Silk Screened vs Inkjet??

My understanding is that screen printed artwork is more durable than inkjet artwork if left bare, and it will also look the closest to the original art if it was screen printed also.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
Screw inkjets, seriously. If a nice color laserjet can't do it, I have it professionally done by a print shop.
 
Is this a trick question or whats really the question here? :confused:
given the choice of the 2 it would always be silkscreen over inkjet whenever possible
I think thats rather obvious but if someone decides to go a cheaper route you really dont have much room to complain when it isnt quite right.
There is really only 1 pro to inkjet:1 its the only cost effective way to reproduce something that hasnt been screened
or just wont/cant be screened.

But what makes absolutly NO sense is why someone would buy or make for that matter something like
DK inkjet SideArt artwork when you can get the silkscreen for the same price and sometimes even less.

ALL original art was either screenprinted or offset printed.
inkjets have many limitations from the materials used and its lack of color matching
to orginal screenprinted inks and for those that dont know the differnce or "cant tell"
they really havnt seen them side by side to know.

Dont get me wrong theres some good inkjet out there but theres definatly more bad than good.
Directed to those fly by night inkjetters who dont understand color, resolution and materials
and the differnce between inkjet and silkscreen.

So whats the questions again?
 
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Being new to this, all i know is what i have been told on places like here and seen in posts.
I have been following the threads lately about this very subject. I feel honestly there is a place for both. Depending on what you want, what your willing to play and how important a original type product is to you.
What i would like to see is some pictures and scans of original Silk Screened type Graphics and beside them the InkJetted version. Of course allow for proper color matching etc. but lets see first hand how both look side by side and what they look like up close.
Just a thought anyways ;)
 
Being one of those "Cheaper InkJetters", like the "Screen-Printers", my "opinion" and theirs, could possibly (should) be viewed as biased - So I won't give mine.

What I will say is that before opinions are stated, or believed, do a little research first. Look into the "Science" of Inks, where they were 20 years ago and 5 years, and where they are today.
Read some articles by some of the top corporations and the scientists that experiment & develop these ink and the machines that use them.
Also, read some articles about inks by some of the worlds art groups and the top artists.
I know factually, many of you would be - "surprised".
.....................
A "Leader": One who leads or commands a group of people.
A "Follower": One who follows with wisdom of what one is following.
A "Blind Follower": One who does not think for himself. Rather they take an extremely dogmatic and narrow-minded approach to a topic.
 
I am not a fan of inkjet at all. But, will settle for it as a last resort. Luckily, I only had one last resort, a SMB marquee. But other than that, I am all about screen printing. The material that can be used is just so much more superior.
 
Being one of those "Cheaper InkJetters", like the "Screen-Printers", my "opinion" and theirs, could possibly (should) be viewed as biased - So I won't give mine.

What I will say is that before opinions are stated, or believed, do a little research first. Look into the "Science" of Inks, where they were 20 years ago and 5 years, and where they are today.
Read some articles by some of the top corporations and the scientists that experiment & develop these ink and the machines that use them.
Also, read some articles about inks by some of the worlds art groups and the top artists.
I know factually, many of you would be - "surprised".

So are you pastucia on ebay or not?

And if you truly think you can compare silkscreening vs inkjet you're out of your mind. Period. Ink technology has come a long way but no inkjet on the planet can print spot color or anywhere close to the color gamut screen printing can. Period, that's FACT not opinion or bias. I do projects in both mediums where the project dictates and there's just no way you can pretend that the two are comparable when it comes to spot color quality. No way.

Of course, if you're just going to click print on any old file anyone gives you the result is guaranteed to be junk half the time. if people are OK with that, then so be it but don't pretend you're putting out quality when you're really doing no QC at all.
 
What about custom work. And its nice to take just about any pic and make a big azz sticker out of it.
 
Inkjet has a place, and that is making (i know i've said this already) artwork for games that were offset printed. Look at Rampart, perfect example. It's also good for something that wouldn't have enough interest to screen, like bump n jump art. Go with things that are not being done, and i think you'll have more sucess.
 
There are poor examples of screened art as well just look at Crystal CAstles Marquees and Speaker Grill Overlays, and the inkjets are no better.
and certainly extremely large prints are much easier and cost effective for inkjet verses screenprinting.
Since screens that size are very expensive and sometimes the amount of qtys to run is hard to justify sometimes.

But in inkjetting you have to take the good with the bad. Colors may not be quite right, Texture or Material might not be quite right but in some cases that may be your only option. and if your going with inkjet just cause it may or may not be cheaper then those differences will always be previelent. and if you paid $20 for a inkjetted marquee to save a buck, suck it up.

But there just isnt a comparision no matter how much you research "how far things have come" in the last 20 to 30 years. its still apples and oranges.
But other than inkjetting replacing the majority of screening shop setups since the ammount of time and expense that goes into just isnt worth it to most in the graphics industry of today.

Inkjet certainly has its place and I do both as needed. So I have no bias to either.
As I have a very clear understanding of both limiations and advantages to both.

So again Im not really understanding the OP question here. :confused:
Unless you dont know and your just trying to figure this out yourself as to why
people see Silkscreen vs Inkjet.
The results are just as clear as comparing the two side by side. Period.
 
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Inkjet has a place, and that is making (i know i've said this already) artwork for games that were offset printed. Look at Rampart, perfect example. It's also good for something that wouldn't have enough interest to screen, like bump n jump art. Go with things that are not being done, and i think you'll have more sucess.

