Art for large format banner tips?

[MLaw]

Hey crew. My current client is liking what I've done so far and is now talking about commissioning a piece to be used for banners and rollouts at conventions.. I am curious if the process is dramatically different than creating something for A4 or comic? I imagine he's talking about either poster sized up to possibly 10'. Hopefully some of you awesome PJers have worked with banners and have insight

Mostly looking for anything.. but I am definitely curious about canvas size, resolution, etc.. My computer chugs a little on A4 at 500 dpi.. I can't even imagine trying to do anything at those sizes..

[sirandal]

Because banners are not meant to be viewed up close, you don't have to use that high of dpi. A good banner is probably around 100 dpi typically.

[MLaw]

Hey sirandal, thanks for the fast reply! That's definitely good to know.. Do you think it's possible to work at higher resolution.. say 300dpi but at 1/3 of the physical size.. then when the image is good change the image dimensions to 3x and drop it down to 100dpi?
Sorry if this seems daft, I've gotten rather used to adjusting final passes to the intended print size so this is strange for me..

[Pete Tha Creep]

Why not work in output resolution at output size? In the comp you can zoom it in and out as you like anyqay. working in 100 dpi will maybe help you not to draw intricate detail that will be blurred away when resizing / resampling. Which prog are you working in?

[MLaw]

Why not work in output resolution at output size? In the comp you can zoom it in and out as you like anyqay. working in 100 dpi will maybe help you not to draw intricate detail that will be blurred away when resizing / resampling. Which prog are you working in?

I'm working in Photoshop. For digital painting, when you're at 100DPI some of the brushes don't work right. Particularly image based brushes or ones that require a decent number of surrounding pixels to sample from. Same for dodge and burn.

[marcelino]

300dpi @ 1/3 size vs 100dpi @ full size is the exact same thing in pixels, no? And I thought brushes worked off pixel width and wasn't relative to dpi of the canvas. Pixels are pixels.

[hadesillustrations]

I do exactly this for a living. For large format design in PS I work in 1/10 scale at 720 dpi then blow up a flattened image to full scale at 72 dpi for production. This permits greater leeway for PS effects. 72 dpi is jut fine for large format production.

[MLaw]

I do exactly this for a living. For large format design in PS I work in 1/10 scale at 720 dpi then blow up a flattened image to full scale at 72 dpi for production. This permits greater leeway for PS effects. 72 dpi is jut fine for large format production.

Thanks Alex! That sounds a bit like what I had in mind.

Side thought..
Do you step it up to the full size or just jump it straight up? When I was in college the teacher for the Photoshop class showed us the difference in an upsized image that was incrementally scaled vs one that was just cranked up in one step. It was noticeable but at the same time that was like.. 2004 or 5.. so I suspect the algorithm for resampling might have improved?

[Symson]

Having done quite a few banners, I can tell you that each company is different.

As hadesillustration says the art is done at a scaled down size, not actual size.

The company would give me the specs of the scale to work at and then I would send them the art.

My suggestions is to ask your client to find out from the banner what scale they want you to deliver the art and the other specs.

The better thing would be to have the client put you in contact with the banner company directly.

If you can submit a vector file, then there is no resolution problem.

[MLaw]

Having done quite a few banners, I can tell you that each company is different.

As hadesillustration says the art is done at a scaled down size, not actual size.

The company would give me the specs of the scale to work at and then I would send them the art.

My suggestions is to ask your client to find out from the banner what scale they want you to deliver the art and the other specs.

The better thing would be to have the client put you in contact with the banner company directly.

If you can submit a vector file, then there is no resolution problem.

Yeah, my client is Polish. I'm lucky he speaks enough English to be my client. I don't know that he is aware of what size and scale and everything. He does miniatures and rulebooks for games, so this is a bit outside his norm and he's just curious about getting it for conventions. I'm a little worried that if I hit him up with a ton of questions he'll think it's too much hassle, so I'm trying to figure out as much on my end as possible so I don't risk scaring him off.

I'm a little concerned with the banner going to vector. I have Illustrator but I honestly don't use it. If I do a digital painting, how much of that will be retained if I convert it to vector? Well, thanks, you've given me something to chew on

[sirandal]

Sorry to be so late to reply, mlaw. Looks like Alex already said what I would have.

[hadesillustrations]

Thanks Alex! That sounds a bit like what I had in mind.

Side thought..
Do you step it up to the full size or just jump it straight up? When I was in college the teacher for the Photoshop class showed us the difference in an upsized image that was incrementally scaled vs one that was just cranked up in one step. It was noticeable but at the same time that was like.. 2004 or 5.. so I suspect the algorithm for resampling might have improved?

It makes no difference. Incremental step ups seem like a giant waste of time. Its a BANNER, not fine art. Sales tools need to get a message across, not be scrutinized for detail. That said, 72 dpi is about the worst resolution I like for banners looked at up close, but I've gone as low as 12 dpi for bus graphics.

PM sent regarding some other details.

[artgsg]

IMO vector must be great. I`ve done some logos (T-shirts, mugs etc) and in vector all you do is just draw. You dont need to adjust to resolutions and dpi (but i also dont like vector that much. Seems kinda dull and plain. And i cant mix colors as much as i love in regular time)

[MLaw]

Sorry to be so late to reply, mlaw. Looks like Alex already said what I would have.

No worries, just glad people responded. Thanks everyone for the info. I am not sure when he is planning on doing this but I'm doing a bunch of other work for him at the moment so he might be waiting for me to wrap all of that up.. I'll post an update when I find out more

[Symson]

Yeah, my client is Polish. I'm lucky he speaks enough English to be my client. I don't know that he is aware of what size and scale and everything. He does miniatures and rulebooks for games, so this is a bit outside his norm and he's just curious about getting it for conventions. I'm a little worried that if I hit him up with a ton of questions he'll think it's too much hassle, so I'm trying to figure out as much on my end as possible so I don't risk scaring him off.

I'm a little concerned with the banner going to vector. I have Illustrator but I honestly don't use it. If I do a digital painting, how much of that will be retained if I convert it to vector? Well, thanks, you've given me something to chew on

Just ask him one question, "Would you please put me in touch with your banner printing company?"

Tracing in Illustrator is very good. See the image below. The bottom one is the vector image.