Art Tutorial: Getting Started in Digital Art | What is DPI and How to Open a Canvas

    Some aspects of digital art can be confusing.  Let’s be honest—it seems much easier to pick up a pencil and paper or canvas and brush, than to figure out yet another digital device or drawing app.  With this post I will cover the mystery behind DPI (spoiler alert: it’s easy peasy) and how to set up a canvas to meet the needs of your masterpiece. 

DPI seems so technical.  Doesn’t it?  Truly, it isn’t.  DPI stands for Dots Per Inch.  While that may mean nothing to you, a printer will read the digital information on your artwork and know how many ink dots it needs to print per inch.  Some art apps, like Sketchbook for mobile devices, come with a preset DPI.  This works fine, if you’re just creating for fun.  However, if the ultimate goal is to print your art or submit to a book or magazine, you are going to want the BEST print quality.

    For professional printing, DPI size matters.  The more dots you have per inch, the sharper your image will be.  The ideal DPI for excellent print quality is 300.  In most art programs, when you are setting up your canvas, there will be an option for DPI.  Just type in 300, and you are good to go!  At least, you are good on DPI.  You now have to decide how many pixels (px) you need to enter for canvas size.  

    If you’re working in the Procreate App, you now have the option to enter either pixel, inches, or cm for canvas dimensions. However, if you don’t have that option available to you, the math is super simple for calculating the proper size.  

    For our example, we will assume that an 8”x10” canvas is needed.  Since our DPI is set for 300, we simply multiply 300 by both the 8 and the 10, giving us a canvas size of 2400px by 3000px.  The example below shows how this would look on Procreate.  (8 x 300 = 2400…10 x 300 = 3000)

    If you would like an additional step by step, my YouTube video, What is DPI | Opening a Canvas in Procreate Digital Art App on iPad| Choosing DPI and Canvas Size , will take you through the process.   

For more information about drawing app programs, please see my previous POST on this blog.  As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to drop those in the comments below.  

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ‭‭‭James‬ ‭1‬‬:‭5‬