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Misprint

Print: Screenprinting, Color separation, Misregistration

Misprint example 1
Misprint model comparison 2
Misprint model comparison 3
Misprint model comparison 4

The prompt

{subject}, a hand-pulled screenprint reduced to bold flat color separations with heavy 3-4px solid black keyline outlines around every form, the cyan/magenta/yellow plates deliberately misregistered and offset a few pixels off the black linework, {palette} as flat high-saturation slabs, coarse visible halftone dot texture in the fills and shadows, warm off-white paper ground showing through, hard zero-blur offset drop shadows, posterized two-tone reduced shading, DIY zine attitude, confrontational and graphic

Materials
Paper
Techniques
Screenprinting, Color separation, Misregistration, Halftone, Posterization

screenprint, misregistration, halftone, black keyline, cmyk separation

Slot recipes

How the prompt changes for each kind of picture.

  • Hero: {subject} cropped large and frontal, filling the frame edge to edge, in the style of Misprint: heavy black keylines, misregistered acid-yellow / hot-pink / electric-blue separations, halftone fields, warm paper ground, hard offset shadow, no text
  • Feature: a single {subject} object centered on warm paper ground, Misprint screenprint treatment, bold black outline, one dominant color slab with magenta and cyan misregistration fringes, coarse halftone shading, hard zero-blur offset shadow
  • Avatar: tight head-and-shoulders portrait of {subject}, Misprint screenprint, thick black contour line, CMYK plates offset for misregistration, halftone skin tones over warm paper, square crop, no text
  • Empty state: one small simple {subject} icon-like form on a wide warm paper field, Misprint screenprint, blunt black outline, single acid color slab with slight plate offset, sparse halftone, plenty of paper, calm and graphic
  • Illustration: a flat poster-style scene of {subject} built from naive bold shapes, Misprint screenprint, all forms in thick black keylines, misregistered yellow/pink/blue separations, halftone gradients, warm paper background, hard offset shadows, zine collage energy

Guidance

Do

  • Do outline every form in a heavy solid black keyline and let the color plates sit slightly off-register so the print looks hand-pulled.
  • Do reduce shading to flat posterized slabs of acid yellow, hot pink and electric blue plus coarse halftone dots.
  • Do keep the warm off-white paper ground visible and cast hard offset shadows with zero blur.
  • Do let one color dominate each subject while magenta and cyan fringes register the misalignment at the edges.

Don’t

  • Don't use smooth gradients, airbrush blends, or soft blurred shadows that hide the printed construction.
  • Don't register the plates perfectly or thin out the black linework into delicate strokes.
  • Don't add glossy reflections, photoreal detail, or atmospheric depth-of-field.
  • Don't mute the palette into pastel washes or muddy tones; the slabs stay loud and high-contrast.

In the lineage of

  • Screen printing (serigraphy), tradition. hand-pulled colour separations

A generated style is an aggregate of many influences. Credit goes to the artists and traditions it draws on; it is not a claim of authorship.

Produced by unrecorded, sourced by unrecorded, images by unrecorded

Remix with this style

Apply Misprint to any UI language and swap the palette: the preview takes this style's hero image.