Help with Photoshop Canvas Size and Resolution
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If you just go straight to rendering after your sketch, then I would ignore my comment. I was meaning: do your sketching and rough under-painting smaller and then make it larger before starting on rendering.
That being said, I'm glad you started this thread, because I like hearing about digital sizes as I am personally still a bit confused about it as it pertains to printing. I've found my computer doesn't like it when I paint too big, so I'm wondering if people just have better computers than me? Probably.
As far as digital artists I learn from. . . honestly too many to mention? I've picked up tips and tricks slowly over the years, so it's hard to pin point who exactly influenced my digital painting as it stands now. . . and I've been focused more on learning art fundamentals more than anything else in recent years, where the focus is not so much on digital techniques. Sorry I can't be of more help in that area, but it seems like you've got your style and technique down on lock already!
Just followed you on instagram and am looking forward to seeing your challenge unfold.
Website: www.tessawrathall.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tessawrathall_art/
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Hi. First, is not enough power to make complex vector art. Vectors are instructions from a given point, every change in your painting need more instructions, that's the reason they can be scaled infinitely. But you only can make simple things with them. You have to simplify your art a lot if you want to make vector art.
Second, yes, you don't understand resolution. 300 dpi, 150 dpi... they can be representing exactly the same archive. The resolution is the Wide and High number. The size of your archive is for example 1500 Wide per 1500 High, that means that you have an archive with 2.250.000 pixels. That archive you can set it to 600 dpi or 1 dpi and that only change the size in which is represented in your screen but not the quality. The archive is not changed in any way, only the metadata that tells how is going to be represented on your screen at a given scale like 100%. for example the 600 dpi at 100% is going to be represented smaller than if were set to 300 dpi but you can put it at 200% and then you have the exact same size and quality.
You have to know what do you need. If your art is going to be printed, at what size? Depending for what purpose the art is meant to be at a near distance or from far away? in reason of that you decided the resolution you need, for example, If you need to print the art at 150 dpi and your art is going to be printed at 12 inches per 12 inches you have a 144 square inches work per 150 dpi equal to 21.600 pixels. You need to create a canvas of 10800 Wide per 10800 High. To be safe some artist doubles the size or incremented a little.
Don't confuse neither DPI and PPI. DPI is the amount of dots that are going to be represented in an inch of your painting when shows a 100% on your screen. PPI is the number of pixels that a screen can represent
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@zombie-rhythm Have you ever looked at Michael Austin's work he works in vectors and they are extremely complex, he paints with vector strokes just like he was using PS all you need is a good computer. You can do way more than just simplified stuff with vectors if you have proper training and skills
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@tessaw Yes!! I'm so happy you said that because thats exactly how I feel. Like, how are these people painting so big? Do they have a better computer than I do? Like, how?! The highest I can paint is 11inx11in at 300 dpi so when I hear people say they paint at A4 300 dpi I'm like I can't. Or even A3. I can't paint that big. I just can't. My computer lags like crazy. I even wonder if artist who have those wacom cintiqs, are they built to handle big canvas sizes that they're able to paint so big or what?
I was sketching at a big canvas size. Now I've learned not to do that. Now I should sketch on a small canvas size and then scale the canvas up to start rendering. Digital art is new to me so I kind of feel stupid now sketching at a big canvas size. I'm learning.
I see. You've been so helpful though. Thank you.
Yes! I do I have a style and technique! I found my style in 1 year while I was oil painting. I really want to make a youtube series on how I found my style and share with other artist to show them what I did to find it. That way they can take what I did and apply it on them selves to find their style.
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/moonaticdestiny/
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@rcartwright said in Help with Photoshop Canvas Size and Resolution:
Michael Austin's
I think my art is VERY simple. Like its just simple shapes. Nothing complex. The vector artist Orlando Arocena, his art is very, VERY complex. Check him out. Nothing compared to my style. I think I just need to ground myself and learn to recreate my art in illustrator.
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@rcartwright Hey, thanks for getting back at me. Thank you for all those wonderful suggestions. I'm so anxious to learn.
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@rcartwright
I disagree -
@moonaticdestiny and @TessaW for large size and lag on computer it comes down to your settings in Photoshop, the textures in the brush, and of course the computer. I am working on a piece right now I started at 6in x 6in, once I liked the sketch i sized up to 18in x 24in 300dpi. I can paint with little lag unless I make my brush large and make a bunch of quick strokes. It takes a few seconds to catch up. But over all I have no lag. I use a surface book and I allow photoshop to use 60% of my computer with 4 cache levels and only 30 history states.
