Seeking a career in screen printing
June 20, 2017 8:37 AM Subscribe
What's the best way to gain experience to have a steady career or at least find a good job in the screen printing field?
I've developed an interesting in learning more about screen printing and various other forms of print production (mostly screen and digital printing). I'm a graphic artist so I'm fairly experienced with color and being hands-on. Almost every single job posting for anything print related requires experience. I'm confused as to which route is best for gaining experience and making myself a great candidate for such jobs. I've thought about possibly starting my own shop in the future as well.
I've done some research and found various tech schools that offer certification (ASPA) and/or hands-on training. I've also found reputable artsy print shops that offer two or three day workshops and residences. All of these workshops and classes are priced between $200 to $500. I'd like to know which would be more valuable to learn everything there is to learn. What do I look for? What do I need to do? Is class experience necessary or am I better off finding a shop where I can be an apprentice or assistant?
Any advice would be incredibly helpful.
Thank you.
I've developed an interesting in learning more about screen printing and various other forms of print production (mostly screen and digital printing). I'm a graphic artist so I'm fairly experienced with color and being hands-on. Almost every single job posting for anything print related requires experience. I'm confused as to which route is best for gaining experience and making myself a great candidate for such jobs. I've thought about possibly starting my own shop in the future as well.
I've done some research and found various tech schools that offer certification (ASPA) and/or hands-on training. I've also found reputable artsy print shops that offer two or three day workshops and residences. All of these workshops and classes are priced between $200 to $500. I'd like to know which would be more valuable to learn everything there is to learn. What do I look for? What do I need to do? Is class experience necessary or am I better off finding a shop where I can be an apprentice or assistant?
Any advice would be incredibly helpful.
Thank you.
Paying money to be certified in screen printing sounds like the biggest crock I've ever heard in my life. Screen printing is minimum wage unskilled labor. You'd be better off getting verified in washing dishes or, more applicably, folding laundry. Because the latter is really all you do. You set a t-shirt (or, depending on the size of the machine, 12) on a machine, then pour some ink in a tub and run a squeegee over the shirt.
The reason they're asking for experience is because literally any meth head could walk in off the street and do the job, and they need a way to limit the number of applicants. I used to work in the front office of a print shop, and we'd constantly be hiring because the press operators kept failing *scheduled* drug tests. It's a job that requires only the absolute minimum of cognitive ability.
If you really want to make a career out of this (and owning a shop can be lucrative - the owners of my shop were both millionaires), go to Michael's or Joann or Hobby Lobby. They have beginner screenprint kits. Buy one, make some shirts, and boom, experience. But at that point, you're already doing what you want to be doing, so just keep upgrading your infrastructure.
posted by kevinbelt at 11:22 AM on June 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
The reason they're asking for experience is because literally any meth head could walk in off the street and do the job, and they need a way to limit the number of applicants. I used to work in the front office of a print shop, and we'd constantly be hiring because the press operators kept failing *scheduled* drug tests. It's a job that requires only the absolute minimum of cognitive ability.
If you really want to make a career out of this (and owning a shop can be lucrative - the owners of my shop were both millionaires), go to Michael's or Joann or Hobby Lobby. They have beginner screenprint kits. Buy one, make some shirts, and boom, experience. But at that point, you're already doing what you want to be doing, so just keep upgrading your infrastructure.
posted by kevinbelt at 11:22 AM on June 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
Agreed that an operator job is a semi-skilled position at best. There's a lot to know about how to do it right, and there are a few specialized situations (efficiently running a manual press on a bunch of jersey numbers, working with some speciality inks or garments) that they will give only to the most senior operators, but it seems to be on-the-job training that prevails. My guess is that if you showed up, applied, and seemed dependable you could get a job in that industry doing something.
On the artist side, there is a background needed that they will generally expect these days, and that is being quite fluent with the Adobe Creative Suite, mainly illustrator and a little photoshop. It is not often a highly artistically rewarding job, as t-shirt designs are a hodgepodge of local business clip-art extravaganzas, the derivative art ideas of the local frat and sorority kids, and maybe 1 out of a 100 jobs involve a really cool design. Expect a lot of revisions wanted along the lines of "can you make the logo bigger?"
In addition to the general background on Adobe CS, I found there was a "learned skill" on doing half-tones, how to block out art correctly when the shirt is dark and the ink is light, and other skills specific to screenprinting textiles.
Some shop owners do in fact become wealthy, but it is a commonly-started local business that competes with places like Custom Ink and I think the market has gotten a lot tougher in the past 5 years. You really need major long-run contracts with universities or other organizations that require quality in volume to make a go of it, IMO.
source: I used to help manage a screenprint shop.
posted by randomkeystrike at 12:00 PM on June 20, 2017
On the artist side, there is a background needed that they will generally expect these days, and that is being quite fluent with the Adobe Creative Suite, mainly illustrator and a little photoshop. It is not often a highly artistically rewarding job, as t-shirt designs are a hodgepodge of local business clip-art extravaganzas, the derivative art ideas of the local frat and sorority kids, and maybe 1 out of a 100 jobs involve a really cool design. Expect a lot of revisions wanted along the lines of "can you make the logo bigger?"
In addition to the general background on Adobe CS, I found there was a "learned skill" on doing half-tones, how to block out art correctly when the shirt is dark and the ink is light, and other skills specific to screenprinting textiles.
Some shop owners do in fact become wealthy, but it is a commonly-started local business that competes with places like Custom Ink and I think the market has gotten a lot tougher in the past 5 years. You really need major long-run contracts with universities or other organizations that require quality in volume to make a go of it, IMO.
source: I used to help manage a screenprint shop.
posted by randomkeystrike at 12:00 PM on June 20, 2017
Response by poster: Hmm there seems to be a vast list of different types of inks and textiles employers ask for experience in. Buying a home screen printing kit doesn't seem like a viable option to learn anything. I guess classes and workshops would help? Sorry. I won't thread sit.
posted by morning_television at 5:14 PM on June 20, 2017
posted by morning_television at 5:14 PM on June 20, 2017
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