UNIT 3: Additive Color, Process Color & Media

See Student Work Here

UNIT III: Additive Color, Process Color & Media
Process Color Print

Objectives

To gain experience in the use of additive light techniques.

To use computers as a tool for creating art.

To become familiar with process color printing, and understand the differences between CMYK and RGB color via

studio lighting, digital photography, and Adobe Photoshop.

To gain experience in working as part of a two person collaborative team.

Project Overview

Working collaboratively, photographs of a still life are shot and manipulated to create a four color/ process acetate

print, using digitally produced color separations.

Reading and References for Study

Reading: Chapter 5 and 6 in Becky Koenig’s Color Workbook. Pages 89-117. Review Chapter 1: Pages 4- 12.

Artcore Website

Adobe Photoshop help screens for halftones and color separations

Vocabulary

additive system, RGB, computer color, HSB or HSV, optical mixtures, pixel, bitmap, vector, subtractive system, process colors , process materials, transparent media, actual color transparency

Materials

3 Objects – one hard, an item of clothing (other than what you are wearing), and a favorite object. Access to a computer, two 8 ½ x 11” matte boards (one black and one white), rubber cement or staples, tape

Process

Preliminary:

Before coming to class, review the thematic concept of Collaboration as found on the website. Also read the discussion on Additive Light for Unit III and Media for Unit X on the Artcore website. Review the Project References above.

Exercise:

Step One:

Set up a still life of you and your partner’s objects paying close attention to good design within the composition. Be sure to include at least a piece of your body in the composition (if you would like your entire body in the shot go for it!). I will take a picture of you and your composition.

Step Two:

Change a copy of your image to CMYK color –You may continue to work with your partner at this point, but you must each have a copy of your recorded observations and a unique version of a print.

The image has been scanned in RGB color for general use on a computer, but we want to change a copy of it to CMYK color for printing the transparencies.

1. Open Photoshop. Open your file from your disk or the shared space.

2. Go to Select > All

3. Go to Edit > Copy

4. Go to File > New

5. In the new window go to Edit > Paste

6. If you want to alter your image in Photoshop, do it at this point.

7. Go to Image > Mode > CMYK color – when it asks if you want to flatten the image, do it.
Note the slight change in color -go back and forth between modes to see the change again. Not all colors possible with RGB are reproducible with CMYK, and vice versa.

8. Record your observations on the differences the change in color mode makes.

Step Three:

Look at the color separations.

In Photoshop, it is possible to look at the separations before we print them. Follow these steps and record your answers for the CMYK copy of your photograph only.

1. Select Window > Channels

A new window titled Channels should now appear to the right of your screen.

2. Clicking the name of the channel will make a channel visible or invisible. Click on the names of the different channels (Cyan, Magenta, etc) to see what they look like in black and white. What happens when only one color channel and black are selected? (Select multiple channels by holding down the SHIFT key while you click) What happens when different combinations of color channels are selected? Play around and try different combinations.

3. Record your observations.

Step Four:

Create Halftones
In order to print the image with a silkscreen or other printing process the image must have a halftone or other graphic code on separated channels.

1. For great halftone effects you must first make sure your image is at a high resolution.

a) Go to Image > Image Size…

b) Set the Resolution to 180 pixels/inch or higher.

2. Copy each channel (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow paired with (K) Black) into a new window.

a) In the Channels window select a channel (C, M, or Y) by clicking on the channel name (the channel must be visible – have the eye icon next to it).

b) After selecting the channel hold the Shift key and select the channel for black. You should now have 2 channels selected.

c) Go to Select > All

d) Go to Edit > Copy

e) Go to File > New

f) In the new window Go to Edit > Paste

3. You should now have a copy of your image with only one colored layer and a black layer.

4. Delete the content of the black channel by clicking the name of the channel.

a) Go to Select > All and then press the Delete Key on your keyboard.

b) You should now have a copy of your image with only one channel visible.

5. Go to Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone

a) The appropriate channel must be selected in the Channels Window.

b) Be sure to play around with the settings to get different effects.

6. Repeat the above steps for each channel (C,M,Y, and K).

7. Print each half toned channel (C, M, Y, and K) separately onto transparency film. I recommend getting your transparencies printed at a local copy store. They will already have the transparencies on hand so there is no need for you to purchase any.

I suggest that you copy and paste each image into a single Word file.

Play with the size, making sure all your images are the same size, but make sure that you leave enough room for your matte frame. You probably don’t want the edges of your image to be cut off by your frame.

Step Five:

Combine the Prints

1. Use rubber cement sparingly (clear tape, or staples) around the top edges between transparencies to join them into a single image. Play around with the order of your transparencies for the best result.

2. Adhere to the center of a clean, white matte board.

3. Cut the center out of your black matte board to make a frame.

4. Tape the edges together on the inside of your matte board.

Critique Ideas

Points to discuss might involve the following:

1. What are the conceptual reasons behind creating multiples?

2. What differences are there between smaller and larger images?

3. Did everyone use the same shape of halftone (and how does that affect the final image)?

4. What type of images work well for this technique (drawings, photographs, level of detail, original color/s)?

5. Is the color/ reproduction accurate; were images registered correctly; were the color/ separations in the right order, etc?

Notebook Checklist 
□ Clean and Organized 
□ Turned in on Time

□ Project Objectives Page

□ Discussion Page on Additive Color, Process Color and Media

□ Concept Page on Collaboration

□ Vocabulary

□ Research

□ CMYK Print

□ Recorded Observations