🎯 Design
Screen Print Artwork and Separation Spec for Apparel Orders: Spot Color Count, Pantone Callouts, White Underbase on Dark Garments, Halftone LPI and Angle, Ink Choice by Fabric Blend, Print Locations and Sizes, and Proof Sign Off
Turn a shirt design into a spec a screen printer can quote and print cleanly: cut the color count, name Pantone spot colors, plan a white underbase for dark shirts, set halftone frequency for gradients, pick ink that suits the fabric blend, place each print with real measurements, and approve the proof only when every detail matches.
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Prompt
Act as a screen print production artist who separates artwork for a busy apparel shop, burns screens for manual and automatic presses, and has watched a red ink turn pink on a poly blend shirt because nobody planned for dye migration. Inputs: - The artwork: description or file notes, colors, gradients, fine lines, and text sizes: [Artwork] - Garments: blank brand and style if known, colors, and fiber content: [Garments] - Print locations and target sizes: [Locations] - Quantity and size breakdown: [QuantitySizes] - The feel and look wanted: soft hand, vintage, bright and opaque: [FeelGoals] - Shop requirements if known (file type, max colors, ink system): [PrinterNotes] - Output format: [Format] Generate: 1. A color count audit from Artwork: each spot color is one screen per location, so list every color, merge near duplicates, and say where a halftone of one ink can replace a second color. 2. Underbase plan by garment color: dark and heathered garments need a white underbase under bright colors, which adds a screen and a flash; light garments usually print without one. Note when a choke on the underbase keeps it from peeking out. 3. Gradient handling: convert soft gradients to halftones at a frequency the shop can hold (a common range for apparel is roughly 45 to 65 lines per inch, angle often 22.5 degrees), with the exact values marked "confirm with your printer". 4. Fine detail rules: minimum line weight and text size to hold on mesh, and the parts of Artwork that break them with a fix (thicken, drop, or knock out to the shirt color). 5. Ink choice by fabric from Garments: plastisol for opacity, water based or discharge for soft hand on cotton, and low bleed or blocker base on polyester blends to stop dye migration. Discharge only works on reactive dyed cotton, so flag blends. 6. A Pantone callout table: area, Pantone Coated or Uncoated number as the shop prefers, and a note that ink on fabric shifts from screen color. 7. Placement table from Locations: location, artwork width and height, and the distance from the collar seam or other reference, with smaller sizes for youth or small adult shirts if QuantitySizes needs it. 8. File prep list: vector art or high resolution raster as the shop asks, text outlined, each color on its own named layer, and no RGB only effects. 9. A spec sheet ready for a quote and a proof sign off checklist with "do not approve" triggers. Constraints: - Never quote prices, setup fees, or turnaround; mark them "from the shop quote". - Do not redesign the art beyond the fixes in steps 1 and 4. No em dashes.
Instructions
Replace every [bracket] with your details before running. Works on ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Generated Output
This image was generated using the prompt above.
Examples
Example Input
Artwork: brewery 5th anniversary shirt; illustration of hop cones in front of three mountains, sunset sky gradient from orange to pink, "EST. 2021" in small caps about 0.15 inch tall, thin hairline outlines; 6 colors in the file: orange, pink, light pink, hop green, dark green, cream Garments: heather navy 60/40 cotton poly CVC tee and natural 100 percent cotton tee Locations: front center about 11 inches wide; back small logo under the collar about 3 inches wide QuantitySizes: 96 heather navy (S 12, M 30, L 30, XL 18, 2XL 6), 48 natural (S 8, M 16, L 16, XL 8) FeelGoals: soft and slightly vintage, colors still bright on navy PrinterNotes: shop prints plastisol and water based; vector PDF preferred
Example Output
1) COLOR COUNT AUDIT | File color | Keep? | Plan | | Orange | Yes | Spot 1 | | Pink | Yes | Spot 2 | | Light pink | Merge | Halftone of pink | | Hop green | Yes | Spot 3 | | Dark green | Merge | Use navy shirt showing through on navy, halftone of hop green on natural | | Cream | Yes | Spot 4 (mountains, text) | Result: 4 inks on the front instead of 6. 2) UNDERBASE - Heather navy: white underbase under orange, pink, and cream, choked slightly so it does not show at the edges. Front = 5 screens (underbase + 4). - Natural: no underbase. Front = 4 screens. 3) GRADIENT The orange to pink sky becomes halftones of the two spot inks over each other. Suggested 55 lines per inch at 22.5 degrees; confirm with your printer. 4) FINE DETAIL FIXES - "EST. 2021" at 0.15 inch: likely to fill in. Fix: raise to about 0.25 inch tall or knock it out of the cream mountain shape. - Hairline outlines: too thin for most mesh. Fix: thicken or drop them and let color edges define the shapes. 5) INK BY FABRIC - Heather navy CVC (40 percent poly): plastisol with a low bleed white underbase to stop dye migration into the pink. Discharge is not suited to this blend. - Natural 100 percent cotton: water based inks for the soft vintage hand. 6) PANTONE CALLOUTS (coated, confirm against a physical guide) | Area | Pantone | | Orange sky | 1585 C | | Pink sky | 1777 C | | Hops | 7489 C | | Mountains, text | 7527 C | Ink on fabric looks different from screen color, especially on heather navy. 7) PLACEMENT | Location | Size | Placement | | Front | 11 in wide x about 9.5 in tall | 3 in below the collar seam | | Front, size S | 10 in wide | Same reference | | Back logo | 3 in wide | 1.5 in below the collar seam | 8) FILE PREP Vector PDF, text outlined, one named layer per ink (Underbase, Orange 1585 C, Pink 1777 C, Hops 7489 C, Cream 7527 C), halftones built in the separations, no transparency effects. 9) SPEC SHEET - Quantity: 144 (96 heather navy, 48 natural) - Front: 4 colors on natural, 4 + underbase on heather navy - Back: 1 color cream, plus underbase on navy - Inks: plastisol low bleed on CVC, water based on cotton - Price, setup fees, turnaround: from the shop quote PROOF SIGN OFF [ ] Front width shows 11 in and 10 in for size S [ ] Four ink callouts match the Pantone list [ ] "EST. 2021" at the new size [ ] Underbase shown only on the heather navy proof Do not approve if: the proof shows 6 colors, the underbase is missing on navy, or the back logo size is not stated.