Hi guys,

I would like to ask that what kind of ink should i use when printing a duotone image? Should I use a process black or opaque black on top?

thanks!

I’d probably use a thinner black or a process black with the color to do a duotone. I don’t think the dots will overlap much between the 2 colors. This is simply the combination of two halftones for the same image printed with 2 colors. Meaning there is the black halftone printed with black ink and then we will have a second halftone which will be printed with a color ink like a warm brown for instance. The warm brown halftone combines with the black halftone which will create a duotone print which has the color hue of the warm brown halftone. This is similar to a sepia toned print in photography. A duotone separation will basically create a 2 color halftone that will blend optically in the eye. But the color halftone won’t actually blend with the black ink. That would make a dark muddy color of whatever color you are printing. It’s the same with process really. The black does not mix with the colors necessarily. Not in the sense of mixing and making a new color physically.

So you could use most any inks probably. A duotone is pretty simple I think.

Thanks for your advice Jonathan. Also i want to ask should i make the 2 halftone screen in different angles when burning screen?

Sure, that may help avoid any moiré patterns. You could try 5 and 15 or 15 and 25 depending on your mesh count.

I have not done a duotone since college to be honest so I don't recall what I exactly did then.... LOL Is it too late to say that I did some fine art prints on paper which was very cool and a lot of fun. I did do a video on a posterization print I did. But I lost a lot of cool stuff in fire a while back so that's the only screen print from my paper prints I had left.

A little experimentation will help tune your process to your liking. Let us know how it works out.