Ever Wonder How a Screen Printed Poster is Made?

People often ask for a quote to make a screen printed posters and are confused why they cost so much?  One word answer  'Labor'.  I love making posters but rarely make them unless someone commissions me to make it or its for my band or clothing line.  Screen printed posters are made using the same process as making a t-shirt only 5x the time the labor.  I can make a 5 color t-shirt and using a flash dryer print all the colors on the shirt at once in a fairly short time.  A poster can only be printed one color at a time, then rack them to dry, set up the next color, print, rack, setup, ect.  Here are some photos of the printing process to give you an idea of how the poster develops using various degrees of transparent and opaque inks.  This the poster I designed and printed for Tiki Oasis.

We printed 150 of these and it took us two days to print them, keep in mind that's just the printing production and does not include artwork or post production time..

First color, Purple Blend

Second Color Dark Blue

Printung the third color light semi transparent blue

Third color drying on the racks

Third color on the print

Fourth color semi transparent yellow.

 

Final color black being printed

Black on the poster and its finished, now to let it dry for 24 hours

You can purchase this fine print here.