Special Master Finishes Tutorial by (Tony Harmer)

Dec 4, 2009 Graphics, Photoshop, Vector, tutorial

This great tutorial is about to emphasizes the importance of finishing and touching to bring out your illustration. Simple techniques are used like including 2D shapes can brighten your illustration, and certain colors can bring out the main point of your design.

(Tony Harmer) draws on simple techniques for adding spot colours, varnishes and special finishes to your layouts. So lets start it.

Step 1

We aren’t able show you the varnish applied to the triangle elements running across the middle of the page, as this is not visible in print, so these elements appear here as a grey colour; we’ll come back to them at the end. For now, we’ll start off in Photoshop with the Final.jpg image, which you’ll find on the disc.

Step 2

The triangular elements are going to be varnished, and we’re going to apply that in InDesign later. Firstly we need to create a path around the object, adjusting where necessary with the Direct Selection tool. If you want to develop your confidence with the Pen tool, there’s a podcast available on my blog at http://www.tonyharmer.co.uk/wordpress/?p=31

Step 3

Now to save the path. Go to your Paths panel and click the Panel menu at the top right. Choose the Save Path option and give it a name if you like (although the default ‘Path 1’ will do here.)

Step 4

Go back to the Paths panel menu. This time, select Clipping Path. Path 1 should already be selected (unless you’ve drawn other paths too.) You can leave the Flatness fi eld empty. Save the fi le and import it into your InDesign layout.

Step 5

Copy the image and ‘Paste in Place’ so it sits directly on top of the first image, then Right/Ctrl+click to select ‘Convert Clipping Path to Frame’. Access the Direct Selection tool (double-click from the Selection Tool to get it immediately) and select the image, then delete it. You’ll be left with a frame that’s exactly the same as your clipping path.

Step 6

Now to make a placeholder colour for the varnish. In the Swatches panel menu, choose New Colour Swatch.
You can mix any colour you like here, as long as you change the Colour Type to ‘Spot’. Give it a name – I’ve chosen ‘Placeholder’. Try to avoid using Pantone colours as placeholder colours, as they can cause confusion at the printers.

Step 7

Apply your placeholder colour to the fi ll of your frame. You can also ‘trap’ the varnish by adding a stroke using the same colour. You can then either use the Attributes panel and set the Fill and Stroke to ‘Overprint’ or, as I have done here, use the Effects panel and set the Blend mode for both to ‘Multiply’, which has the same effect with a spot colour.

Step 8

The triangle was created in Illustrator and must be prepared using the correct method when using spot colours. In Illustrator, access the Pantone Color Book via the Swatch Libraries icon on the Swatches panel.

Step 9

Now type your colour value in the Find Field. Open the Attributes panel and make sure it isn’t set to Overprint, as we need this colour to ‘knock out’. We can now import this element into InDesign using the process in Steps 5 and 6, or choose to refi ne it in Photoshop. For more on importing spot values, see http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/325/325905.html.

Step 10

A similar method should be used for elements made in Photoshop,as spot values here differ to InDesign’s.
I’ve taken the triangle into Photoshop and used a hit of green to brighten it up using the Color Range option.

Step 11

Once you’ve got a selection you’re happy with, choose New Spot Channel from the Channels panel menu. The selection should load into it straight away, and you’ll see a dialog box asking you to specify a colour.

Step 12

Click on the Color square and the picker will appear; click the Color Libraries button and type the colour number you used earlier (I’ll be typing 354). There isn’t a field to type into – just type, making sure you’re specifying exactly the same colour as before, otherwise you’ll add another plate. As this is to be semi-opaque, set the Solidity to a much lower value.

Step 13

Back in InDesign, import the triangle and repeat the process from Steps 5 and 6 to create a new placeholder for the raised varnish over the triangular elements, then apply it to the text graphic and set it to Overprint (go to View>Overprint Preview, and if it disappears then it’s all good.) This will have a nice raised texture and, if used well, can be really striking.

Step 14

Open Window>Output>Separations Preview and select Separations from the View drop-down menu. Check
that everything is as it should be: look at the CMYK plates and be sure that only the things you want to be ‘knocked out’ are being so, and that the overprinting spot colours have information where you would expect to see it. If not, make the necessary changes.

Step 15

Here’s the finished piece in Overprint Preview (Shift+Alt+Ctrl+Y/ Shift+Opt+Cmd+Y). It’s now ready to
be turned into a PDF for the printer.

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Tags: 2d Shapes, illustration, techniques, touching