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The Technical Side of Artwork for Packaging
by
Kristin Thomson and Jenny
Toomey
Simple Machines Records
Information provided by Barefoot Press
This paper is an excerpt from Simple Machines' fine
publication, An Introductory Guide
to Putting Out Records, Cassettes and CDs.
More info about the Guide can be
found at the bottom of this paper.
While all the master, recording, and stamping is in the works,
the artwork should be prepared for printing. The following info
should help you understand the process. The best thing to do
though is to find a reputable printer to take care of you;
especially if you've never done this before.
For starters, let's assume that your artwork is going to be
one color. With thousandes of inks and hundredes of papers
available, a lot can be done with one color at low-cost.
Camera-ready art is exactly that -- it's
artwork that's ready to be photographed. Printers shoot
negatives from your artwork. These negatives are used to make
the plates that do that actual printing. The cost of taking one
line shot, per color, per side, is typically included in the
basic price of printing.
For best results, all camera-ready art needs to be high
contrast (i.e. black on white). This applies to type and line
art. All camera-ready art should appear exactly as the finished
product, but it doesn't have to be the exact size of the finished
piece -- it should be between half and twice as big as the
finished product.
Printers can shoot almost anything: photographs, drawings,
charcoal sketches, cut-and-paste collages, etc. But when
anything has a tone or shade the printer makes a halftone
of it. The printer creates the halftone by breaking
the image into tiny dots (or lines) of various sizes by taking a
screen shot. This allows the same range of tones to be
reproduced using one color of ink.
The best halftones are from original black + white photographs
that are between half and twice as large as the finished size.
Keep in mind how your choice of ink and paper will affect the
image. The image's darkest area will be as dark as the ink
you've chosen, and the lightest areas will be the color of the
paper. A light color ink on dark paper will provide a muted, low
contrast reproduction. That's not bad as long as it's what you
want.
Halftones are not included in the basic printing cost, it's an
extra. The good news is that it's not usually an expensive
extra. However, you can rack up additional costs for anything
else that needs to be done to get your job ready for the press:
typesetting, illustrations, paste-ups, additional camera work
(i.e. reversals, knockouts, screen tints), etc. Decide what you
want, find out how much it will cost, and then talk to your
printer on ways to make it fit your budget.
Color
It's important to remember that each color used
requires a separate negative. Let's say your seven inch
sleeve has a line drawing of an apple -- it's red with green
leaves. If it was totally camera-ready you would have two
separate pieces: the read part (or plate) and the green plate.
They'll both be black and white, but one will have only the green
stuff and the other will have only the read. Registration marks
are used to line up each plate. They need to be in the exact
same position on each plate. When you lay the plates over one
another, the leaves should line up on the apple.
Another option is to create a mechanical by
mounting your art on cardboard. Then attach a sheet of tracing
paper along the top. The top sheet represents the green plate,
so shade just the leaves on the tissue paper. Your actual
drawing represents the red plate. The printer cuts masks based
on your mechanical and shoots from those. You'll pay more to
have the printer do it, but it may be easier.
By the way, all printers refer to ink colors with the
Pantone Matching System (PMS). This system was set up
to ensure the red you picked out for the apple (say PMS#186) is
the same one the printer will use. Any printer, and most art
stores, will have a match book you can look at.
There are two ways to print color: spot and
full color (also called process). The 7"
described above is spot color. In spot color printing, the paper
goes through the press once for each color (our apple 7" would go
through twice). If you're going to use four spot colors, you
should consider doing full, color, process printing.
Every color you can imagine can be created with cyan,
magenta, yellow and black. In process printing, each
ink is apply to the paper in the right amounts in the right areas
to build the right colors (next time you're in a grocery store
take a color look at a cereal box -- you can see the dot pattern
composed of each color). So you need separate negatives for each
color: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Keep in mind that the
cost of generating separations from original art (i.e.
photographs or paintings), which may include scanning, color
correction, film output, and a color match, can become very
expensive.
A Word About Bleeds...
Let's say that you want a picture on your CD booklet (or
anything else) to run to the edge of the paper. That's a bleed.
In order to do that, the image has to actually extend beyond the
edge of the finished product. The printer then trims away the
extra. Most printers needs a minimum 1/8th inch bleed. If you
don't set it up that way you run the risk of having white border
along the edge of the photo.
