Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Need to be able to Print VERY large.. Is this possible?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Posts
    2

    Need to be able to Print VERY large.. Is this possible?

    HI All, I am in the midst of working out a licensing agreement. This company wants all my files to be able to print as large as 40x60. So as far as original oils go that will be dealt with with the camera obviously.. but is it possible to do that with artrage for digital paintings? I am really new to this digital painting but am Loving playing with it... so it is a learning curve all the way around in this digital realm coming from years as a traditional painter!

    I have artrage 6 on my mac... using astropad to send it over to my ipad.. and it just seems so cumbersome to do larger canvases with brush limitations etc.

    So Is this possible? I sure hope so as I can get SO much more accomplished being able to work away from the studio when necessary! If so can someone explain this to me? I was reading something about maybe using scripts to paint smaller then redo on a big canvas ? Not sure..??

    Thank you in advance from a girl that has too many learning curves going on at once!!!!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    2,223
    Hello paintergirl11 and welcome to the ArtRage forums
    Yes, large scale paintings for print could be done with AR.
    But I would also strongly advise doing several test project form start to finished print, so that you get familiar with the idiosyncrasies of digital paintings before committing to deadlines!

    As you identified the max brush size could potentially be a problem. And recording the painting as a script would be a good way of getting around that.
    Large paintings, and by this I mean how many pixels x how many pixels will be heavy on computer resources, i.e. CPU and RAM memory, so the faster your CPU and the more RAM you have the better.
    Some of AR’s tools require more CPU effort than others, for example the Oil Brush is much less laggy than the Watercolour Brush when used on a large canvas at 500%
    But again if you are working smaller and recording a script for later playback and scaling, then that will make things easier on your computer’s resources as you work.
    This page has more info about working with scrips: https://www.artrage.com/manuals/scripts/script-files/

    Myself I tend to work mostly at 3500+/- x 5000+/- pixels using mostly the watercolour brush (and at that size I have had no need to use Script Resizing as it’s not enough to slow my system down). And I mostly print to A3 @300dpi.
    I have also had good results printing them at x3 their created size! But painting style, subject and viewing distance can greatly affect your actual milage here!

    Also although not connected to size you are also going to have to get to grips with colour accuracy.
    What you see on your monitor is not necessarily how it will look when printed.
    A painting in the real world only reflects light, a digital painting on screen is actually emitting light. And therefore can sometimes be brighter, more vibrant than it will actually print.
    You will want a good quality monitor, and the screens on modern Macs do tend to be pretty good to start with, but you may want to consider getting a quality graphics monitor. Either way the screen/s will still need to be correctly calibrated for colour accuracy. For this I use a DataColor Spyder but there are many other makes out there to choose from.

    I hope some of this is of help to you and I’m sure other forum members will have advice too.
    Last edited by markw; 08-24-2019 at 11:30 AM.
    Maker Of Replica Macoys

    Techie Stuff:
    ArtRage Vitae 7.1.4 ~ 15" Macbook Pro
    ~ macOS 10.15.7 ~ 4 Core i7 3.1GHz CPU ~ 16GB RAM ~ Wacom Intuos4 M
    My Animal Paintings In The Forum Gallery
    On Instagram

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    25,097
    Quote Originally Posted by markw View Post
    Hello paintergirl11 and welcome to the ArtRage forums
    . . .
    Also although not connected to size you are also going to have to get to grips with colour accuracy.
    What you see on your monitor is not necessarily how it will look when printed.
    A painting in the real world only reflects light, a digital painting on screen is actually emitting light. And therefore can sometimes be brighter, more vibrant than it will actually print.
    You will want a good quality monitor, and the screens on modern Macs do tend to be pretty good to start with, but you may want to consider getting a quality graphics monitor. Either way the screen/s will still need to be correctly calibrated for colour accuracy. For this I use a DataColor Spyder but there are many other makes out there to choose from.

    I hope some of this is of help to you and I’m sure other forum members will have advice too.
    To paintergirl11:

    Only regarding color accuracy, a whole lot depends on your printer. If you're working large I would think you are going to a professional printer. The proofing stage is where you're going to want to connect. But it's rather essential to develop a relation with the print rep to get a better idea what the strengths and limits are for the particular type of print job you're doing. Sometimes you have some leeway as the artist, and other times the colors have to be spot on and you have to communicate to the printer what's required of them.
    "Not a bit is wasted and the best is yet to come. . ." -- remembered from a dream

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    192
    Yeah, what he said but let me add to this because the issue is very important. You cannot expect good quality printing at a low resolution setting. Most people know its a given that 72 dpi is low res and go with 300 for good printing but you might want to consider 600 dpi at the size D Akey is suggesting. This will insure you get good quality print. Lastly. RGB setting on your printer is for monitors. It is fine if you are printing from YOUR printer but if you go to a professional printer, check with them to see what file format they will want. They will not want RGB. They are going to want a file set with the color broken down most like CMYK (did I get that right?). They will know. That will ensure that you get professional grade prints that you can frame and sell. D Akey is right on the mark about developing a relationship with printing professionals --look around for the best deal but caveat emptor--grumpy cats may sometimes be your happiest choice--I never liked a man who could talk and clench his teeth at the same time. Good luck!

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •