What is CMYK printing?
CMYK, otherwise known as 4 color process, is a printing method which allows you to print a full color image on white / very light shirts with only 4 screens. It stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Each ink is highly transparent, and printed on top of other colors to create a natural blending effect. The artwork is split into these four colors, and each color is then turned into a halftone image, to capture gradation and shadow.

Click to see a visual explanation of CMYK

Each one of these colors is put on a separate screen and printed on top of each other. The completed print is a CMYK image made up of halftone dots overlapping.

What designs work best for CMYK?

Full color photographs, collage, and paintings really shine with the CMYK process. Any design with a full rainbow spectrum along with lots of gradation / shadows is suited for CMYK.

What designs are not suited for CMYK?

Typically illustration isn’t best suited for CMYK. Specifically, anything with solid colors and a limited amount of colors is best done with custom color mixing, rather than approximating the colors with overlapping CMYK halftones. However, if you have an illustration which contains a rainbow spectrum of colors, CMYK can be a very cost effective alternative to multiple custom color mixes.

If CMYK is not right for your design, check out our regular Drop Ship option or Bulk Printing.

What shirts work best for CMYK?

Due to the transparency of the inks, CMYK is designed to be printed on white shirts. We have seen CMYK look great on lighter shirt colors. However, if printing on a colored shirt, you can expect the color of the shirt to blend with the transparent ink. For example, cyan ink on a yellow shirt will appear green, since the transparent cyan will be mixing with the yellow of the shirt. Therefore we are only offering white or neutral colored shirts for CMYK printing.

• Works best on white shirts!
• Light colored shirts will also work, but shirt color will show through.
• Will not work on dark color shirts.

Step 3 - Prepare Your Design

• Artists retain all rights to their artwork
• We suggest beginning with one design since there is a minimum of 5 shirts that need to sell to produce your item. (See Step 4 - Rates and Terms below)
• Preferred file type: .ai, .psd, .png or .jpeg
• Resolution: 300 dpi at print size
• Size: Design needs to fit between 12.5 inches wide x 15 inches tall

• All designs on Raw Paw Drop Ship are Screen Printed by hand. Other similar services to ours, mostly use a process called DTG (Direct to Garment) and only Screen Print at large quantities. We believe skillful Screen Printing achieves the most vibrant, best feeling, and longest lasting prints.

Rates:
The shirt price is dependent on the amount of colors in the design:
1 CMYK Design on T-Shirt: Sells for $28
Long Sleeves Shirts: Sells for +$2
If you want to sell your shirts for more to earn additional profit let our team know after you submit your design. 

Terms:
• A minimum of 5 shirts must be sold in order for shirts to be produced.
• If less than 5 shirts are preordered in 3 weeks, all sales will be refunded to customers. 
• Preorders are active for 3 weeks after shirt is listed on site.
• Production begins 5-7 business days after the preorder is finished.
• If upon completion you would like to run your preorder again, you can relaunch for another 3 week preorder period.
• Payouts will happen 3-5 days after preorder ends.
• Raw Paw Drop Shippers who are under the age of 18 require appropriate permission of their Parent or Legal Guardian.
• Under the age of 18 - All financial information must belong to a Parent or Legal Guardian with their permission.

Customer Service:
• Raw Paw handles all customer service inquiries.
• Due to the small size of our business, all sales are final.

Content Limits:
• Abusive, threatening, defamatory, or harassing designs are prohibited. This includes anything that is discriminatory or promoting harm. Show us what you are thinking, we have an open mind. 
• Nothing in violation of someone else’s privacy or intellectual property rights.

Shipping:
• Domestic Standard Shipping: 9-12 business days after the preorder is finished.
• International Standard Shipping: 12-15 business days after the preorder is finished.
• Shipping fees are calculated based on current USPS rates and are applied at the check out.