CMYK Colour Separation Using GIMP

Gimp is an amazing program that can be used by graphic designers and screen printers alike. In fact, Gimp does much that Adobe’s Photoshop does and it costs absolutely nothing! It is an open source software available for free download at the developer’s site.

When screen printing, often times there comes a need for colour separation. Gimp can help you achieve this but you first need to download and install the Separate plugin since the software you will download unfortunately comes without this very important function.

Now, to achieve a four colour screen print popularly known as CMYK (Cyan (Blue), Magenta (Red), Yellow & Key (Black)), you will need to separate your image into the four layers. With the separate plugin successfully installed, simply open the Gimp program then drag and drop your chosen image. For this tutorial, we’re going to use the official portrait of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Next, Click under Filters and select Décor from the drop down menu and then Add border. A dialog box will open and select the settings as indicated below.

Once you have a border around the image, click under Tools and select Paint Tools from the drop down menu and then pencil. Make a cross on the border as indicated below. This will serve as your registration mark when it comes to the actual making of screens and printing. Remember for you to achieve a good full colour screen-printed image, then all your screens must fall on the same place on the fabric being printed on. Registration marks serve this very purpose.

Now flatten your image (click under Image and select Flatten image from drop down menu). Under Image again, select Separate from the drop down and Separate again from a further drop down menu. You should get the result shown below.

Click Windows then Dockable Dialogs from the drop down menu and finally Layers. You should get something like this. These are the CMYK layers.

To save the Cyan layer, on the separated image, click under File and select Export as. Name the File CYAN or otherwise as long as you don’t confuse later and click export. To save the next file which is "M" Magenta, simply click to close the 'open eye' on the C line. Repeat the process to save the remaining 3 layers. Your CMYK files are now ready for the Printer.

KEY

YELLOW

MAGENTA

 

CYAN