What is a screen tint or halftone?
A. In printing, it is a way of creating many shades of a single ink color. This is achieved by breaking down artwork into dots varying in size. The term “screen tint” is generally used in reference to solid and graduated percentages of color and the word “halftone” is generally used in reference to grayscale images such as photographs.
Screen tints and halftones require a 65 to 85 line screen. Graduated screen tints below 10% will not print and screen tints above 90% will print solid. Keep tonal range between 20% and 80%. Metallic inks should not be used with halftones or screen tints because the metallic particles are larger than the screen mesh, and will plug up during production. Screen tint/halftone angles should be 22.5 degrees. French calf grain is recommended.
