Color separation
For stencil based printing with multiple ink color layers, color separation helps bring the original artwork into the layers (usually greyscale) used to make each stencil. This can be done by hand, analog or digitally.
There are also a number of apps, websites, and other tools that help with color separation, especially for artwork that is already made, such as a photograph or painting.
Apps
- Spectrolite, a free Mac desktop app
- Stochaster Apps, a suite of apps for processing images, that includes https://www.stochaster-apps.com/coloraster.html Coloraster for separation
- Graintouch for iPad https://apps.apple.com/us/app/graintouch/id6740813845 somewhat aimed at making faux-riso look digitally, but offers some color separation
Websites
- https://www.risoseparator.tools/
- Risotto print simulator https://risottostudio.com/pages/print-simulator-simple
- P5 Js riso https://antiboredom.github.io/p5.riso/
- Virtual overprint charts https://charts.issue.press/
ICC Profiles=
Usually implemented with Adobe suite products.
- Color/shift https://colorshift.theretherenow.com/profiles
- https://en.exploriso.info/exploriso-colour-profiles/
- Risolve color profiles https://risolvestudio.com/collections/riso-color-profiles and tutorial videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCG4cf0HP_8
- ColorLibrary.ch
- Exploriso has a huge in depth guide to risograph color: https://en.exploriso.info/exploriso/colour/, including detailed guides on many methods for creating separations
- Colorama https://colorama.space/risoprinting-services/ guide color separation section
- Risotto https://risottostudio.com/pages/tools & https://risottostudio.com/pages/how-to-guides
- Natalie Andrewson's patreon has many tutorials for her method of color separation https://www.patreon.com/NatalieAndrewson
Related concepts
There are also other concepts related to color separation that can be useful to understand, such as: