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Artwork


Our preferred art format

Spot color printing is our preferred form of printing. Vector files (some extensions are .ai, .eps, and .pdf) created (not just imported) in programs such as Adobe Illustrator are used to produce the highest quality prints. We also print four color process (CMYK). Formats that are raster based such as Photoshop (.psd), JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, and GIF can be used but please make sure to check the resolution. Minimum resolution required for raster files is 300 DPI at full size. If you are unsure of the file resolution, look at the file on your monitor at the actual print size (for a skateboard heat transfer 8.5 inch x 33 inch rectangle), if the graphic looks pixilated it will print pixilated. As always we have staff artists to help with this process.

Graphic templates

We provide graphic templates and art guidelines for every product we sell. Please contact your sales rep for details.

Correctly matching colors

Color reproduction varies from monitor to monitor so please note that the color you see on your computer may not look the same when printed. The Pantone™ ‘Solid Coated’ matching system is the industry standard for accurately matching color. Please reference the PMS (Pantone) number if exact color matching is necessary.

Submitting art

We can receive files up to 20 mb via email. Please check with your email provider to see what your maximum email size is. For larger files we have an FTP file upload site. Check with your rep for log in and password.

CMYK printing vs. Spot Color printing in heat transfer printing for skateboards

CMYK printing simulates a full range of color by mixing varying percentages of four primary colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. When these colors are printed on a surface, they subtract from white light that reflects off the background, creating the illusion of color; for this reason, CMYK is a “subtractive” color model. This is called “4-color” or process printing. With heat transfer printing the dots used to make the CMYK are fairly large so the effective resolution is somewhat low. Spot color printing is always recommended over CMYK(in terms of print quality) because the solid blocks of color used lose very little resolution compared to CMYK printing. The biggest drawback to Spot color printing versus CMYK printing is that CMYK can effectively create an unlimited amount of colors with only printing 5 colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, and White). Spot color printing requires that every color in a graphic be printed individually. Metallic, pearlescent, fluorescent, and phosphorescent can’t be created by CMYK printing, each of these colors must be printed individually using spot colors. Heat transfers are screen printed by hand one color at a time so the question to be answered is “Am I willing to spend the extra money on the additional set-ups to get a better looking graphic?”

Vector graphics

Vector graphics use mathematical coordinates to represent a shape. Within these coordinates a solid color is represented. When vectors are scaled larger they do not lose resolution. This is a big advantage over raster graphics.

Raster graphics

Raster graphics are collections of pixels. Each pixel has it’s own color. Raster files are typically mush larger than a similar vector file. The biggest problem with raster graphics is that some people mistakenly think that an image that is viewed much smaller than actual print size on a computer monitor will print at high resolution.

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