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@moonaticdestiny I used to be an oil painter too!
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Alright. So an update with this whole canvas size and my process. My solution was to sketch small a concept for a painting in photoshop , paint that concept in photoshop so that I have a finished painting, then bring it into illustrator where I would then vectorize what I painted. I'm vectorizing it so I can scale it up however big I want and not worry about the canvas size. I started vectorizing my first painting and its taking forever. Its taking forever because I'm trying to recreate this "oil paint canvas" style of mine in illustrator using these canvas and painterly illustrator brushes I purchased online. On top of that my Illustrator is lagging when I start to apply these canvas/painterly textures. I think thats common when you add texture in illustrator so now I'm slowing down even more.
I want to do vector because I want to put my paintings on to products but its hard recreating my style in Illustrator. I feel like I should not recreate my style. I should just simplify my style with out the texture. Just create basic shapes with gradients and strokes because thats what my style is. I can maybe add the paint spatter but these painterly brush strokes and canvas textures I can't. Like, I'm not going to be able to recreate it in Illustrator. I'm over thinking it, and I'm wasting so much time. I think I should just simplify my style in Illustrator. However, theres a part of me that REALLY wants those textures and a part of me doesn't like my style simplified without those textures..........gahhhh! I'm overthinking it!
I almost just want to paint really small in photoshop and not worry about putting my paintings on to products or recreating them in illustrator. Like, I'm tired of seeing illustrator all day. Its really is a battle of quality vs quantity. Painting in photoshop is so much easier than recreating my art in Illustrator. So much easier but I hate painting big.
Heres an image of me recreating my art. The left is the finished painting done in photoshop. The right is me trying to recreate my painting in illustrator. I think I'm going to stop with illustrator for now. I'm going to go back and just paint small in photoshop. Maybe I'll come back and vectorize my art.
@heidi-ahmad I'm really happy I didn't buy those Von G painterly brushes. I'm like stressing out with the painterly brushes I have right now.
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/moonaticdestiny/
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@moonaticdestiny hey now! breathe xD this is about finding a practical solution so you get the most of what you want to create.
so 1000 digital sketches in photoshop because it's faster. let's say each sketch takes no more than 2 hours. ok?
then you choose 100 of those sketches to create more refined digital paintings in photoshop in A3 size which should be great for most hand-held printed materials with minimum tweaking. even posters too. so far so good?if this is not good enough for you. you can choose 10 or a 100 of your digital sketches and basically create flats and simple gradients in adobe illustrator, slap a high resolution texture image of canvas/noise/grunge then add like 3 strokes of vector brushes in selective areas on top of your vector art so you can crop it any way you want later, and that's it!
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@heidi-ahmad by the way I forgot to say it's called "raster" not "pixel" just fyi
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@heidi-ahmad Oh, yes. Raster. Not pixel. Forgot.
I know you say 1,000 sketches, but I like saying 1,000 paintings because the goal sounds better that way. Now, I know what you mean by 1,000 sketches. You're trying to make my goal reachable. Finish more sketches than paintings since sketching is easy to do. I agree, but I need to be painting right now.
Heres what I think. I think I'm going to have to vector my art if I'm going to be selling my art onto large products. Thats it. No second thoughts. However, I don't think right now is the time to vectorize my art. Just because I haven't figured out a "vector style" for my art. Yes, I said I should simplify my style to basic shapes, gradients, and strokes, but I want to add more texture and just make it not look so computerized? I'll continue to creatively fool around in Illustrator and develop a style, but I don't think right now is the time to vectorize anything. Right now is not the time to experiment with vector texture. Right now I need to be knocking out paintings. I'll keep playing in Illustrator throughout my time painting and sketching in photoshop, but once I find a solid vector style and a system that allows me to vectorize my art quickly THEN I'll start the process of vectorizing my art. That way I'm not here right now trying to figure out a vector style when I could be finishing paintings in photoshop. So I'll come back and vectorize m art later.
On top of that, I don't really have a huge following right now, so I have no one to sell my art on products to. No one. Maybe 100 paintings down the line I'd have built a huge loyal following on my youtube channel and instagram who'd be willing to purchase my art on products but right now I have a small following. Also, I think Gary Vee says nothing is going to happen the first couple of years of your project/journey. For example, his first couple of episodes of his wine library tv series on youtube. No one wat tunning in but years later people started following him and eventually he started making mone. I just need to be patient and things will happen as I go. I should enjoy the process for now. Money will come later. That's what he says.
