File Size Question : Procreate Problems
-
I'm working on my first job for print, using Procreate on my Ipad.
I've been enlarging line drawings at full size (5.5" x 8.5") at 300 dpi.
Today the art director asked me to make the final images at full size plus bleed at 600 dpi.this is a problem for me.
at 300 DPI i have 17 max layers to work with, which for me is quite plenty.
at 600 DPI i have none. I literally can't make a file that big.
I could make a 600 DPI file the size of 1 page, but I can't imagine rendering my 2-page spreads split across two separate files.What would a savvy illustrator do now?
Tinkering with the settings, I see that I can make a 400 DPI file that'll have 8 layers in it. i could totally work with that, but is that a reasonable thing to suggest to my art director? (at 500 dpi i can have 3 layers, which would be really difficult to work with.)
What are other procreate people doing? I thought 300 DPI was standard. Was I misinformed? -
@Valerie-Light what about doubling the canvas size to 11x17 at 300dpi. You should still have enough layers to work from and end up with the quality of 600dpi.
Or you import it into a program like affinity designer and adjust the size from there. Though you’d likely still have some resolution loss without it being vector.
Personally, I would use an 11*17 canvas.
-
@Valerie-Light I believe it is usually 300dpi and I’m not sure if you can see the difference between 300dpi and 600dpi when printed (does anybody know?) But 600dpi gives more flexibility if you want to make a bigger book version or a poster etc. They just want to be save.
One (not very elegant) solution is to draw it in 300 or 400 and boost it up to 600 in photoshop (not in Procreate!) before sending. You can make high quality test prints to explore the differences if you draw 300 and boost it up to 600 and when you draw in 600. What if you enlarge both 2x?
There are probably people yelling now at me, but if your art is more painterly and does not have super crisp “vector” lines, I personally don’t see the difference if the size stay the same. -
@Valerie-Light oh and one more thing. Brush size is based on pixels, so if you change the dpi, you change the size of your brush. I mostly work with a pencil brush and I find it very annoying when the line is suddenly a lot thinner.
Because of zooming your sense of the real scale is already lost, I need some fixed perimeter. -
@AngelinaKizz I see! Yes, I can make an 11x17 canvas at 300 dpi with 7 layers. I think I can totally make that work. Is that a reasonable substitute to offer my team? Otherwise, it's "Sorry, I can't deliver a product with the resolution you're asking for".
@joosterwijk I was worried about that brush size question, too, and you explained very well how that will be annoying. (and I have also struggled with that sense of losing the real scale, and so I often print out my pictures and pin them to the wall in front of my desk so I can be reminded of the real size of the end product.)
And I see what you're saying about the art team trying to play it safe in case they want to make enlargements later.
Since I don't have Photoshop, or a computer that can run it, I'm really limited to just Procreate here. It's been fine for portfolio building, but I'm immediately seeing the limitation now. But it will be a while before I can invest in an upgrade.
-
@Valerie-Light you could try affinity. It’s got a bit of a learning curve, but on par with photoshop and available for iPad.
