Digital Art Community Forum for Artists & Creators

Username: Agwal
Post Date: 2023-09-22 08:21:08

I just completed my first digital commission. When I accepted the work, I advised the client that I could do a digital work printed on a canvas as a quicker and cheaper alternative to an oil painting. It was really one of those "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it" and now I'm realizing it may be a bit more complicated than I originally thought. The dimensions for it are 1501x2048 at 300dpi. An online tool stated the canvas size should be 5x7 roughly. I was hoping for the canvas to be almost double that size. How bad will it hurt the quality to double the recommended size? My main concern is that it will look pixelated. I used a style of painting that uses very little blending and I want that brushwork to show through. I don't think a 5x7 will get the details that I want out of the finished product. [URL]https://www.escapemotions.com/community/gallery/i/68d0a5dba7ec41f1b371e70dad85759d/u/Agwal[/URL] I'm also curious about what printing on canvas looks like. Should I get rid of the background canvas texture? I'm really new to this.

Username: fanton
Post Date: 2023-09-22 19:12:46

Do you have Rebelle Pro? Nanopixel should help you out a lot here. I've never printed on canvas so take this with a grain of salt, but in my experience the general rule is: if you're printing at 300dpi (usually the standard for art prints) then your canvas width in pixels should be 300 times the physical width of your paper (or in your case, canvas). So for a 10-inch wide print, you'd want a canvas width of at least 3000 pixels. That said, if you print at a lower resolution than this, say 150dpi, it probably won't look 'pixelated', but rather slightly softer than a 300dpi print. If you've got Rebelle Pro, export with nanopixel at 200% and you should be good to go. You might want to add a slight sharpen filter after you export, but that's up to you. Of course, it's ideal to start out with the 'correct' canvas size, but otherwise this is nearly as good.

Username: Agwal
Post Date: 2023-09-22 23:01:13

OK thank you so much! I do have rebelle pro. I'm glad that a feature will back up my carelessness.

Username: Tom Gallovich
Post Date: 2023-09-23 09:35:49

Hi Agwal, Not to contradict anyone but it sounds like you should be OK! I think you would be fine even at 150 PPI. I have had many photos printed on canvas that would probably be more critical than a painting. The reason is unless you paint hyper realistic (such as extra large 40x20 photo print) you may want your painting to look like a painting. IMO there too many factors involved to worry too much about your PPI. (Are there pencil thin lines that need to be reproduced accurately?) Remember PPI is pixels per inch vs DPI which is dots per inch. Through the magic of interpolation software (printer) the printer has to convert your square pixels to overlapping round ink droplets. (average 3 to 4 picoliters). So depending on the quality of equipment by the printer would handle this for you. I have been told that I can go as low as 100 PPI for a safe canvas print. Keep in mind that the weave of the canvas reflects light in multiple directions there by difussing some detail at any PPI. Canvas prints are not the same as a glossy paper print. Glossy paper will show every hot spot a cheaper lens may have when printing large. If you want ultimate detail then go with glossy paper. For example is your monitor color calibrated? Depending on your subject a color shift may be far more of a problem than PPI. Also I would not have any artificial texture to your painting. (canvas texture) You will pick up an authentic canvas look printing on the actual canvas. Which is very important in a gallery lighting event. In a gallery if you have artificial lighting on your digital painting coming from the upper left (thick paint and canvas texture) and by chance you have a gallery light to the right of the painting! Could cause a world of confusion. Since you are in the states I would highly recommend this fine art printer. [URL]https://www.pictorem.com/[/URL] Pictorem dot com in case the link does not hold up. I am lucky enough to be one of their featured photographers and they do all of my custom printing. Try calling and ask for John! This sounds like a custom painting for a specific occasion, if so consider wood, acrylic, or brushed aluminum. I understand wanting it to look like an authentic painting on canvas but you can get some dynamite results with brushed aluminum. Especially if it has a lot of contrast. But thats up to you. Good luck with your print! Tom G.

Username: Agwal
Post Date: 2023-09-28 02:42:45

Thank you for your words of wisdom! I will be ordering the print soon and I will go over all of this again once I do so. Thank you so much!