Good Printing AND Reading size?

[Luminosophy]

Is that even possible? I was looking online for what size to make a page that would good for printing. Apparently it's massive. http://ka-blam.com/printing/front/?p=119

I made a comic page that size, but it turned out too large to really be suitable for online reading. Scaling it down just made it blurry and even more unreadable. However when I made a page at around 920 X 1380 px it was much better. I don't have access to a printer though but I figure if I ever wanted to print in the future, it won't turn out well. What sizes do you guys make your pages if you do care about printing?

[keii4ii]

Yep, that's about the standard for printing. You want to make it at 300dpi at the size you wish to print (e.g. if you want to print 10" x 10", then your file needs to be at least 3000x3000 pixels, possibly bigger if you want full bleed).

What program are you using? It's possible your program is doing something weird when resizing. A LOT of artists shrink their work before uploading, and they usually look fine.

[Strontium]

I'm curious when you mention scaling down the page and it becoming blurry. The only time that I've experienced that is in scaling down pixelated or aliased lines, like in pixel art. Usually when you scale an image down it looks about the same unless you magify it.

What program are you using to draw the pages?
In Photoshop and Manga Studio, the best way to resize the page is to use the image sizing tools included in the program, NOT the crop tool. In Photoshop, control + alt + I opens up the dialogue box for resizing. You can enter a new percentage or pixel size and it should downsize the image with the original document constraints.
In Manga Studio, you can go to the Edit drop down menu. "Change Image Size" is the dialogue box you want to use. It works basically the same way as in Photoshop.

@keii4ii brings up a good point - for printing documents should be at least 300 dpi. You can't increase dpi once you set it, you can only lower it. So it's imperative you assign the dpi when creating the document.

[Luminosophy]

I use Paint Tool SAI. I tried resizing within the program itself by changing the canvas size (I always start with 300 dpi and change to 72 for uploading) and tweaking the resolution. But nothing really worked. I tried using GIMP to scale it and that was even worse.

[Luminosophy]

I use SAI and GIMP (GIMP just for text and line tools since SAI lacks them.) I'm planning on switching over to Krita today and I don't know if anyone here has used that before for making comics. I was using SAI's canvas tool though to change the size and resolution but everything came out blurred. I always start with 300 dpi but lower it when I post online. I just never usually work with such large documents.

[Luminosophy]

This is the problem I have. It was scaled in Krita this time. It went from the dimensions of the image linked in my original post ( 2150 x 3150 px) and then scaled down to 943 x 1380 for an online format. Except everything's blurry. http://sta.sh/01t1jwznfebz

I gotta be doing something wrong here. Is it being scaled down too much or too little? I want it somewhere around 900 x 1000 because it's better suited for sites like DA and Tapastic.

[shazzbaa]

I don't know if this is helpful, but here's my page at print size compared to the size I post on Tapastic.

Print Size for me is around 6.8 x 10.5 inches at 300 dpi (there's some bleed calculations in there), which is 2064px by 3151px
To get the Tapastic size I just shrink the page to 72 dpi and set it to be 800px wide. But there's not a magic pixel number or percentage that makes it more or less blurry -- it's all about what algorithm the program uses to resize the image.

ETA:
The scaled down version you posted is .....honestly not looking bad to me? MAYBE MY EYES ARE NOT GREAT somebody else weigh in!

Here's a weird question though -- what kind of computer do you use? I know Macs with retina displays do some pretty frustrating things with resolution, too.

[Strontium]

Maybe it's because your lines are so thin? Thin lines get really anti-aliased when donwsized, so it might apoear fainter and blurrier. The thicker lines and big text look normal to me, as @shazzbaa said.

[Iaikaa]

I don't think the image posted by the op looks bad either...? Yeah, there is a LOT of details so you're always gonna lose some of that when resizing but other than that it does look fine.

[Luminosophy]

I just use a regular old PC. The point is, comparitively to the original size here: http://sta.sh/01mnfjjtchsp it looses all the crispness and blurs itself, including the text, especially when you zoom in. Yet I don't see that happening with yours. I originally tried changing just the dpi in SAI but everything comes out worse.

[Luminosophy]

The lines could be something to look into for sure. I'll consider that next time.

[Iaikaa]

Yeah you could definitely cut down on the smallest details in the backgrounds. I don't think there is any way to get that to print properly either unless you're going to print huuuuge pages. Amazing job on the details though!

[Luminosophy]

Thanks. That makes sense. I did a test for scaling the same ratios but with larger images and there's relatively no difference. Guess I just need to work larger.

[shazzbaa]

Looking at it, I think @Strontium hit the nail on the head. I've had this happen too when I work digitally -- if I work too big, I tend to make my details too fine, and those small details get too indistinct when they're seen at the final size.

If you think about it, it makes sense -- if you shrink a 2-pixel-wide line to half the size, there's no way to get a super crisp line, because it can only be one pixel wide with some antialiasing to smooth it out. You probably don't see the same effects in the page I linked just because my lineweight is VERY THICK in the print-size version -- If you look at smaller text on my page, though, you'll see the same effect as it gets smaller, just by virtue of having fewer pixels to work with.

If you want to get the same effect your pages have at-size, I wonder if it'd be helpful to actually like... draw a page at 900px wide, like you're used to, and then, as a test, scale that picture up to 3000px or whatever size you'd print at, and then look at how thick the lines are at that size, and how big your smallest details are at that size? So then when you're working at 3000px, you'd know how thick the lines need to be in order to shrink nicely. (Though I'm realising now that maybe this is what you mean by scaling the same ratios with larger images, in which case, I am sorry for explaining the thing you just said!! xD )

[Luminosophy]

Thanks seriously, that helps! It really seems to be that I worked too light and too small. I will actually try your method though, it'll give me a good idea of how to size things because I /really/ like my details.

[Shanny8]

You may want to check your resolution the next time you're in Manga Studio. I remember starting out I was doing stuff at what I thought to be 300 dpi but when I opened it in Photoshop for coloring, it was only 72 dpi- it started looking blurry when I started to reduce or enlarge it.

Also when making it print ready you want to keep it at 300 dpi- just transform it to a TIFF file and discard the layers. Ka-Blam works with TIFF files, and no matter how much you increase and decrease the size, the image/resolution will hold.