With over thirty years professional experience as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator, including twenty with the daily use of computer graphics programs to create digital artwork for print. During this time, I have been solely responsible for countless design and print projects that have been printed both in the uk and overseas. This has placed me in a good position to be able to understand and resolve virtually any graphics requirement.

It is in my interest to achieve the best possible result from your illustration, should you have any technical queries, do please get in touch.

As part of the briefing process, some detail of where the illustration is likely to appear will be requested, please supply as much information as possible, this will enable me to provide files that meet your criteria of size and format as closely as possible. If preferred I am happy to liaise with your printer to discuss the best formats for the final production at no extra cost.
 

All finished artworks will be supplied in the following formats. These generally meet all normal printing criteria; other alternative formats are available on request.

High Resolution Bitmap files, sized according to intended usage. TIF and JPEG (no compression)
These will be supplied in RGB format to enable ease of on screen viewing

Vector format files.  AI, EPS, CDR and PDF.

Bitmap files and Vector files are compatible with all computer graphic systems including PC or Mac.

 

           
Vector formats allow images to be enlarged without any loss of quality.
Both of these images have been enlarged equally to a x10 magnification.
A is a vector illustration, and is crisp and sharp.
B is the same file converted to a bitmap image.
Bitmaps cannot be excessively enlarged without a serious loss of line quality. 

Which file to use?

For conventional printing. Vector formats allow greatest flexibility of use, enabling the image to be enlarged or reduced without any loss of quality. All illustrations produced at Characterz use fills only with trapping where required, it has been our experience that to use line thickness qualities will create problems when the illustration is resized, thus any potential problem is eliminated.
Vectors, are created either as simple flat colours OR may use, gradients and transparency values, including drop shadows, if the illustration has been created using any of these techniques, then care must be taken to ensure that the print method is capable of reproducing gradients and transparency values correctly. If in any doubt on this matter then the illustration is safest converted to a bitmap, where the resulting image is not only instantly checkable on screen but eliminates any possible errors. Any queries, do please get in touch with Characterz@Corvus Design and we will be pleased to advise.

When using bitmaps, for conventional printing, they should be at least 300dpi at the final print size. They should be converted to CMYK for best print results (nb: these may not display on your 'normal' office computer).

For output onto signage, lower resolutions may be possible, systems vary and you should consult your printer for details. For reproduction of large images, it is best if possible to use the vector illustration itself, if this is not an option technically, the vector can be enlarged to a suitable scale and then converted to a High Resolution bitmap to meet the desired print specification.