Computers and Layout
If you can get to a computer with the right software, and
someone who knows how to use it, they can make the design and
layout of your music packaging a lot easier. Applications like
Adobe Photoshop, Aldus Freehand, QuarkXpress, and Aldus Pagemaker
were created for that reason. You can manipulate placement and
color at the touch of a key.
The other big benefit to using a computer, especially with
color, is that it's easy to produce color separations and output
your files directly to film. A lot of printers can do this from
your disks or you can sent it to a service bureau that will
output the negatives you would then send to the printer.
You can usually save some money by going to a service bureau
for your film output. But before you send your negatives to a
printer, make sure that you talk to them about requirements (line
screens, dots per inch, right- or left-reading, emulsion up or
down, etc.). Also make sure everything is exactly as your want
it -- fixing something after it's on film can get expensive.
The introduction of computers opens the doors of graphic
design to more people than ever before. It also opens new
problems: corrupted files, inaccurate colors on monitors, and so
on. In the long run, comptuers can make things easier, but an
understanding of the basics of printing and machanical layout is
the only way to use these tools effectively. We scratch the
surface here, but you can get a book or talk to a printer to get
more information.
Amberlith...
If you've ever been in an art store you've probably seen
somthing called Amberlith. It comes in a big roll -- it kind of
looks like a fruit roll-up: you have this amber film mounted on a
transparent sheet of plastic. What does it do? Let's say that
your 7" sleeve has a line drawing of a dog on it. But you want
the inside of your dog to be brown, and the outline black. Cut a
square of Amberlith that's slightly bigger than the 7" square and
tape it to one edge of your artwork so it overlays the whole
thing. Now the actual art is the black plate, and you're about
to create the brown plate.
With an X-acto knife (they're also found in art stores) trace
just inside the outline of the dog. Don't cut too deep, or
you'll bite into the plastic under the film (or possibly your
artwork). When you've finished, peel away everything around your
tracing. You should be left with a red silhouette of the dog.
A camera sees only light and dark. Dark represents areas that
will print. Cameras translate red as black, and when the printer
makes your separations, the area inside the dog is now a solid
color that you've chosen as brown.
Proofing
Regardless of how the job is prepared, the printer will send
you a blueline to approve. A blueline is a
proof made on photosensitive paper from your negatives. Although
the image is blue, it shows placement and size. This is the last
chance to catch any problems, so double check both the printer's
and your own work. Look for correct: size (of images, type,
cuts, folds, and the finished piece); position (of images, type,
cuts, folds, etc.); color separations (marked on the blueline);
spelling; and typefaces. Also look for scratches, stray marks,
and missing artwork or type. Be aware that once the blueline is
approved, any mistakes in the finished product that are on the
blueline are your responsibility.
If you're doing full color printing, the service bureau that
creates your negatives can create a color match
(or proof) for you. They may cost a lot, but it's nothing
compared to the cost of reprinting a job because something is
wrong. In fact, many printers require a color proof to ensure
everything matches.
Designing and having your artwork printed can be fascinating.
And it's important -- a lot of people may "see" your music before
they every hear it. So take the time to make the outside as
unique and interesting as the music inside.
Notes:
This paper is an excerpt from Simple Machines Records'
publication An
Introductory Mechanics Guide to Putting Out Records, Cassettes and CDs. Its
widely regarded by the Indie community as one of the most
valuable info sources around, and it receives a big huge thumbs up from Outer Sound.
You can find more info from the Guide in other Outer Sound University papers.
However, to get a real learnin',
we recommend that you check out the whole thing. You can do this in one of two ways:
- Outer Sound has posted a handy text-only version of the guide which you can
easily print up. Follow the link and hit print!
- Of course, a text-only version is pretty boring. To enjoy the
wonders of Simple Machines' desktop publishing skills, you can get
the print version by sending a check for $4 (what a bargain!) to:
Simple Machines / P.O. Box 10290 / Arlington, VA 22210-1290
Besides putting out great info for the indie community, Simple Machines also happens
to put out quite a few great records by bands like Tsunami, Sea Saw, The Raymond Brake
and Danielle Howle.
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