Day #256 Children's Picture Book Progress Report
/Today’s progress was two low-res PNG images replaced by two high-res PSDs. By “low-res”, I mean having fewer than 3,200 pixels in either height or width. Print images have to be at least 300 dpi. For an 8” square page, that’s a minimum of 2,400 pixels, but to be safe, I’m going for a much larger size.
Picking the right size for digital images is important. Pick too few pixels and you limit your options to small pictures. With 300 dpi being the minimum acceptable resolution for print, you have to plan ahead, which I didn’t do. An 8-inch square image would have to be 2400x2400 px, not including the part of the picture extending to the bleed line. That’s an extra 80+ pixels of height and width. To be truly safe I should have created all of the images as 8000x8000 pixels so that I could use the images for something large, like a big poster. For my next book I’ll be doing all of the art using traditional media: pen, ink, gouache, watercolor, etc. I’ll be able to scan the images at up to 1600 dpi if I have to.
Here are the two images I replaced today: The first image was only 2000px tall. The second was only 1000x1000 pixels. Both images looked great on my screen in InDesign, but the would suck when printed.
This image was only 2000px in height.
The second image has a problem with body parts being so close to the trim line that they could be cut. That’s an unpleasant sight! The biggest problem is the sliver of white stabbing Jimmy in the back down in the lower right corner. I’m going to fix that by extending his shirt beyond the trim line.
