CART 207 DIGITAL PRINT
Project 4
3 Color Lithograph
Software Application: Adobe Photoshop
Size: 16"x20" at 180 DPI
Project parameters or restraints: You will create an image of at least 6 colors plus
black, using only 3 colors in Channels. Just as a lithographer or any other print media
artist who uses the additive color method to mix and print colors, you will paint 3
separate channels in a single layer to create a full color image.
Required materials: Nothing specific required
Due Date: March 26th
Grade Weight: 20%
File submission guidelines:
name file "yourname proj 4.psd"
file format PSD
CART 207!
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Sven Anderson, SUNY Oneonta
place in ANDERSS Dropbox on Spaceinvaders
KEEP ORIGINAL PSD FILE IN YOUR SPACE
Objective:
Create a full color image, at least 6 colors plus black, by using your color mixing skills to
accurately render color.
Goals:
Learn about additive and subtractive color.
Learn valuable skills that will be very helpful in studio art classes.
Solution:
This is going to be tough. To start with, create a new blank document in photoshop that is 16”
x 20”, 180 Dpi with a background color of white. Next create three floating layers, label them
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow. Next, change the layer mode of each layer from “Normal” to “Multiply”.
No, the background layer cannot be changed, it will remain as a normal white background
layer. Here comes the tough part, paint with only Yellow in the yellow layer, only cyan in the
cyan layer and only magenta in the magenta layer. You can use varying opacities but not
variations of hue or value. To test your original file settings, you may want to recreate the image
that I have shown here with three overlapping circles. You can move the three circles around
and see them interact. Each of them is totally opaque but because of the layer mixing mode of
“Multiply”, they add the colors to create the combination. Note that the combinations are the
three pigment primaries of Red Green and Blue.
So now the fun begins. When you paint or draw in a traditional way, you mix a color and apply
it to the canvas, paper or whatever surface you are using. Kind of like a “Paint by numbers”
painting. If you want the sky to be light blue, you mix up the color on your pallet and apply it to
the sky. As a printmaker, you use inks. Inks work differently than most paints. For all intensive
purposes, most paints are basically opaque. If you paint blue over red, you get blue, not a
mixture of the two. Ink on the other hand is such a thin film layer that it combines with what is
underneath. What is happening is most paint is thick and opaque, while ink is thin and
transparent. The light striking paint reflects off of the surface and returns to your eye. When
light strikes a layer of ink, it travels through it, reflects off of the paper underneath and travels
back through the ink layer to your eye. It is closely related to light through a stained glass
window. Color etchings, Lithographs, silk screen prints (serigraphs) woodcuts, lino cuts, and
collagraphs, mix color in this way. That’s not to say that you can’t mix and print the exact color
you want, where you want, but most printmakers want to maximize the number of colors they
can achieve with fewer print runs and plates, blocks or screens. So how do you do it? First off,
design your image. Keep in mind that you need at least the six colors and black.
CART 207!
!
!
!
Sven Anderson, SUNY Oneonta
The easiest route is to create an image that uses the six basic colors plus black, but if you
want to go for the gusto in life, consider using different levels or gradations of transparency to
create more colors and value. A 10% transparency of magenta turns green (cyan and yellow)
into a darker green. A higher level of transparency (that sounds backwards because it is
actually less transparent) creates a darker green. The more magenta you add the darker it
gets until you eventually achieve black. Any color can be created in this method, using only
three colors. The image is your choice. Please note* This file must be turned in, in the PSD
file format so that it retains the three color layers. DO NOT FLATTEN OR JPEG THIS FILE.
Grading Criteria:
This project will be graded on a combination of the following:
Effort, how involved was your project.
Execution, did you do it well, technical expertise.
Composition, your use of space and compositional elements.
Content/Concept, Does the image have meaning.
Special Project Specific Criteria, Are all the colors created using only the three separate
colors? Are there more variations than just the basic six plus black that was required?
Was it On Time,
CART 207!
!
!
!
Sven Anderson, SUNY Oneonta