What should be the color profile for coloring comics for print?

I find it difficult to print the original color as your design.

It's best if you have a talent then you should draw by yourself

Hey, everybody...you can't use a very poor quality phone snapshot of a printed page as reference. Just a quick correction to white and black points gives a very different impression.

In fact I think the most likely explanation here is that the OP's monitor is set way too bright.

I downloaded and checked the one page that you uploaded here. It's A4 format, correct?

Anyway, I noticed your line work is too low resolution for a quality comic print. Depending on the workflow (paper or fully digital) the line art is produced on paper and then scanned at 1200ppi, or the artist works at 1200ppi while preparing the line art.

The line art is then converted to pure 1bit monochrome, and the work coloured at 300ppi. Later the 1bit line art is overprinted with K black, which results in razor-sharp looking art.

But perhaps I have it wrong, and the page represents only a low-res 300ppi preview of the 1200ppi line art meant for colouring purposes in Photoshop?

A new test. I've downloaded the original image from #6.

First image:

Downsampled  for 72ppi and saved as sRGB JPEG image.

Second image:

First image converted to ISOCoated-v2-eci, converted to sRGB and saved as sRGB JPEG.

Surprisingly, the quality is rather good. Differences are hardly visible, though measurable.

The OP uses US Web Coated (SWOP) v2, this doesn't matter, in my opinion.

As a result I would say, the OP's basic concept is correct, but his color management is wrong.

Please, could someone reproduce my test?

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

A remark, correcting myself:  The whole gamut of ISOCoated-v2-eci is contained in AdobeRGB.

Therefore this color space could indeed be used, if the 'late' conversion to any CMYK space is

intended. Hopefully the operator uses a wide gamut monitor then...

1. image: sRGB

______________________________________________________________________________

2. image, CMYK as sRGB

Let's explain RGB and CMYK.

RGB is based on light theory (red, green & blue light spectrum). Typically used to make prints from traditional film strips or for viewing on monitors, such as web site designs.

CMYK uses actual pigmented inks and will never reproduce as brightly as RGB. If you are designing, then begin designing in the colorspace to which your product will be output or the substrate it will be printed on. Start by asking your printer to supply you with their color profile or ask them what color space you should setup the art in upfront.

If you are referring to color on newsprint consult the lithographer to get an idea of its color range and saturation limitations and certainly his specs for submitting the work for reproduction.

My color profile is sRGB. I finish coloring in the RGB settings and then change that to CMYK before print.

How are you laying out the book? With InDesign? Are you delivering a PDF to the printer or an InDesign Package? The printed book looks like there may have been an additional CMYK-to-CMYK conversion somewhere in the workflow. Your reds are certainly in a typical CMYK coated profile's gamut, so it doesn't seem like they should have gone that brown.

There are a number of places in the print workflow where there may have been additional CMYK conversions, especially if you are placing profiled CMYK images into an InDesign layout and exporting a PDF, so more details on your workflow might help.

It may not be the problem in this case, but there would be no benefit in using sRGB for this kind of art, so you should start using AdobeRGB

The first image shows all sRGB colors by steps of 5 units per channel. This should be reproduced

on all calibrated monitors correctly.

The second image shows the conversion into CMYK for ISOCoated-v2-eci by soft proof, followed

by a screenshot, re-opened in Photoshop, assigned monitor profile and converted to sRGB.

In other words - it's a reliable preview of the print result, concerning saturation and lightness,

besides hue.

If the comic designer starts (as expected by me) with rather saturated colors in RGB, he will be soon

victim of a severe loss of saturation or "brilliance".

Therefore it's in my opinion much better to start directly in the recommended CMYK space, which

allows as well the definition of black as K-only blacks, definitely necessary for avoiding ugly effects

of misregistration.

And indeed, there will be some more CMYK colors, which are not in the sRGB gamut, but starting

with AdobeRGB(98) won't be appropriate, altogether.

For international applications it has to be tested, whether a CMYK to CMYK conversion (excluding

black) would be crucial or desastrous.

Best regards--Gernot Hoffmann

Hi,

if you’re going to be printing something, such as a business card, stationary, or a newsletter, use CMYK. CMYK does not include a white color because it is assumed that it will be printed on a white paper and depending on the percentage of each color that is used, the white from the paper will be used to fill the space, therefore making the shades appear lighter.

If it’s something that will only be seen digitally, use RGB. The Internet is set up to work exclusively with RGB colors and there is a simple explanation behind this. A digital monitor is made up of tiny units called pixels. These pixels are comprised of three light units, one for red, one for green, and one for blue. The RGB values are applied to these pixels, thereby setting the luminosity for each of the light units in each pixel.

I saw on another forum that working in Adobe RGB helps. Is that true?

It could.

The sRGB color space does not contain a significant portion of a typical CMYK space's colors, so when you make the conversion from sRGB to CMYK the CMYK colors that are not inside of the sRGB gamut get clipped. Saturated blues, cyans, and yellows can be affected.