Convert artwork to shapes and easily combine them to streamline screen color separations.
Published
Welcome back.
Now that we have our finished graphic in Illustrator, we're going to get it ready for screen print production.
The first thing we want to do is expand all our strokes to make sure when we scale up or down our file will stay intact and not change.
I'll hide the tote template for now.
Same thing with the text.
Let's create an outline so our printer can open this file and not have any issues with fonts missing.
Next step, we can use the Pathfinder Tool to group all of our shapes that are the same color.
As you can see, I'm grouping all of our colors in different layers.
Since this design has three colors, we'll use the Pathfinder panel to knock out our shapes, so when our screen printer is printing their screen separations, it'll be a breeze for them when it comes time to print these mini totes.
Since our design has three colors, I'm separating it by color black, light yellow, and dark yellow.
Your file is print-ready.
It's that easy to set up your file in Illustrator for a screen print.
What you'll learn
Prepare artwork for screen print production
Expand all strokes to maintain appearance when scaled. Convert live text to outlines so your print provider can open the file without the exact font.
Group like elements on a single layer
Use the Pathfinder panel to unite shapes of the same color and knock out overlapping objects, making it easier to set up for screen printing.
Arrange similar-colored objects on their own layers
Place objects with the same print color on one layer and name layers descriptively to streamline production.
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