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 Coloraster for separation.
• Graintouch for iPad somewhat aimed at making faux-riso look digitally, but offers some color separation features.

Websites

• https://www.risoseparator.tools/
• Risotto has an online print simulator
• 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 offers color profiles and an accompanying tutorial video
• ColorLibrary.ch has profiles for purchase as well as a tutorial on using ICC profiles and color spaces

Color Separation related guides and tutorials on the web

• Exploriso has a huge in depth guide to risograph color, including detailed guides on many methods for creating separations
• Colorama has a guide with a color separation section
• Risotto offers tools and a set of how-to guides
• Natalie Andrewson's patreon has many tutorials for her method of color separation

Books and Zines

• Dreaming in Color by Natalie Andrewson, PEOW2
• Exploriso: Low Tech Fine Art by Sven Tilkak
• Layers4Players by by Chloé Barbier, Colorama. Hand-book about Digital File-prep in Photoshop for Riso-printing
• InDesign4UnDesigners, Johanna Choultz, Colorama. Hand-book about Layout, Margins and File-prep in InDesign for Riso-printing
• Making a zine and riso printing it with Spectrolite and Google Docs, Amelia and Adam Greenhall, ANEMONE. Tutorial about writing and designing in Google Docs, laying out for printing in Spectrolite, printing on a home/office printer, how to do color separation and file prep for risograph printing, and lots of tips and ideas along the way. Free print-your-own or edit further and publish your own version files available.

Related concepts

There are also other concepts related to color separation that can be useful to understand, such as:

• Trapping
• Total Area Coverage TAC
• How to flatten files to reduce artifacts from printer drivers
• Halftones and choosing halftone angles