I sketched the gradients of this image in Photoshop and now I’m working on the actual design in Illustrator with gradients/meshes.
The center image is the sketch. On the lower right you can see the vector I’m working on.
As you can see there are rich blacks in the sketch whereas the blacks are not dark enough in the vector version because blacks are all in K without CMY values.
What should I do to make the blacks work as in the sketch? Should I add CMYs to all blacks manually? Or should I create a black color (with CMY) and use tints of it in the gradients/meshes?
Another concern is that if I add CMYs to the black then it cannot be printed in one-color.
I guess best way is to create a rich black as a spot color and use tints of it. This way it can be printed in one-color. When printing, adjust the black if needed, based on the directions from the printing house.
AI and ID have setting which displays rich black differently ( usually darker) than plain K. So what you see on the screen is not necessarily what you will get.
In the above there are also two blacks swatches: ‘registration’ ( which you know as ‘rich black’) and K (black) bake use to pick one or the other depending on your final output needs.
DO NOT MIX one with the other. That is if you are doing a 100K-20K gradient make sure is that and not 100K-20CYMK.
in a ONE COLOR JOB the ‘color’ is irrelevant. What you are in fact doing is mapping % ink coverage. so again as long as you dont mix BASE colors ( this includes NOT mixing pure black with rich black by mistake you’ll be OK.
In the above there are also two blacks swatches: ‘registration’ ( which you know as ‘rich black’) and K (black) bake use to pick one or the other depending on your final output needs.
I just want to point out that registration black is NOT rich black and you should never use it in your designs except the registration marks.
If you’re printing in one colour then you can’t have a ‘rich black’ but only 100% K (black)
If you’re printing in CMYK, then check with your printer as some prefer you to have a maximum of 140% ink coverage, so you couldn’t have 20% each of CMY on top of your black.
I usually just stick to 20% cyan & 20% magenta on top of my black - Prints well and keeps most printers happy
In many cases yes, but some smaller printers will still run the job through a CMYK press with just one colour (K black) - so check if it is a ‘spot’ colour or a ‘process’ colour.
