In my case each layer will always be the same uniform color but opacity can vary.
So the best way I've found now is I create 3 layers, one for each ink. I put a mark in the corner of the page on each layer, this can be a registration mark. Then I highlight each layer and go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color, I tick the "use previous layer to create clipping mask" chose a color and I'm off. I can adjust the opacity of the clipping layer and adjust the color by going to the fill layer.
This I think uses all the advised methods you guys have given me including the solid color adjustment layer that you suggested as more robust solution.

It seems to be working well and I've been trying to find my way about the brushes today to introduce halftone, this is the last piece of the puzzle.
 

Top