Tips for artists: the best way to print your art.

As any artist knows, printing is far from a science, it’s more of an artform. Lots of experimentation may be required before you are happy with the results. That said, however, there are certain universal, objective guidelines to follow that will result in rendering a high quality print. This remains the same if you are printing on paper, on canvas, or even on tile substrates such as glass or ceramic.

DPI or RESOLUTION

Let’s talk about DPI, or resolution. So many people still get confused about how DPI (dots per inch) works, or they think that if an image is displaying a 72 DPI resolution rate is tantamount to a low quality image. Not necessarily. Let me explain. It’s not the DPI that’s important–it’s the richness of, the amount of, the data present. The DPI number may waver and vary, but the image data will not. Either you have an image that’s innately rich in data, or you don’t. If the image is big, it has more pixels. That makes it data-rich. The former will render high quality prints, the latter will not. And you can actually change the DPI number and it won’t affect the quality of the print. In other words, SIZE DOES MATTER. Not sure what I mean? Keep reading–it will make sense, I promise.

IT’S NOT THE DPI, IT’S THE AMOUNT OF DATA THE IMAGE HAS.

What is DPI? DPI is “dots per inch”. The more pixels, or dots, per inch, the richer, the more sharp and clear your image will be. The gold standard for most professional printing is 300 DPI. A 72 DPI resolution is more suitable for web use, and easy loading. But this is where people get tripped up. The DPI number displayed on an image is less important than the amount of data the image innately has, i.e, if the image has enough data to support a large size when configured in 300 DPI. This is kind of difficult to explain, but here’s one way to explain it. Let’s say you have an image that measures 5000 pixels, but when you bring it into an image reader or art program, it shows “72 dpi”. This does not mean it’s a substandard image for printing. That DPI is fluid. It actually doesn’t matter.  What it means is that the DPI in that big, data-rich image can safely be changed to 300 DPI, and you will *still* have a high quality, professionally printable image—because, in most cases, a 5000 pixel image will most definitely have enough data to support a good print. It’s the DATA, not the DPI, you must ultimately be concerned about. So you can have the very same image–one in a lower DPI, one in a higher DPI, that will render the same result.

MAKING AN IMAGE BIGGER…CAN’T I JUST CHANGE THE NUMBERS?

Lots of artists ask me if they can’t just “change the size” or “increase the DPI” in their art program, like Photoshop, with a small, data-challenged image, to make it bigger. No, you can’t. When you do that, the computer does something called “interpolation”, which means “making stuff up from nothing.” The data isn’t there, so it’s “faked” by the computer software, and the result will never begin to match the original as far as detail. Now, this isn’t to say that professional enlargement programs like Genuine Fractal or Alien Skin Blowup can’t do a good job. Most enlargement programs work as plugins to your main art program, like Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. They can work wonders–but not miracles. That’s why digital artists have a definite edge over the traditional canvas artist—they are designing digitally, which is the format the printer is going to read, and nothing will come between that process and the printing process. You have one step–as opposed to two or three steps–between the image and the printer.

Now, conversely, let’s say you have a 56 kilobyte image. It will not matter what the DPI number is—you still have an image that is not usable for anything except web use. You will not be able to ever get a decent print from it.  There simply isn’t enough data to support high quality printing.

DIGITAL VERSUS TRADITIONAL ART

Digital artists have a definite edge when it comes to printing their work–a huge edge. Why? They can initiate their design in very high resolution, very large and rich in data, or start with a very large “digital canvas.” The image can show 72 DPI or 300 DPI—but that is moot. The important thing is, the image was created starting with a very large digital canvas: such as, say, 4500 pixels by 4500 pixels. I, for example, start my design using a digital “canvas” of about 6000 pixels. They are guaranteed superior printing results, since printing and digital art are a marriage made in heaven. Now, a painter of canvas has more challenges. They have to go through a few processes—each of which will degrade the image–to get it in digital format. They either have to scan or photograph their image first, which, in itself, will result in varying losses of data and detail. That’s an added step, but an important one, in the printing. So the scan must be as high resolution as possible–like 1200 DPI and up–to ensure the image loss of quality will be minimal. See this post to read more about how to get the most from your digital scans.

MONITOR CALIBRATION: THE HOLY GRAIL OF COLOR MANAGEMENT.

Many professional printers have spent thousands on monitor calibration software for their color management, but I have found that Adobe Gamma (automatically comes with Photoshop) works fine for me. If I know what an image is supposed to look like when printed, I simply use Adobe Gamma to calibrate my monitor to “match” what I know the images are supposed to look like, and coordinate the colors on my monitor. Having printed my work, and the work of other artists, professionally for almost six years, I’m confident in saying that programs like Adobe Gamma or Power Strip will do the job just fine.

HOW MANY PIXELS TO AN INCH IN 300 DPI?

If you’re printing your work, remember that there is 300 x 300 pixels to every inch you want to print in 300 DPI. In other words, a 12″ x 12″ print must from an image that is 3660 pixels by 3600 pixels.

COLOR PROFILES

Don’t forget to embed a color profile in your image. In Photoshop, you can do this by going to edit >> assign profile. The standard color profile is SrGB (if printing in RGB) or Adobe 1998, which is a bit more color-rich. You may choose these options from the drop-down menu that comes up when you click “assign color profile.” Resave the image once you’ve embedded your color profile.

But what about CMYK? CMYK (profile: US Web-Coated SWOP V2) is an older, more universal printing mode most prevalent when using a professional printer for large print runs. Thankfully, more and more printers are switching to (the vastly superior) RGB mode. But you may find that you have to deal with CMYK printing. CMYK colors are washed out, flat, and less luminescent and vibrant than RGB. In fact, CMYK compromises reds, decreasing their richness and turning them an orange tone. In addition, there is a very specific way to achieve CMYK perfect black and, if you don’t assign 40 to C, zero to M, zero to Y and 100 to K, you’ll end up with a very washed-out grayish black. Therefore, if you are switching between modes (CMYK to RGB or visa-versa) bring your image into Photoshop and play with the color until the image best reflects the way you want it to print.

WATCH OUT FOR TEXT

If you’re printing a piece of art that has text on it, remember you run the risk of getting your text chopped off because bleed images will be cropped by your printer. To avoid this disaster, make sure your text is at least 1/2″ inside the border.

That should do it for now. If you have any questions about getting the best print results, feel free to post here.