[Krauze]

I had been doing some concept art for an indie game developer company for some time and recently they offered me another job - as they plan creating "classical" role playing game based on their computer game, they asked whether I`d be interested to do illustrations for print.

I did a test illustration for them, they liked it and they want to work with me. But now I`m faced with a bit of problem - I have never worked for print before, all I know about it is vague basic stuff - CMYK, high res.

But how high res? are there any underwater rocks? what to look for? what to avoid? I honestly told them I`m inexperienced with print, they said that it shouldnt be a problem. I honestly hope so, because I`d hate to see that at the end, grim guys tell us that my pictures are not suited for print for one reason or another.

The problem with this post is that I can not define the problem to ask help for - I simply havent encountered one yet.
Maybe some of you guys can give some broad advices, maybe point to some valuable resource?

Thanks in advance,
Nauris
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[B0b]

general colour print is 300DPI lineart is 1200DPI CMYK is 12,500 colours compaired to RGB of 16 million

GL

[Jin]

Hi,

I'll offer what I can and refer you to a couple of good resource lists as well, where you can ask professional artists who deal with this all the time.

First:

DPI is a term related to printing, not directly related to creating digital art. It stands for Dots Per Inch.

Though it's often mistakenly used interchangeably with PPI (pixels per inch which I'll talk more about later), it's not accurate to use it that way and can sometimes lead to confusion and unwanted results.

Ask a good print shop to explain the terms DPI and LPI (or Lines Per Inch), too.

On second thought, talk to more than one print shop to be sure you're getting the straight scoop. Ask for and expert and make sure you get one to talk to. Tell them about your artwork and how it will be used, quality requirements, etc. If you don't know enough about how the printed artwork will be used, first ask your employer to tell you as much as possible so you'll be prepared when you talk to the print shop's expert.

You'll be glad to have taken the time to do this, even if your employer doesn't need you to do it. The knowledge will benefit you for a long time into the future.

Usually print shops like it when people call them to learn what's needed and why. It saves everyone headaches. It'll make you more confident and ready to deal with what comes to you, and can also make your employer happy, knowing you understand things better.

Now for PPI:

The term related to creating digital artwork is PPI. It stands for Pixels Per Inch.

The relationship between your image dimensions in inches and the number of pixels per inch determines the quality of your printed image.

Though 300 ppi is generally considered safe for work that will be printed, since you're doing this for commercial use and the printing will no doubt be done in a print shop, the best thing to do is to talk with the print shop your company will be using for the particular work you're doing. Ask them what PPI (pixels per inch) you should use to create your art. They'll know, as it will depend on the DPI (dots per inch) their printing machines can handle.

Remember too, when setting up your image, to make the dimensions in inches as well as setting the Resolution to 300 PPI (or whatever the print shop tells you to use as the PPI number).

If, after beginning your image, you notice that your software tells you the image dimensions in pixels instead of inches, don't worry. A certain number of pixels in width and height at a certain number of pixels per inch will equal a certain number of inches anyway. You'll see what I mean after reading below.

Just in case you don't understand this relationship:

When your software displays your image dimensions in inches, the number of pixels in an image's width or height can be calculated by multiplying the dimension in inches by the PPI number. For instance:

An 8-1/2 x 11 inch 300 ppi printed image contains:

8-1/2 inches x 300 ppi = 2550 pixels
11 inches x 300 ppi = 3300 pixels

So your 8-1/2 x 11 inch image dimensions in pixels are:

2550 pixels wide x 3300 pixels high, or 2550 x 3300 pixels.

Or to calculate the other way around (this time using a different set of dimensions, just to show you how it works in general)

When your software displays your image dimensions in pixels, to calculate the number of inches a 300 ppi image will print (providing the print shop tells you to use 300 ppi), divide the number of pixels in width and height by 300 ppi. For instance:

3600 pixels wide divided by 300 ppi = 12 inches
5400 pixels high divided by 300 ppi = 18 inches

So your 3600 x 5400 pixel 300 ppi printed image dimensions are:

12 x 18 inches


Since working on very large images can sometimes tax your system resources, some artists begin their image at a lower set of dimensions and a lower PPI number, block in large areas of color, resize the image upward (both dimensions and PPI number), add large details, then resize it again to the final dimensions and PPI number to add fine details and clean things up.

You'd need to do the math and probably work with a test image to see how it works. When resizing, you'll need to always keep the proportions the same, of course. As to the math, I'd probably start with the desired end result and work backwards to find the dimensions and resolution needed for the intermediate step, then the beginning step. For example:

End Result: 12 x 18 inches at 300 ppi

Intermediate step: 6 x 9 inches at 150 ppi

Beginning step: 3 x 4.5 inches at 72 ppi

In all of the examples above, I've used 300 ppi, and if you're asked to use another PPI number, the calculation method will be the same, just the numbers will be different.


Good Resource E-mail Lists:

(Be sure to let them know if you're going to use a print shop rather than an Epson printer, for instance, and tell them as much as you can about the artwork, how and where it will be used.)

digital-fineart list at Yahoo! Groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digital-fineart/messages

Illustrators list at Yahoo! Groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/illustrators/messages


Contratulations, and have fun with your new work!


Jinny Brown
Painter Classes at TutorAlley Forums
Tutorials and Painter Info at PixelAlley

[Krauze]

Thanks, Jin, your reply gave substance to many murky concepts in my head. I hate "suspecting that its so", instead prefering "knowing that its so". Thanks again for babystepping me and for resources
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[Jin]

Hi Krauze,

You're most welcome.

Since you'll read and hear all kinds of explanations, some accurate and some not (some mainly opinion or parroting, not backed up with experience), open your graphics program and test the scenarios I offered. Or make up your own image dimensions and PPI number.

There's nothing like doing over and over to drill the concepts into yoru brain,

and..

there's nothing like talking to print shop experts (several) to fill in that understanding too.

The time it will take you is nothing to the time and frustration it will save later on.


Jinny Brown
Painter Classes at TutorAlley Forums
Tutorials and Painter Info at PixelAlley

[B0b]

LPI is the screen put onto images when printing from a Lytho style press, gradients you see on screen when printed come out as a mono image, the greyscale of each plate is printed as a series of dots..

ie:


a better way of seeing this is to print some greys out on an old laser printer

depending on the sceen number depends on how small those dots are.. most newspapers are printed @ a screen of 85 where as your average magazine is printed anywhere from 150-200 depending on the quality of the product, other printed matter ie. brochures, flyers etc are also printed anywhere from 150-200lpi depending on the quality of the printer etc..

here are some examples of res vs screen
screen (lpi)-------dpi
50---------------100
70---------------140
85---------------170
100--------------200
115--------------230
133--------------266
150--------------300
180--------------360
200--------------400
you can prolly workout that a good rule of thumb is whatever your lpi, just double it to get the dpi u need to work @, 300 is always a good place to start

[Krauze]

Thanks again much info to chew on.
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