Digital Penciling

[Zimmerman]

I've been using my Wacom tablet and Sketchbook Pro which I'm very happy with the output for penciling. My question is if you are using a totally digital workflow, what canvas size and DPI would you pencil in. At first I was thinking 11 x 17 at 300 dpi for a realistic workflow but didn't know if this is actually overkill. I guess what it goes down to is what does a digital inker start with?

[jhamlet]

My quick two-cents (and my own plan... not implemented, but planned)

In "Hi-Fi Color" final artwork is reduced to actual size (6.625" x 10.25" + trim) at 400 ppi. So, I'm using that as my own target.

That should cover most printing possibilities (cheap newsprint needs 85-150dpi, standard paper probably falls between 266ppi and 300ppi, hi-gloss paper needs 300-400dpi)

If you start at 400ppi you should cover all your bases (from hi-quality printing, down to web graphics)

[jhamlet]

pardon, I was a little loose in my designation of dpi/ppi.

dpi refers to 'dots per inch' and is applicable to printing only.
ppi refers to 'pixels per inch' and is applicable to the screen image.

(For most purposes the terms are interchangeable -- as I did above. But knowing the difference and how dots are rendered by a printer helps you better understand how your printed image will look.)

[em...]

You're not quite right.

The PPI of an image (resolution) should be ideally twice the DPI (screen ruling) that it will be printed at, but at the very least it should be 1.5 times the DPI.

So, if something was printed at a low newspaper quality (say 85 DPI, although I'm sure the quality is higher these days) it would need to be at least 127.5 PPI, ideally 170 PPI.

Most higher quality printing is done at 150 - 175 DPI, so 300 PPI would cover both, but if you want to go higher that's up to you - as has been said, it'll doesn't hurt to have higher resolution than you need.

[jhamlet]

I've always gone with twice the line-screen. Newsprint would be 45-55 lpi (90-110 dpi, 150dpi is plenty) where glossy magazine stock would be up to 133 lpi, or more (266 dpi and up).

Anyhoo, you always want more (within reason) to cover all bases.

Apples/Apples.