Final Posters and Screenprint Process

Final Design

I chose this design out of the others based on my preference and also peer feedback preferring this which confirmed that this would be most suitable for a book targeting students as we all prefer it. The contrast between the leaves and the mushrooms is really interesting and unusual, and shows the layering of images more effectively as it's juxtaposed. It's also more contemporary and visually interesting in comparison to a poster just of all plants.

Screenprinting Process

To prepare the CMYK screenprint, the image has to be split into four channels based on their CMYK channels and then each bitmapped in accordance to the angles I found when researching this screenprint process.

Once all bitmapped and printed, I transferred the four prints onto two screens. This was quite difficult as I didn't have much experience with screen-printing and therefore had to redo a screen as the delicacy of having lots of little bitmapped dots was very finicky and would easily mess up during the initial cleaning process.

Once done, I printed a test in black just to ensure that the screenprint had worked as it was the Black layer that I was having issues with.

I chose to follow the recommended and traditional method of printing the colours in accordance to the CMYK order as I wasn't experienced enough to understand the effects of changing the order. 

First I printed Cyan and then layered the Magenta which had to be mixed quite transparent by adding more mixing fluid as well as the yellow as the small dots layering ontop of each other and the pure spot colours filling the blank gaps would create the illusion of having more colours.

Due to some previous layers of cyan and magenta being more opaque than other prints, the variations after adding the next few layers were unique due to the determining opacity and concentration of different colours from the other layers.

Once I added the black, the mushrooms were more visible and I experimented with adding lighter grey to some prints and a darker grey almost black to others to see how the contrast would affect the overall print. I think the more opaque black prints with less magenta were the most effective as the magenta was very overpowering.

I also experimented with skipping the magenta as it was the most overpowering colour and believe these two are my most successful prints however I prefer the full colour one as the blue one may connote a more somber tone and I want the screen print to mimic those commercial prints sold in shops.