Right now, however, I should be sketching and painting. I should be knocking out paintings. I should be sketching and painting small though because I don't like painting big, and I've already agreed to vectorize my art later. I should, however, be sketching more than painting. I should be sketching concepts for paintings and knocking out these sketches. I should sketch every day so that I reach 100 painting concept/sketches fast and so that I'm getting my daily drawing. So that I know already what I plan to paint for the year since my goal is 100 paintings each year for the next 10 years. I should also be painting every day and working on each painting one by one.
THATS what I should be doing. Sketch more concepts, paint as I go, and vectorize my art later. Siiiggghhh.................Every day I'm reflecting on this project and just figuring out how I'm going to execute it. Thank you to everyone whos been helping me so far. I'm slowly making it easier for myself.
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/moonaticdestiny/
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@moonaticdestiny also document the painting process itself. people will want to see how you created your art.
have a look at the style this artist works in, and how he shares his art process https://www.instagram.com/p/BmS4TRgBIU-/ -
@heidi-ahmad the reason why I don't want to document my painting process and just upload the painting is that I was working so big that I had 8 hrs video of just me painting one painting. I can't speed up and turn those 8 hrs into 1 minute. Its so sped up that it hurts my brain from watching it playback.
Now that I'm painting smaller, I can record my painting process since its going to take less time to finish a painting. I wont be painting so much canvas space anymore.
Thats a process time-lapse video. I also want to do what you do on your instagram where you turn on the layers individually to the painting and it builds itself up. I just haven't gotten around to recording that so yeah. I was going to document everything. I just haven't gotten around to making videos.
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@heidi-ahmad Hey. How are you?
So I just wanted to tell you what I've been doing. I ended up buying the Von G. painterly illustrator brushes, and I have to say I really like them. Like, I'm happy I did buy them. LOL. I bought them because I had a 20% discount, so I used it for my purchase. All of last week I've been playing around with how to "paint" in illustrator. Its hard, but I finally understand it. I understand vector brushes and how to paint with them. I've learned so much, so much.
I started vectorizing my art, and I'm almost there at recreating my style. My style is super simple that I can do everything in illustrator now. Like, Illustrator is the road I should be taking for this project. I'm still trying to find brushes to mimic my style but I think I found some that already mimic part of style. I like how its all vector now. I can zoom in on my work and detail work and not worry about canvas size because I can scale my art really big. I love it. I want to play my more brushes and just really go all in on "vector painting."
I really like where I'm going. Everybodys digitally painting in photoshop. I'm digitally painting in Illustrator. I like that. I really like that a lot. Thats my niche now. I'm not a digital painter like everyone here. I am but I feel more like a vector painter. A vector painter! How cool is that? Like, thats going to set me apart from everybody. Not oil, gouache, or acrylic paintings. Vector paintings. Art that can be scaled to the size of buildings. Thats super cool. I can blow up my art now and slap them on to products. This is going to be cool. However, vector painting has slowed down my process, but I like that because my art will now be vector quality.
Below is what I have so far. I'm still working on it. Its not final, but I like how I'm able to recreate my style. Left is the painting I did in photoshop and the right is the painting I did in illustrator. I love how I can click an element in illustrator and change the color real easily if I don't like it where in photoshop I'd have to paint it. I'm super exctied to explore vector art and really bring this medium to youtube once I start documenting my journey.
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Wow great job! The result are impressive.
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Cool! I just learned the difference between those two yesterday as I was pondering whether to blow the budget and get the whole suite or just photoshop. You may have tilted me in favor of the whole suite....sigh.
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Ok so this is an old post but heres an update. I can't do vector. LOL. I can't! I can't work with a mouse. I'm not getting the effect I want. I'm just going to go rastor and paint small. I can't paint big. My computer can handle it, and I need to be knocking out paintings. Going small will allow me to cover less canvas surface giving me more time to move on to the next painting. I'm going to have to sacrifice quality but I'm ok with that. Heres a video that explains everything.
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/moonaticdestiny/
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Hey, so I made this post a long time ago, but I just recently made a whole video talking about this whole topic of raster vs vector. How I've been struggling these past couple of months on whether I should do my 1,000 paintings as raster or vector. I have finally decided to go full vector for my paintings, but I'll be painting small in photoshop so that I get my concept out easily. Then I can bring that thumbnail concept into Illustrator where I'll be vectorizing it for a finished painting. Heres the video where I talk about it. I think I'm going to call myself a Vector Painter. I like it.
Check out the video when you can. Thank you.
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/moonaticdestiny/