Along with custom sized art we have a BINGO!
 
First Ill also ask what others have asked and you refuse to answer; So are you pastucia on ebay or not? And why are you stealing others images (Bill Johnson to name one) from their websites?

Inkjet tech has come a vey long way and continues to evolve. It's better for the environment too. But still has limitations in color and cannot spot, wont fluoresce, wont do white (unless youre going really high end), requires careful calibration. Advantages are click and print, virtually no labor involved. Screened take an incredible amount of skilled labor. Custom one-off designs or sizes are simple and cheap, not feasible with screened. No inventory is needed compared to the large runs therefore upfront costs greatly favor inkjet.

Ive used many printing companies in nearly 12 years of repros. Each one of them does both high end digital and screen printing, some also do offset which TRON side art is printed on and is the most expensive way to print because a very large run is needed, larger than screened.

Anyways, all of these printers would rather me print digital because of the intense labor setup and greater room for error because of manual labor involved (human error). They'd much rather load the file, load the media, click print. One sends me digital samples of my art each time I screen something. Theyre hoping when I go to reprint I would choose digital. A few pieces have looked pretty good in fact. They are using a $500,000 inkjet printer that prints white, the EFI VUTEk GS3200. Check that baby out, Ive seen it working in person. But its still not equal to or better than a screen print. So I have access to it and could use it to print repros. But I dont. I have used it once in awhile for a one-off custom job.

Take TRON side art that is printed offset. A $1,000,000+ Kabida Rapida 205 is used. They printed me a sample on the VUTEK above and its close but still not the same.

If and when inkjet equals or exceeds screen printing and is affordable, Ill buy the eqpt myself and do it all in house. Until them Im screening.

Now compare the TZ pics. Mine is screened, the other is a high end Roland digital I believe.
 

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C'mon guys! Just take the ink jet stuff and be happy. Either stay drunk or squint when you look at it. You can hardly tell the difference that way.
 
Thank you for posting those two pictures! That is what I have been wanting to see is side by side comparisons of both a Screen Printed Graphic and Ink Jet Printed one.
Lets see the real difference and take this from a "My Dads tougher then Your Dad" Kinds of posts and get some real facts! :)
Would appreciate anyone else out there who has a comparison side by side.
Thanks :)
 
Pics hard to come by, and in the case of PhoenixArcades your seeing the best of the best in comparisons.
and if I had time id download something like DK sideart inkjet it and hold it up to the silkscreened.
but why??
I understand the newbs may or may not get it. but no matter how you slice it
its still apples and oranges.
Course I can show you examples of both and it would be pretty hard to tell them apart from just a pic
I mean really anybody can do it.
Have you ever tried printing on your desktop printer and compared it to any orginal arcade art??
pretty much same thing.

inkjets are printed by combinding CYMK inks to try and simulate a single color.
so colors are just inhairently "muddy" and "spotty" not nearly as vibrant as a screened color as noticably different in PAs pics.

screened inks are somewhat transparent so when screened onto a white substrate or backed with a white ink like a marquee for example that helps make that color "pop"
and is a pure solid spot color of red, blue, pink, purple, etc.

Colors and lack of color is what seperates the two of them.

and again to the op
So are you pastucia on ebay or not?
 
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Thank you for posting those two pictures! That is what I have been wanting to see is side by side comparisons of both a Screen Printed Graphic and Ink Jet Printed one.
Lets see the real difference and take this from a "My Dads tougher then Your Dad" Kinds of posts and get some real facts! :)
Would appreciate anyone else out there who has a comparison side by side.
Thanks :)

Seriously, even darin's pictures above aren't a fair fight if you want to compare. The inkjet in his example is coming out of a way higher end printer than anyone printing one off arcade art has and THAT comparison is night and day vs silkscreen of the same art. Silkscreened version of any artwork will aways win hands down, no need for photos really. it's that cut and dry.

When it comes to line art and relatively simple gradients there's just no inkjet no matter how expensive that can match silkscreen for clarity and vibrance of color. All comes down to color gamut, where silkscreen prints the exact color mixed by the talents of the printer while inkjet approximates the color with a mix of CMYK layers of ink. Silkscreen can also put down a solid spot color image without dithering. Inkjet simply cannot do this. Look at anything printed by any inkjet printer close, you'll see the image is made up of tiny dots like when you look close at your television set. Silkscreen doesn't have this limitation. Combine that with the simple reality that for right now at least, inkjetprinters just don't have the color gamut it's just not an apples to apples comparison. If you don't know what color gamut is, think of it as counting from 1 to 10 only inkjet can only do from 3 to 8, no 1,2,9 or 10 while silk can complete all 10. In darin's pictures this is particularly evident in the reds. His silkscreened version the red pops and is nice and crisp while the inkjetted version however pricey machine used is produced more of a dull pinkish red.

Like others have said, there's a right place for inkjetting work but the 'point and shoot' printers out there snagging anything they can find on the internet generally don't do very high quality work. Even in the inkjet world, to do a good quality job STILL takes loads of time and talent to color match and get it right. Rich touched on it in a couple of his posts how long it takes to do the matching process, in some cases months. You just can't realistically download all the files for donkey kong and sell them the next day and be making quality. you just can't. Cheap yes, quality no. I get that some folks only care about cheap and that's good enough for them but it's not really cool when a printer tries to convince people that inkjet is as good as screening in order to make a fast buck.
 
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