How to Create Your Own Color Separations in Adobe Illustrator

Oct 17th in Tools & Tips by Blake Poutra

After you create vector artwork for t-shirt printing, there is one more major step the printer has to perform before printing. This additional step is something that everyone has heard of, but very few have tried. It is called color separations. It's crucial that you learn how to color separate before your artwork is compromised. Let's learn how!

Author: Blake Poutra

I am a t-shirt designer and printer at You Design It. We work with user submitted artwork every day and think an informed designer is the best kind. Our goal is to educate graphic designers on how to get their artwork to become the very best t-shirt print possible.

The Final Image Previews

Below are images from the final color seperated PDF we will be working towards. The output PDF and source files are available to PLUS members. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join VECTORTUTS PLUS for just $9/month.

Step 1

The graphics used in this tutorial are from freely available dingbat fonts. One is called SkullZ and the other is 2nd Amendment. The first thing we're going to do is begin with a three color vectored design in Adobe Illustrator.

Step 2

If you are used to designing in RGB or CMYK, it is best to convert all of your colors to the spot PMS colors that the printer will use. Make sure all of the instances of a single color are selected when converting to a PMS color.

Step 3

When using the color white in your artwork, it is best practice to create a new color swatch for a Spot White. You can create a new swatch by clicking on the small button next to the Trash Icon in the Swatch Palette.

Step 4

Make sure you name the new color something relevant to the ink color so it is easy to identify when looking at the final separations. It is also very important to change the color type from a process color to a spot color. The color mode does not matter.

Step 5

Now that all your colors have been converted to spot PMS colors, it is time to print the separations. Go to File > Print to access the Print menu. Change the printer to Adobe PDF and set the media size to custom.

Step 6

Add an additional 100 pixels to the width and height of the media size to allow room for the printer marks.

Step 7Next, choose the Marks and Bleed option from the left side menu. Check the box for All Printer's Marks so the separations can be labeled and registered.

Step 8

Now select Output from the left side menu and change the output mode to separations. Make sure in the Document Ink Options that the printer icons are only located next to the three spot colors we need printed.

Step 9

Select Print and you will be prompted to save the new color separated PDF file.

Final Image

The magic is over! Each page within the PDF is an individual spot color that is labeled and registered for print. You can line the artwork up and make sure all the pieces of the puzzle are there. Now you can save yourself some anguish and the printer some time on your next t-shirt project.

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User Comments

( ADD YOURS )

Max | Design Shard October 17th

Thats awesome information, thanks for sharing and great little tut.
( Reply )
Blake October 17th

Thanks Max, glad you liked it.
( Reply )
JD October 17th

Definitely some great stuff for freelance designers who want that professional look when sending designs of multiple colors to clients.
( Reply )
Dan October 17th

Nice, great stuff to know. Thanks for the info.
( Reply )
Mr Kuzio October 17th

This tut is a basic tip.
Take a tour on my blog and (if you speak italian) get some tip for the print workflow.
( Reply )
Dainis Graveris October 17th

Huh…thanks..for share..:) Maybe simple, but didn’t know this one
( Reply )
Conrad Gorny October 17th

This is really handy information. Thanks,
Conrad Gorny
http://www.conradgorny.com
( Reply )
Preston Lewis October 18th

I’m running CS3 and don’t see an option for print to pdf… what should I do?
( Reply )
Moksha October 18th

thanks,
( Reply )
Chris C. October 19th

Nice tutorial. This is something I use at least 3-4 times daily, but it’s also something I had to learn on my own, by trial and error.
Any chance you could make an additional tutorial similar to this one, except for halftone output (if it’s even possible with Illustrator)?
( Reply )
Stewart Knapman October 19th

This is a nice tip,
Young players should also be aware that some printers may have their own personal preferences when It comes to things like trapping (How much one colour will under-print or over-print on another colour).
A lot of the time it will depend on the design its self and/or the effect that you want to achieve.
So the best colour separation tool you could ever have is communication with your printer.
I am a professional colour separator by day (Its not nearly as glamorous as it sounds), and its great to see a well made file.
It just makes my day run a lot more smoothly, and will ensure that you get the best print that you can.
Thanks.
( Reply )
levi October 20th

in fact,
this can EASILY been done with the Phantasm CS plugin.
The trial version lets you do the seperations without limitations!
Really good plugin for illustrator by the way!
http://www.phantasmcs.com
(i am not affiliated with this company)
( Reply )
Hellboy October 20th

Very interesting!
I think it would be very useful to have a couple of tutorials focused on the “print stuff”.
Spot & Pantone colors, color profiles, how to export PDF files ready to print etc…
Sometimes you can create very good stuff in Illustrator but without the right steps you won’t be able to print it in the right way.
( Reply )
Geoff October 20th

Great topic! Handy indeed.
( Reply )
Halftime October 23rd

thank you very much
I m never heard about pms colors can you explain more about this cc color ?
thank you….
( Reply )
Shane October 28th

Interesting and enlightening
( Reply )
Mike November 18th

Anymore TUTs on seps? Ways to get halftone without a rip or postscript printer??
( Reply )
Fabio November 30th

Mike: you should try Ghostscript+GhostView, it’s a opensource RIP (totally free), so you can use it to print halftones or process colors films.
( Reply )
David December 1st

In CS4, you can also preview separations within Illustrator.
( Reply )
al January 7th

i keep getting acrobat not activated messages. what should i do?
( Reply )
chon January 14th

Thanks..I’m used to corel draw…I only have a small printer. What if my design is big and it requires 2 papers…How can I do this with illustrator?
( Reply )
phil February 5th

very nice!! helps us alot, more print tutorials for beginners like me
Thanks,
Phil
( Reply )
michelle April 4th

ppperfect info !
( Reply )
starr whiteside April 23rd

now all we need is a tut on trapping and creating bases and highlights and tailoring your seps to different colored shirts. That’s when the fun begins!
( Reply )
dilip June 3rd

how to create PMS Color illustrator, indesign
( Reply )
Jay Reynolds August 24th

THANKS! I love this site. This saved me a ton of time tonight when in a time crunch! Thanks for all the awesome information and tutorials!
( Reply )
banhbaofs September 4th

thanx ya a lot
( Reply )
law October 30th

What about 2 color transparent blend? Ex: transparent to red to black?
( Reply )