To create a drawn or painted style of screen print this is one of the best methods.

1. Use acetate or film instead of paper and draw a positive for each colour that you want to print in your image. There may be offcuts of film in the exposure room (GG03) or in the drawer marked film in GG01 for you to use, or you can buy acetate sheets from any art shop.
2. You can use paint, pens, markers, lumocolor pencils, tusche or any other medium that creates an opaque mark on your film. It’s very important that your image or marks completely block out the light. If you aren’t sure that your image is dark enough, you can use a lightbox to check. There are 2 lightboxes in GG01, and one in GG03. If you want to use a lightbox to create all your positives, there is a lightbox available for short loan from the technicians’ office.
3. If your image has 4 colours, you will need to draw 4 different positives, one for each colour. Whatever colour you are printing, the best colour to use for your positives is black as it blocks out light the best.

We recommend using Photoshop or Illustrator to work on digital images. You can download all Adobe software with your zID, or use a uni computer whilst you’re on campus to create your images if you don’t have a laptop.

We can print your films for you in GG03. Our film printer can print up to A1 images and prices are displayed on the wall in GG03 or ask a technician.

1. Make sure that you begin by opening a new document that is the correct size. If you want your image to be A4, create your document at A4.
2. Select the image to be 300dpi (dots per inch). This is very important, or your image may be at a resolution too low to be usable.
3. Select the image to be GRAYSCALE. Not RGB or CMYK. Only Grayscale will work with our printer.
4. Once finished, save your image as a PNG, PDF or PSD. Other types of files may not work with our printer.
5. Upload your file/s to UNSW Making Centre Click and Collect (link below).

Technical staff will print your film. It may not be possible to print it immediately in times when there is high demand. If your film is urgent, please speak to a technician who may be able to rush it through. In quieter times it will probably be printed the same morning/afternoon. Please note that film is only printed between 9am and 4pm Monday to Friday. You can pay and collect your film from GG03 or GG04.