Switched from CMYK to RGB for uploading and it's a game changer

Spent 2 years uploading my art to a gallery site in Atlanta and wondering why my vibrant purples looked muddy. Turns out exporting in CMYK for print is fine, but the web previews all convert to RGB anyway. Now I just save a separate sRGB version at 100 dpi and the colors actually pop like they do on my screen. Anyone else find this out the hard way too?

2 comments

2 Comments

allen.amy1mo ago

Gotta push back on this one tbh. CMYK for print is a very specific thing and messing with that for web previews sounds like a workaround that could bite you later. I've seen people upload RGB files to printers and get colors that look totally off because the printer expects CMYK and does its own conversion. Just save a web version separate, but keep your CMYK master file. That way you don't confuse your print workflow.

noah_walker161mo ago

Haha nah you're totally right. It's like people think shortcuts save time but they just create more headaches later. I see it all the time with guys who half-ass their prep work thinking they'll get it done faster, then end up redoing half the job anyway. Same with this whole CMYK vs RGB thing - pick a lane and stick with it, or you'll be fixing color issues forever instead of just doing the extra save step from the start.