Read the following reference material on "Comps and Mechanicals". Use it to help you complete the "Comps and Mechanicals" Review Questions sheet that your instructor distributed in class.

BE CERTAIN TO READ ALL INFORMATION CAREFULLY AS THERE WILL BE AN INTERACTIVE TEST ON ALL MATERIAL COVERED IN THIS SECTION.

There are three topics on this page. Use these text links to access the topics:

Comps and Mechanicals

Creating Art for Reproduction

Creating Camera-Ready Art

Comps and Mechanicals

Two of the top production chores for graphic designers are the creation of comprehensive layouts ("comps") and mechanical layouts ("mechanicals"). The ability to creatively visualize advertisements, logo designs and layouts will determine your success in this area. National certification tests center around these two production steps.
Review the following information to familiarize yourself with these and the other steps in producing artwork from your ideas.

steps to a layout

There are specific steps that an artist or designer should follow in order to explore ideas and create artwork for reproduction. You should become familiar with them. They are explained in sequence and in detail below. Your instructor will give you exercises to complete, in order for you to gain experience in each step. This will allow you to practice for the national certification test.

thumbnail sketches

These are the first step in creating a design. Thumbnail sketches are small drawings that allow the artist to explore many ideas quickly. Type is drawn very quickly, and sometimes abbreviated. Lines and zig zag lines are also used to indicate type and letters. Illustrations and photographs are usually sketched very roughly, or sometimes photos are indicated by a rectangle. Thumbnails may also be done on a computer. Occasionally, color will be used in the production of thumbnails.

rough layouts

These layouts are somewhat similar to thumbnail sketches, however, they are usually done to actual size. Specific symbols are used for indicating headlines (drawn out), subheads (vertical zig zag lines), body text (double lines), and photos (rectangle with an "x" from corner to corner). They are produced using pencil or markers, but may sometimes be produced on the computer.

comprehensive layouts

This type of layout is referred to as a "comp". The comprehensive layout is a model or prototype of the final design and closely resembles it. All color is shown. For example, if you were going to produce a comprehensive layout of a new soda can for a client, you might actually tape or glue the label to a can. This would allow the client to actually see the can before the final mechanical artwork is prepared. Some designers pay a lot of money to have their comps printed out on high level color printers. This is one of the most important stages of production, since it is the one that the client bases their decisions upon.

mechanical layouts

These layouts used to be called keylines, paste-ups and camera ready copy. They were produced by mechanical layout artists, using drafting tools and adhesive. Type and copy were produced separately, and then "pasted-up" onto a piece of paper or board. Color separation mechanicals were prepared for multicolor work. Nearly all mechanical layouts, whether one color or more, are now produced using special software on a computer. This is the final artwork that will be shot on a large camera, to make the printing plates or screen stencils. This is the most critical stage since the final printing plates will be made off of this artwork.

In order to be able to complete the projects required in Electronic Art and Design, and to have the knowledge to pass the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) Exam, you must also review the following information as it is required by your instructor:

Defining "artwork for reproduction" is simple... you must be able to create designs that can be printed. All artwork that is going to be printed by any printing process is artwork for reproduction. Believe me...that is a lot of artwork. Think about it, for every burger sold in the USA, someone had to design the wrapper it is sold in. Someone designed every package, sign, advertisement, magazine, newspaper, package, computer game artwork...the list is practically endless!!!

The artwork that you will produce must be "photo-converted". Simply put, that means that someone (sometimes you) will be using a special kind of camera or computer imagesetter to create a "film" of your artwork. It will usually be either on  negative film or positive film. The negative is then used to produce a plate for a printing press, or the positive is used to produce what we call a "photo-silkscreen stencil" or "photostencil".

In order to get started, you must first understand that there are two basic types of artwork:

The first type of artwork for reproduction is called "line art" or "line copy". "Line copy" is artwork or type that consists of just black and white. It is usually black ink on white paper. However, sometimes line copy looks like it has gray tones in it. If you were able to magnify the gray tones, you would be able to see that they are not really gray. The tones consist of small black dots that create the "illusion" of gray.   Line copy may be created by hand using traditional art or drafting tools. It also can be typed words that we refer to as "typeset copy". Typeset copy is usually produced by a computer and printed out. It also can be created by drawn letters, such as calligraphy.

