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Thread: Book illustration

  1. #81
    I would always hike up the size from now on - as big as I can get away with. More often that not I make every painting at least A3 imperial - 5000 pixels because - yes sharper details, but also, you never know when you'll want a bigger version or a crop etc. I'm currently working on a personal thing which is about 7000px and Artrage is handling it fine on my iMac. Interface operations like select, undo, move layer etc are a bit slow whereas in Photoshop they would still be instant at this size, but they're different beasts and I'm always hopeful the fantabulous Ambient team will find ways to speed that stuff up. Besides, there are about 36 layers in that file so if I flattened it things would be quicker.
    Cheers

  2. #82
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    Pacific Northwest
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve B View Post
    I was curious what scale you guys would recommend working at for something like this?

    If I was doing traditional media I might do 125 or 133%, but with digital I've wondered. If any of you wanted to make a 9 x 10 print image, would you just work at 2700 x 3000? Or would you still work at a slightly larger scale, just to get more detail in- say, 3600 x 4000, or something like that? Or do you think that's just sort of overkill? I don't mind working big, but there comes a point when I've wondered if it needlessly is slowing down my system. It would be very instructive to hear from those that work professionally in the field.
    My own rule for myself is to work at the highest possible resolution I can and still have reasonable performance. I just like having the most pixel density I can get and if a client pulls a last minute request for a larger format it can really make things smoother.
    Be well,

    "Teach, Learn, Thrive"~DM


  3. #83
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    601
    This's interesting to hear. Thanks for the info.

    I'm working on a x200t tablet pc with a core2duo and 8 gb ram, and although art programs like Paint Tool Sai can work in that 7000-8000 pixel range very easily, Artrage really bogs down for me. It's a bummer, but true. If I want to do a 9 x 10 image, I really have to stick to something like 300-500 dpi. Clearly, that's more than large enough for print, as I understand it, but yes, more detail always looks better. And, I was thinking.... "Well, if I did this naturally I'd probably be working at something like atleast 12" x 14" or so"-- thus, the desire to go bigger digitally as well.

    I've been pondering the value of a desktop. I live a pretty mobile life, and my x200t has been a godsend, but as I try and move into something more professional, I'm feeling the computer grind a bit. For instance, with the watercolor brush anything above 250 or so is pretty slow (I can do 500 pixels, its just not very speedy), and things like the Hard Out Smear (which I use to simulate wet washes), is very very slow if made much bigger than 150 or so. It's not that I can't do print sized work, it just takes more patience.

    It'd be nice to hear back from Twagger or Nickullus on this front as well, as I know they also do professional work in Artrage.
    Check out and submit to the thread on Watercolor WIPs in Artrage-- lots of good tips and conversation
    My YouTube video tutorial series- How to Paint with Watercolors in Artrage
    Try out the free
    Artrage Pen-Only Toolbar to improve your workflow and reduce clutter
    List of other good tutorials on using watercolors in Artrage
    List of good sticker sprays for watercolor effects in Artrage

    My blog- art, poetry and picture books- http://www.seamlessexpression.blogspot.com/

  4. #84
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
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    24
    I like what I am seeing.

  5. #85
    outstanding work.

  6. #86
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Posts
    8
    Wow! This is amazing. There are so many things to look at, this cover will keep the kids glued. I can't wait to see some of the interior pages.

  7. #87
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
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    Lynda.com author, Digital Tutors instructor
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    How is the book doing?

    Do you get a good percentage of Blurb sales of your book? Their site is down for maint. I'll try to buy a copy in a few days.

    ArtRage4.5.9 MACPRO (El Capitan), Wacom Cintiq 13HD, iPad3, Note 4, Wacom Intous & Nomad Brush Compose.
    ArtRage Courses: Intro to AR, Materials in AR, Portraits in AR (http://tinyurl.com/j6cyvwx)



  8. #88
    Sorry for the radio silence, I hadn't realised there were replies! Thanks for the compliments everyone, much appreciated.

    The size issue is a mute point now that 64bit AR is out. I'm happily working at over double the quoted sizes now with few issues and I can't see many scenarios where someone would want an image more than a metre large @ 300dpi. There's enough info in that to cater for everything from postage stamps to giant banners thrown over the side of a building.

    Victor, too kind! Like most publishing arrangements, the self publishing system is not designed with the author's well being in mind - that would only happen as a by-product of selling a million copies which is unlikely - but no, you don't get a very good percentage. You do set your own cut but it would be totally unrealistic to make it a reasonable amount because Blurb's base costs are big. I think I get about 10% on the hard backs.

    Sav

  9. #89
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Canberra, Australia
    Posts
    144
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve B View Post
    I was curious what scale you guys would recommend working at for something like this?

    If I was doing traditional media I might do 125 or 133%, but with digital I've wondered. If any of you wanted to make a 9 x 10 print image, would you just work at 2700 x 3000? Or would you still work at a slightly larger scale, just to get more detail in- say, 3600 x 4000, or something like that? Or do you think that's just sort of overkill? I don't mind working big, but there comes a point when I've wondered if it needlessly is slowing down my system. It would be very instructive to hear from those that work professionally in the field.
    We're just finishing up our third iPad picturebook app. When we first started four years back there was no retina screen, but I made the canvas size double the iPad screen. That's 2048x1536 pixels. Then the retina screens came out from Apple, so I was glad I'd made it double size, because we now made use of the double size in an update, and the new screens showed up every detail. Now I'm thinking I should probably be working at quadruple iPad size, and there's no real reason why I can't because we just bought a new Apple Mac which is perfectly fast enough, but the thing is, the programmer has to load a whole bunch of things onto the page at once when coding the page turns of the book, including narration, sound effects, and assets which will be activated on touch, so he ends up optimising my pngs anyhow, which means taking away as much detail as he can get away with (without me noticing, ha!). Otherwise the pages would load too slowly. So for now I'm still working with the 2048x1536 size canvas. You can get excellent results like that if you're producing picturebook artwork for the screen. If creating art assets for the screen, decide first what kind of platform you're publishing for... Android screens are different dimensions, then there's Kindle tablets etc. If you wanted to publish across all platforms you'd need to design your artwork in such a way that sides get cut off depending on the size of the screen. Since layout of pages is so crucial, I don't know how a book designer would successfully do that. (It'd be hard, anyhow.)

    This is partly why we're only publishing picturebooks via Apple.

    To comment on your query, if at any point you think your artwork might be digitised, I'd go big. Just in case. At least double, kinda thing.

  10. #90
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
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    Lynda.com author, Digital Tutors instructor
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    Hey Sav, I just purchased the hard cover of your Ballad of Piggotty Wood book. It will go into my collection. Love all your work.

    ArtRage4.5.9 MACPRO (El Capitan), Wacom Cintiq 13HD, iPad3, Note 4, Wacom Intous & Nomad Brush Compose.
    ArtRage Courses: Intro to AR, Materials in AR, Portraits in AR (http://tinyurl.com/j6cyvwx)



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