File Formats

Recommended process for making digital files of your artwork:

SCANNING:

Take your artwork to a scanner & save files as…

  • PDF (grayscale, 600 dpi)
    If possible, scan multiple pages into a single (multi-page) PDF.
  • TIF (grayscale, 600 dpi)

SAVING: PAGE ARTWORK FILES:

Processing tips for turning GRAYSCALE scans into B&W page artwork:

  1. Open scanned artwork file.
  2. BLUR pixels slightly.
  3. THRESHOLD (a.k.a. boost contrast all the way!)
  4. Convert IMAGE MODE to INDEXED COLOR (1-bit B&W palette)
  5. SAVE AS: TIF / No Compression
    Recommended FILE NAME format:
    PROJECT-[SECTION#]-[PAGE#].tif

SAVING: ONLINE JPG FILES:

Turning TIF (1-bit) page artwork into lo-res grayscale images for use online:

  1. Open file.
  2. Convert IMAGE MODE to GRAYSCALE.
  3. IMAGE / SCALE to width = 1200 (or 2000 or other intended size)
  4. SAVE AS (in dedicated folder):
    JPG / moderate compression (80-90%)
    Recommended FILE NAME format:
    PROJECT-[SECTION#]-[PAGE#]-[(C)yourURL].jpg

FREEWARE for processing images:
GIMP.org (DOWNLOAD HERE)

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