Inkscape: how to “negate” paper colour?

Question

I have a document prepared with Inkscape that contains bitmap and vector elements:

_{^{Photo by Steve Johnson from Pexels.}}

I want to print it on coloured paper (ivory) with an inkjet printer. Of course, the white background will turn ivory, but I want to preserve the other colours (i.e. that the end-result is as close as possible from what it would be if printed on a white paper).

How to “subtract” the paper colour from the document?

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_{Note: I am fully aware one cannot remove colour, and that the print will be impacted by the paper colour and the ink so the end result will be different. My objective is then to design on the screen what I'd like, and then transform it somehow (i.e. removing the “ivory” contribution in the reds, blue, etc.) so that the end-result won't be too far off. I believe iteration and colour fine tuning will be necessary, but I'd like to limit those as much as possible.}

Edit: Here is an (exaggerated) example of what I would like the printed end-result to look like (or not):

Answer 1

You can not.

At least is impossible with some colors.

Take for example white color. Printed on colored paper you will totally, totally erase any trace of white.

Now take a complementary color, the blue tones more or less opposed to the beige color. They will look darker because some light is absorbed by the paper and some other by the ink.

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Sort off

What you can do is trying to preview and adjust.

One option is to preview it with a layer of the paper color set to multiply and see the results, then you can use the curves and try not to mess up the image while playing with them.

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Yes, at some extent

But my guess is that you are trying to use a similar method, opposed as to what multiply is actually doing. The logical choice would be the "divide" blending mode using the color paper you have.

Here is your image with both "corrections" applied. The image, a multiply layer simulating the paper, and a "divide" layer of the same color applied to neutralize the multiply layer.

At least we have the white color back. :)

Your resulting image will look less contrasted on some parts and saturated on other because you have not printed it on paper yet, so it will only have the "divide" layer. I exaggerated the color to see the effects.

The complementary colors, blues, are more saturated because they will be "muted" when printed.

The adjacent colors are dimmer because you will add some more color to it with the paper.

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I have not tried it, but I think it is a strong approach. But do not expect miracles. Some information is lost as I said at the beginning.

Answer 2

You can't unfortunately. The colour of the paper will show through the inks. Printer inks as semi-transparent, and anything coloured white is non-printing. I realize you probably don't want to hear this, but this is how printing works. Although you could perhaps tweak the colour balance of images, perhaps by making them a little cooler, you can't escape the fact it's being printed on a coloured substrate.

Probably your best bet is not to print on coloured paper, but instead to print on white paper with the coloured background actually part of the print instead.

Printing on coloured stock, particularly dark coloured stock, is something that is often done with screen printing where a layer of opaque white ink is laid down first, then the colours are printed on top. This process however can't be achieved using regular process/CMYK printing, or with inkjet printers as these printing processes don't include white ink.