How wide is 940 pixels on paper? (In inches or cm)

marygold 2016-07-16 06:10:37 UTC #1

My comic is waaay too young for me to be worrying about publishing it as a book, but I just want to know if I should be setting up my canvases to be 940 pixels or another size just in case I ever do get lucky and successful enough ^ ^ I don't want to have to stretch or shrink my finished pages in the future because 940 is only website friendly and not print friendly.

carloswebcomic 2016-07-16 06:20:26 UTC #2

Uh.... No... You cannot translate pixels into actual physical size. It's a bit like asking how many litres in beam of light.
Pixels are the little dots in your screen that light up to make images. They can be different sizes.

What you do, is to make a page large, then shrink it to fit 940 pixels. Just make sure you keep the large original.

nessiefynn 2016-07-16 06:21:52 UTC #3

I believe industry standard is 8in x 10in, 300 dpi, which translates to 2400 x 3000 pixels.

marygold 2016-07-16 06:25:29 UTC #4

@carloswebcomic yeah, I've tried shrinking down a copy of the original but the quality always gets weird...
@nessiefynn so the tapastic regulatory max width is smaller than average? Damn, I've been sizing my canvases at 940 for quite some time now...

Thanks for your input!

AnnaLandin 2016-07-16 06:35:53 UTC #5

Always, ALWAYS, draw bigger than the size you intend to post online, and save the original version. If you do want to go to print, you want something that's at LEAST 300 dpi, and with some kind of paper-format in mind. I format mine to standard A4 pages (21 cm x 29.7 cm, or 8.3x11.7 inches) because that's a common paper-size for printing in Sweden. If you're in the US, you might want to go with standard comic-sized pages (there are templates available online).

marygold 2016-07-16 13:41:46 UTC #6

@AnnaLandin thanks for the heads up. I'm guessing even if the page appears a little more blurry online it'll be a worthy small sacrifice?

katverwho 2016-07-16 14:14:23 UTC #7

@marygold Here's a couple articles that will be able to explain more clearly than I can about image size, and ALSO some tricks for avoid blurring when you downsize.
http://www.vsellis.com/understanding-dpi-resolution-and-print-vs-web-images/
https://www.sitepoint.com/resize-an-image-in-photoshop/

It makes sense for Tapastic to have a maximum width that's smaller than print pixel size, since those images would all be a couple 1000 pixels, and take up the entire screen or more on any browser - it works for print, but it's terrible for online reading. That's why there are different industry standards for web and print, and sadly there's no cutting corners when it comes to making a file that will do both - you simply have to resize, and keep different versions of each file (I have a high res folder and a web folder for me comic Meat&Bone).

Another issue you might be running into is if you're saving your files over a certain amount of kilobytes, I'm pretty sure Tapastic will compress them. To avoid this, try saving as a PNG instead of a JPG, and try to keep the kbs low - double check your file before uploading. Once you know what settings work best for your page, you can apply them to future resizing.

Hope I've been helpful!

I fricking laughed XD

ratique 2016-07-16 16:36:37 UTC #8

If your page appears blurry after you sized it down, you used an incorrect technique.

There are a couple ways of doing it, but here is one:
In photoshop, hit "Save for web", then enter 940 pixels in the pop up window that appears. Set to jpg for smallest file size.

Hit save and then check your resulting file. Be aware that you should look at it at 100%, if you zoom in it will look pixelated. Try that and let us know if that fixes your problem.

marygold 2016-07-16 17:35:50 UTC #9

@ratique ahaha. I'm a pathetic high schooler who doesn't have a personal computer and who can't use photoshop to save her life. I use a painting app on my iPad mini. Currently have been struggling to find an app that can convert image sizes without reducing quality because obviously resizing your drawing on another canvas messes everything up. Wish there was something I could do.... But thanks for the help!

ratique 2016-07-16 17:57:57 UTC #10

That would explain why you are having issues. Hopefully one day you can get your hands on photoshop and play with it. I am certain it would help you.