Comic Books have been around for decades, but recent years have seen a resurgence in the art form. While Marvel is rolling out blockbusters based on beloved comic book heroes, comic book shops are popping up everywhere and collectors are rejoicing.
Cleveland is fortunate enough to have an incredibly talented comic artist drawing up a storm in our happy little city. John Greiner, more commonly known as John G., is the artist behind the Shiner Comics and the artwork for Melt Bar & Grilled, Cleveland Cinemas, Scene Magazine and much, much more. We hung out with John to find out if he prefers pizza to tacos and what goes into creating and printing an epic Comic Book adventure.
If you’re looking for a exciting new way to display your art, then look no further than our Metal Photo Prints. Printed in full color on aluminum plates through dye sublimation, your prints will look crisp and have depth that isn’t possible on canvas or paper. The aluminum creates a luminescence that gives your print a metallic glow. Here’s some tips and tricks to creating your own and some behind the scenes action on how they’re made.
A lot of cool products roll through the shop here on a daily basis. Occasionally something that really catches our eye comes along-in this case; a t-shirt by Toledo, Ohio Based photographer and videographer, Nick Amrhein. Nick used his creativity and incredible skills behind the camera to make a killer t-shirt. Screen printing an insanely photo-realistic shirt that retains all of the detail of the original photo can be tricky, but our expert screen printing team knew exactly how to take care of business.
Seriously impressed, we sat down with Nick to hear his story and learn more about the idea behind his shirt.
Printing Sustainably Doesn’t Need to Be Hard or Expensive
Historically, print has been a dirty business: colorful, chemical-laden goo smeared on top of dead trees. While most print businesses use all the right buzzwords, their claims often lack substance. Or, even worse, we’re fed the Whole Foods model — that the only sustainable options are expensive and luxurious. The best thing most designers could do, if they were truly committed to the environment, would be to avoid print. Go digital, it’s the only way to be sure, right? Wrong.
Stop the presses! No, really. Stop them. The future of eco friendly printing has arrived! Jakprints has teamed with Heidelberg USA to bring the Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor press to Cleveland. It’s the very first of its kind in North America!
Our new Heidelberg press is a massive jolt to the printing business thanks to its efficiency, versatility and environmental friendliness.
The Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor cuts down paper waste by nearly 90%, reducing waste to between 1.6 million and 2.4 million press sheets per year. On average, we’ll be saving 16 trees a day!
For years you’ve been lugging around a composition notebook, maybe that’s what you used in college to keep all your ideas and designs in. It’s an old favorite but maybe not completely practical for ideas that come to you while you’re on the go. What you need is something smaller, pocket sized. There are small notebook options out there but many make you skimp on quality or customization, which isn’t what you need when you’re looking for a creative outlet.
Pocket Notes have 48 pages of unabashed creative space with a completely unbranded cover! Printed with pristine quality and full color, these tiny notebooks will turn heads at trade shows or provide your employees some unity around the office.
Completely Unbranded Cover?
Yes! Other brands offering pocket sized notebooks put their name all over them. These notebooks are completely blank so you can put whatever you want on them without needing to work around someone else’s logo.
Choose from one of the 5 cover stocks to completely customize your Pocket Note. Maybe an edgy black with a bold design or kraft stock for a more rustic look:
- 100# Gloss – light-weight medium gloss
- 12 pt Gloss – standard-weight gloss
- 100# Kraft – natural colored paper
- 100# Black – medium-weight stock paper
- 110# Pearlescent – medium-weight card stock with a pearly sheen
Covers can be printed single or double sided for our colored stocks, 5th color white comes standard so don’t worry about muddy or faded images. For the best results, we suggest you use our templates to make sure your art prints just the way you want it to.
Because we could.
This is the answer to the inevitable “why we did it” that you will ask. We were sitting around and wanted to really show the difference that paper stock can make. Sure, we could have pulled out our micrometer and made some charts. But, does the internet really need more infographs right now?
It’s time to be depressed! Everyone gets excited about a nice, embossed Business Card. Hell, we’ve seen billions of cards and embossing still stops us in our tracks.
To produce an emboss, your graphic is etched into two copper plates: the Plate (male die) and the Counter (female die). Acids are involved with the etching, it’s seriously pretty awesome.
Your final print is then stamped between the plates. The dies complement each other so that when the stock is forced between them it causes the fibers to take their final, embossed shape. Debossing is a similar (and often misunderstood) process where the paper is stamped without the counter die. This results in recessed type and logos without the corresponding raised area on the reverse side.
Embossing works best with one-sided business cards, as your text and logos will appear backwards on the flip side. To avoid this subsequent effect, consider using organic textures or symmetrical patterns so that the areas that extend beyond the surface are viewable from both sides.
Keep in mind that type and other small design elements should be spaced further apart than normal, as the embossing can otherwise cause close shapes to merge together. On business card stock, use 2 pt. line weight, and at least a 10 pt. font for all text.
The plate and counter dies generally add about $100-250 to the cost of producing business cards, so double and triple check your spelling and make sure that your contact information is set in stone for the foreseeable future.
If possible, avoid making your name or phone number three-dimensional so you will be able to reuse the same embossing dies on re-orders, or if you have multiple sets of business cards to order for additional employees.
This post was published and formated for an old version of the blog.
Like any business, Jakprints started off small and grew over the years finding successes wherever elbow grease can be applied. And like any business, the early stages were made easier by the helping hands of friends. The first shirts at Jakprints were baked in parents ovens…we’ve come a long way since then. In the spirit of that same generosity, Jakprints has always strived to support independent and creative projects in hopes that others can find those same successes.
