My home printer is an HP PSC 2350; I use photoshop. I have had artwork printed by outside services before but have not yet tried it for MDA.

Thanks Julia. This will be helpful.
Cheers, Chris

photoshop demo…REALLY…for the novice. I do not know if this is possible through one session, but I would really appreciate knowing the basics myself. It becomes quite costly when you don’t know how to use it. And since my background is with more traditional media…pastels, oils and what not…I’ve no idea how to prep digital images for printing.

My home printer is an epson photo r1800

My home printer is epson r1900 and I have photoshop elements. I am very frustrated with the results of my printing and I’m really hoping to learn a lot.

My home printer is an epson wf610, an all-in-one, so i know it will not be a devoted photo printer. I have photoshop cs3, but since iPhone and iPad I use Ps mobile more, but only when I needed. I know I need to use PS more and would love to learn prepping digital art. Thanks, Christine, for opening this topic and can’t wait to hear your presentation.

Hi Christine, my question is about how to print a bigger picture with the best quality, starting from a small image.

In fact when I export a painting from my Ipod its size is 320×480 pixels, and from my Android phone the size is still small (480 x 724). Then how can I print it for example up to 20’X30’ format without loosing definition ?

I just imagine transferring my painting to Photoshop (for example) on my PC, then resize the image by adding more density (from 72 to 250 for example). The image file becomes more heavy. But could I then print it into a bigger format and obtain a high definition quality ? Or I still get a blurred printed image ?

I am really looking forward to that. I have all sorts of problems trying to use photoshop and change sizes. Maybe it should be a double session since I think that there will be a lot of questions.

Someone – I think Russ Croop – makes realllllly big prints from his iArtwork. How he do that?
(And thanks for asking us to ask!)

Also, I hope there will be some materials – printout or emailable – as I think I’m giving a session at the same time and will have to miss this… hmmm, I bet everyone wants to know about printing… maybe I should try to change the time of my session…

I’d like to try to get you guys connected to the Printmaking Dept. at NYU.
They might really enjoy participating in this conference and for us it’s a win-win situation. We need Kara to ask George at nyu, ”who’s da man?” to talk to???

Thanks Christine. Most of my problems grow out of my ignorance of the software. I bought Photoshop Elements and an Epson r1900 printer. I use Epson ink and premium matte paper. And a mac.
My first few months were really frustrating because I had a defective printer and I was confused about what I was doing wrong. They replaced my printer and now my prints are much, much better, but I still don’t get as much color and detail as I would like. Again, I’m not sure how much of this is something I could fix with more experience and knowledge, how much is inherent in the process of printing from a small screen image, and how much would be helped by investing more money in software. To the extent it is lack of knowledge, I would like to know how to tweak my images in PSE to improve them. I mainly use Brushes and convert the images in the brushes viewer app.

Also I would like to blow up my images, but I am reluctant to spend $200 on a program or plug-in I might not be able to use because I am so new to this problem. btw I get an education discount through Apple because I teach psychotherapy, but I wonder if I could get a discount on the software too.

Thanks again. That was a lot of info. I hope enough, but not too much….

Hi all!
Russ, thanks for jumping in and telling us how you’re working now. Just for completeness, I know you also used Netsketch early on which had super high res because it’s vector but was also buggy and had very limited mark-making ability (ie just hard-edged lines and no transparency).
What’s the largest you’ve gone using your current method of increasing the image size in photoshop?
Thanks again,
Julia

I thought somewhere here was asked which apps have the highest res output but now I can’t find it… Anyway, I *think* the answers are:

Netsketch (Vector)
Paintbook (Vector)
Brushes via brushes viewer on the Mac (only Mac, I think).

Would love to know what anyone else knows about this…

Valerie, are those sizes for iPod/touch or iPad? I assume in most cases the iPad exports are bigger so we should distinguish. I don’t think I’m getting those file sizes from my touch, but I will check later and report back…

Julian, Do you mean that you can’t see the edges of the page because the page is ’infinite’? You could draw a rectangle around the area you want to draw in, and use that as your edges… but I find Netsketch limited anyway because of the reasons Russ mentions elsewhere – buggy, so I haven;t actually been able to upload to the website and take advantage of the high res, and only flat color with no transparency.

Thanks Julia,

Yes I do mean not seeing the edges. Your suggestion is lovely, as I do have trouble handling infinity… (it’s a bit like internet social networking).

I couldn’t find Netsketch comments by Russ.. just on printing- will look harder.

We all are trying different programs and tend to settle on favorites-for me, it’s the smoothness of Brushes, Layers (and Vellum) plus the smartness and surprises always offered by DXP that keep me corralled .. but, always looking for another app.

Valerie: I reckon Layers is an elegant app and deserves a bigger user base . Really glad to know it can export megapixels. I find its square format really useful.

In the end, it is how all these software packages we use combine to make the final images we create…. without the complexity and the cost of ”professional” graphic/ drawing software and expensive hardware. . output is developing… maybe artisan printers are evolving?

My oxygen cylinder is running out, so I I have to shut up and close off for now ( inappropriate joke).

Gasp,
Julian

All the best,
Julian

Russ’ comments:
Hey, I was just browsing and saw my name!
Ask and ye shall receive. Photoshop Elements is all you need.
The Brushes Viewer lets you export your painting at 5X (choose tiff) the native size which gives you a fairly large file–4”x6”@300ppi (pixels per inch).
I then import it into Photoshop and touch up any imperfections. It’s impossible to see little mistakes (like unpainted spots) on the iPhone.
Then I go to Image–Image Size and it will say the file is 1920 x 2880 ppi. I then unselect the Resample Image box and type in 300 in the Resolution box. This doesn’t change the actual size of the file, it just changes it to the higher resolution and therefore a smaller size in inches so it becomes 4”x6” @300ppi. Most professional printing labs like files to be around 300 ppi.
Then I check the Resample Image box so that it will now change the dimensions of the painting. I put in the final size that the print will be. If I want it to be 20” x 30” I type in Height 20 and it automatically changes the Width to 30, keeping the aspect ratio of the painting. I’ve found that the Bicubic Smoother in Photoshop (at the bottom of the Image Size window) works really well. It’s been a while since I’ve used Elements, but I think it’s the same as CS.
HINT: I’ve learned to think backwards. If I need to have something printed and framed I check on the available print sizes where I am having my work printed (or printer paper sizes I can do on my home printer) and then see if I can find frames and mattes in that size. Otherwise I have to cut mattes to match my odd size. I’ve been avoiding that whole problem by having my work printed on canvass as gallery wraps, where the canvas wraps around the frame therefore negating the need for matting or framing.
The standard sizes for the iPhone aspect ratio are 4×6, 6×9. 8×12, 12×18, 16×24, 20×30, 24×36, 28×42 etc.
I’ve tried a couple of online canvas printing services, a couple of local photo printing services and I have been really pleased will all of them. I have a feeling that they all use the same quality of printers and if the person running the machine knows what s/he is doing, the results are good.
Prices vary quite a bit but I’ve found that even the less expensive places do a nice job. Hey, there was just a knock at the door and the UPS man delivered a beautiful 20”x30” gallery wrap giclee print on canvas of my Balloons painting. It was my first on-line order from Costco (a test) and it looks great. Price? $82 including shipping. Don’t tell anybody!
I hope this helps, Christine. If you have other questions, email me at rcroop@mac.com and you can pick my brain–what’s left of it.
–Russ