Making the most of MetalFX inks

Design for print has always struck me as a creatively suffocating phrase, but if you fail to prepare your images properly for a special print process, there's little chance of achieving a quality finish.

One such process that requires you to think as a designer and artworker well before tackling the illustration or photography is MetalFX.

MetalFX inks act as a substrate printed inline before the transparent CMYK inks. The really clever thing is that you can define this substrate using a spot channel from any image while retaining gradients and tonal values. This offers more colour, subtlety and control when using metallic ink to elevate your print work. To obtain a copy of ImagineFX issue 32 and see the finished effect, see www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk.

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The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Deals Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Digital Arts and Design Editor Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson and Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.