I've been going through your tutorial over the past few days -- it's awesome! I do have one question so far, though: what is the average size that you set your image at when you first start out? For instance, with this illustration, did you make an image of 387 x 456 pixels, or are you doing all of this on a larger image size and then saving it for web?
I'm never sure what size to start my illustrations at.
The size of the illustration is whatever the art director tells me it is. :-) Whether it is for print or digital I start out at 100% size, 72 dpi. If it is print, I make the file in inches, if digital I use pixels.
So for a print illustration that is say - 8x10, I start out doing the sketch with an 8x10 inch file at 72 dpi. Once the sketch is finished I go into Image > Image Size... and change the dpi to 300 dpi so it is print quality for the finish.
For an illustration that is for an online application - same deal basically. I'm given the size to work: 600x800 pixels. I do the sketch at 600x800, then when I start the final, I up the dpi to 300 (2500x3333 pixels) in case we have to print it eventually, then drop it back down to 72 dpi (600x800) for the final delivery.
So to actually answer your question, I tend to think in inches not pixels. If I didn't have a specific size requirement, I usually start with an 8x10 page, and expand/crop from there. The final art is usually 300 dpi whatever the actual document size (the inches). Since that would be quite large to post on the internet , I shrink it down to something small enough so one doesn't have to scroll to see the whole thing.
I guess I never mentioned anywhere, but if you click on the images in the tutorial, you get a slightly larger version. It's also cropped in a bit from the final, since there is also a text box along the left side.
Couple rulers, measurement tips - To add rulers to your doc window: ctrl + r (cmd + r on mac). To change unit measurement: right click (ctrl click on mac) on the ruler and a drop down menu shows up where you can pick inches, pixels, centimeters, whatever.
That was probably waaaay more of an answer than you were looking for, but hopefully I did actually answer what you needed! :-)
No, that was really great and easy to understand, too! Thanks very much for putting this tutorial together, it really does help people like me who are still struggling with digital art.
4 comments:
I've been going through your tutorial over the past few days -- it's awesome! I do have one question so far, though: what is the average size that you set your image at when you first start out? For instance, with this illustration, did you make an image of 387 x 456 pixels, or are you doing all of this on a larger image size and then saving it for web?
I'm never sure what size to start my illustrations at.
Hi Carol - thanks!
The size of the illustration is whatever the art director tells me it is. :-) Whether it is for print or digital I start out at 100% size, 72 dpi. If it is print, I make the file in inches, if digital I use pixels.
So for a print illustration that is say - 8x10, I start out doing the sketch with an 8x10 inch file at 72 dpi. Once the sketch is finished I go into Image > Image Size... and change the dpi to 300 dpi so it is print quality for the finish.
For an illustration that is for an online application - same deal basically. I'm given the size to work: 600x800 pixels. I do the sketch at 600x800, then when I start the final, I up the dpi to 300 (2500x3333 pixels) in case we have to print it eventually, then drop it back down to 72 dpi (600x800) for the final delivery.
So to actually answer your question, I tend to think in inches not pixels. If I didn't have a specific size requirement, I usually start with an 8x10 page, and expand/crop from there. The final art is usually 300 dpi whatever the actual document size (the inches). Since that would be quite large to post on the internet , I shrink it down to something small enough so one doesn't have to scroll to see the whole thing.
I guess I never mentioned anywhere, but if you click on the images in the tutorial, you get a slightly larger version. It's also cropped in a bit from the final, since there is also a text box along the left side.
Couple rulers, measurement tips - To add rulers to your doc window: ctrl + r (cmd + r on mac).
To change unit measurement: right click (ctrl click on mac) on the ruler and a drop down menu shows up where you can pick inches, pixels, centimeters, whatever.
That was probably waaaay more of an answer than you were looking for, but hopefully I did actually answer what you needed! :-)
ps: missing manny i worked was 8.3x11.11 inches @ 200 dpi, so the final art was 2222x1667 pixels, which I shrunk to post on the web.
Why 200 instead of 300? I was in a hurry. :-) A little smaller file so I could work faster, but still decent enough dpi if we have to print it.
No, that was really great and easy to understand, too! Thanks very much for putting this tutorial together, it really does help people like me who are still struggling with digital art.
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