Common Print File Problems

We have seen a lot of high-res files uploaded to the new print program in the last month. We wanted to create a post on the most common problems that we see, so that these problems can be reduced in the future and don't cause any of you additional time preparing your images. Here are the three most common problems we see:

1. Low-Quality Resized Images
2. Images w/Borders
3. Copyrighted Subjects

1. LOW-QUALITY RESIZED IMAGES

Do not resize your images at all for the print program! You will achieve the best results if you upload your original scan, photograph or digital artwork for the print program. As soon as you try and resize your image, you will lose quality. If you try and resize your image upwards to create more pixels, you will only make the image blurry and pixelated and it will most likely not be accepted for the print program. If you try and resize your images smaller, you will lose detail in your artwork.

Some people that don't understand the concept of DPI and resolution think they can take a 4x6" image and blow it up to a 40x60" poster without any loss of quality, this is not true. You can increase the DPI of any image, but it will only make a larger file size and the quality will go way down for the print. As a rule, create a new scan or photograph if you want higher DPI, but don't attempt to resize the image, it will only make things worse.

2. IMAGES WITH BORDERS

If your artwork has a border, it will display just fine online. However, when you go to print it, a portion of the border will be cropped off and it will look very unprofessional. Every print size has a different aspect ratio, so you can technically only offer one size of print if you have a border (maybe not even one, depending on the aspect ratio of the artwork). As a strong guideline, we suggest that you crop all of your artwork with borders and remove the border for the print versions of the files. You will be able to sell many more sizes and you will not have any complaints or refunds because of your borders.

3. COPYRIGHTED SUBJECTS

ArtWanted.com does allow fan art on our site as long as the copyrights are mentioned in the description. However, we do not allow any copyrighted characters or celebrities for our print program. It's against copyright laws to sell prints of copyrighted to trademarked characters or people. One lawsuit from a celebrity or comic company could take ArtWanted.com down forever. We don't want to risk it, so do not upload any artwork for the print program that may get you or us in trouble.

Well, those are the biggest issues, so hopefully everyone can read this that is interested in the print program and heed these warnings. Thanks.!

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