The second type of artwork is referred to as "continuous tone copy". "Continuous tone copy" is artwork that contains colors in it or consists of a photograph (black and white photos or color photos, it doesn't matter).  This kind of artwork is not as easy to copy. If we were to take a photograph and place it on a copier, the copy we would get of it wouldn't be so good. In order to copy or print copies of "continuous tone copy", we have to change it into just black and white, so that it will copy easier.

Line copy is the easiest "copy" to make copies of. If we were to take most line copy and just throw it on a copier, we would get good quality copies. Therefore, all copy that we want to make copies of, MUST be "line copy" or "converted" into line copy.

When we convert the continuous tone copy into line copy, it will consist of tiny black dots, just like some line copy. We call this converted copy a "halftone". It is done by scanning the photo onto the computer and converting it using special software. Otherwise, it may be converted by using a special "line screen" on a large camera. It copies well, because a "halftone" consists of only black dots on a white background. We call this an "illusion" of gray.

Well...that does it for this concept. Hopefully you can understand this information. It may sound simple, but is very important for all artists to understand.

You can not print a shirt or advertisement, without properly creating the artwork. You have already read about line copy and continuous tone copy. That was important. It is also important to understand that the camera that will take the photo of the artwork will use "high contrast" film. That means that the film will only pick up or "see" black and white images. Sometimes it is able to see a little gray. Therefore, artists use a light blue pencil (called "non-photo blue") to draw guidelines that they DON'T want to show up or reproduce on the final copy. This color can not be seen by the high contrast film. The film will see black and red art or copy, as black. Therefore, most materials that are used to produce artwork for reproduction use black or red ink or other black and red materials. The section below deals with the actual "hands-on" production of artwork. There are three basic ways to produce the artwork:

hand drawn mechanical art

This type of artwork is done by an artist. It contains hand drawn lettering and images. Some clients prefer a hand drawn look, and also some ideas can only be created with the help of an artist. In order for the artwork to be used for reproduction, the artist must use the proper materials.

The initial sketched lines may be graphite pencil lines. They MUST, however, be erased as completely as possible. The lines can be done in light blue.
Any portion of the art that you wish to show up, must be created in black or red ink. There are other films and tapes to produce artwork. They are also black and red. A hand drawn piece of artwork is created using the special drafting and inking tools that you studied earlier. Sometimes an artist will use tracing paper or a special projector called an opaque projector, to help in producing hand drawn art. This method saves time and helps artists to reproduce artwork that they could otherwise not draw. An example of a piece of hand drawn mechanical art is shown below.

paste-up

This type of artwork can consist of copies of hand drawn art and computer generated type. The artist sets up a piece of bristol board or illustration board taped down on the drawing table. They then draw non-photo blue guidelines on the board, indicating the layout area, and where the copy is to be pasted. There are several different types of adhesives that may be used to glue down the pieces of artwork. Some adhesives used are spray adhesive, glue sticks, rubber cement and adhesive wax. Adhesive wax is placed on the back of the copy with a special waxing machine. The wax sticks to the board when the artist rubs the front of the copy, applying pressure to it. The adhesive wax then sticks like glue. A t-square is used to be sure that all the lines and copy are straight. Remember, this is the final artwork that will be printed. An example is shown below.

computer generated artwork

This type of artwork is created by an artist on a computer. The artist usually has access to a large number of images called "clip art". Therefore, it is usually not necessary to draw images. The artist searches through the artwork till they find an image they can work into the layout. There are many types of illustration software programs and page layout programs that may be used to create the artwork. If the image created is to be printed, it must be output on a printer that is capable of printing an intense black. That means that it should be printed on a laser printer, or a special imagesetter that outputs photographic paper or film. The average artist can not afford one of the imagesetters, so they would take their artwork to a "service bureau". A service bureau is a business that prints out high quality work for graphic artists, designers and printers. An inkjet printer is usually not good enough quality to use as computer generated artwork for reproduction. An example is shown below.

You will be using all of the methods explained above. It is good to have a background in all areas of art production, since a good artist must sometimes use all of the methods listed above.

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