# What canvas size do you usually draw at?



## ElectricSerge (Feb 17, 2015)

Recently, I had someone tell me I should lower my price because my "images are too small"....even though I re-size them to about 25% of the original size for web sharing. So it got me to thinking, how do other people do their work? I want to try and be as professional as possible, so I figured I'd take a consensus. 

**What Canvas size do you draw on (Digitally)?
*Do you re-size your art for web use? Why/why not?*


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## GemWolf (Feb 17, 2015)

It's best to work on at least 3000x3000 resolution
yes i resize to meet FA's upload size


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## SkyeLegs (Feb 18, 2015)

I'm definitely no professional, but I like to work at A3 paper size, 300dpi(4960x3507), or close to that depending on the aspect ratio.

When re-sizing for web, lately I just limit to 800 or 1280 pixel height. For commissions, I would send the original size directly to the commissioner.


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## Keeroh (Feb 18, 2015)

I tend to work in the program Mischief, it's vector based so THERE IS NO CANVAS SIZE MUAHAHA
but in general 1200x1500 or 1200x2500 is what I play around in outside of that.


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## Ayattar (Feb 18, 2015)

Three times the destined size. Usually somewhere around 4800x4000. Absolute record was 18000x7000


I'm resizing height to 900, 960 or 1000 px, the width follows in an adequate proportion. Why? I want the image to fit on the screen and sensible modern resolutions begin with 1600x900


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## Zeitzbach (Feb 18, 2015)

1600 x 2000 or 2000 x 1600. The 8:10 ratio.

I would make it bigger if needed but not to the 4k x 4k size something. It's not like I'm doing a super detailed background with 10+ characters as the focus most of the time.


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## Chuchi (Feb 18, 2015)

For 'project pieces', I start on a 5000x5000 and size it down to a satisfactory level after completion. 
I can start from any random range of sizes though, I'm not always consistent about this. 

As for why, I find it makes my lines and stuff look a lot neater and smoother, since I work with Photoshop and its smoothing capabilities are dubious as best. 
Thus, when I start from a big canvas and size it down, it makes lines look less pixelated and much smoother. Also, what Ayattar said regarding resolutions.


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## funky3000 (Feb 18, 2015)

Ummm. Lord I can't really remember any specifics but I think I typically do about 1200x800 or whatever the aspect ratio is. That's after cutting the dimensions in half too. With the style I use, not shrinking it tends to make it harder to make smooth lines like I usually do. That's why my old picture of Valthera had accidentally hexagonal eyes. They were going to be round until that mistake, and I fell in love with the concept. But, from now on I prefer more ease with lines, so unless the picture is really just a bunch of small stuff, I need it smaller.


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## Blekarotva (Feb 18, 2015)

5000px for half bodies and up to 10000px if it's an scene. I work on such big canvases out of pure comfort, there's no reason to work on such big sizes unless you're going to do big prints.
Then resize to 1200px for FA, 2000px for my site and 3000px-4000px for the costumer so they can make personal prints. Giving the costumer a bigger file than you share publicly is an "exclusive" copy, something that is hard -if not impossible- to do with digital files.


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## -Sliqq- (Feb 18, 2015)

500x500 or 800x800,  I mainly do avatars & icons.


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## Zenia (Feb 18, 2015)

I start my rough stickman sketch at 300dpi, 600x600. Then When I go to add details I size up to 900x900. Inking/coloring I might go up for 1500x1500. Depends on how a 3.5px line in SAI shows up since that is the brush size I like to ink with. When I am done, I size a copy of the pic down for Internet viewing. Usually not bigger than 900px wide. I like to be able to see the whole picture (or whole frames in the case of a comic) without having to scroll down/across.

It seems silly that people think you should charge less for a smaller size. I mean, what about an animated 100x100 icon that took several hours to complete? Just 'cause it is smaller than a still illustration doesn't mean it should be cheaper.


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## JavaLeen (Feb 18, 2015)

I draw on A4 settings which is somewhere around 2000+ then after I settle on what I want to draw I crop it to my pleasing  which is still quite huge 'cuz I generally use the whole canvas for my drawings.
BUT
I resize my drawings before posting them in any of my galleries, especially if they're commissions. I hate it how I can't seem to unable the 'download' option on furaffinity and I do this to spite this.
The client gets the full version though, all the magical pixels that disappear in the 900-1000 px width I post in my gallery are the client's to enjoy. If they decide to upload the great version in their gallery for others to see and possibly download is the client's right to do so.


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## JavaLeen (Feb 18, 2015)

but like many people said around here, charging less because the resolution is smaller is just silly. People don't commission other artists for the drawing resolution, but for their skill in depicting their characters and ideas. That skill is not something acquired overnight and if one can't respect it, one better learn to. /wiggles finger at possible offenders


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## Maugryph (Feb 19, 2015)

8x11 600 DPI. That will give you plenty of pixels to work with. You can always crop down but you really can't scale up unless you want a blurry picture.


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## Hewge (Feb 19, 2015)

5500x5500

I'd go bigger, but SAI won't let me D:


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## Zenia (Feb 19, 2015)

Hewge said:


> 5500x5500
> 
> I'd go bigger, but SAI won't let me D:


I think in the options, you can set it to allow you to work at a max of 10000x10000 if your computer can handle it.


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## Centradragon (Feb 23, 2015)

Canvas size can be as big or as small as you want (the bigger it is, the easier it is to print it out/hide mistakes, though... haha!). People are paying you for your time/skill â€” if it's really a big deal to them, commissioners will probably ask for a certain size anyways.

Usually mine are about 21x36" @300ppi, because I'm a maniac. I'd work bigger but that's about as good as my processor gets. I don't work smaller than 11x17", which is what my laptop handles. :B


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## Skairin (Mar 6, 2015)

I'd recommend you go with DPI + size rather than just pixel width of canvas.
Generally A4 150DPI (colour) can print without quality loss at A3. You can tell clients that.

I tend to draw at A4 300DPI, 600DPI by request only because it's not like the image improves any when printing. Most printers I work with actually ask I resize the image to appropriate print size 150DPI, which means... A4 300DPI is about right for A3.

However, if you're doing b/w art, you can be asked to go up to 1200DPI. This is especially true of manga with digital tones, because the smallest tone 'dot' size will be dependent on your DPI. Generally if you're scanning something into the computer to tone/fill black you should scan at 600-1200DPI.

I should add, noting xxow's post below, that the sizes I'm talking about are indeed for clients that pay above the 100USD mark (my commission prices reflect this). Anything less isn't really worth you fixing details at 300DPI. I also charge a lot more for reproduction rights, but I do give clients a large file so they can put it on a shirt or poster for personal use. 300DPI+ does make lines finer on Photoshop though, so that's something else to consider. While I work most of the time at 50%-66.6% size, I do end up going to 100% and sometimes even 200% (effectively working it pixel by pixel) to fix bits like eyeballs and detailed jewellery.


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## xxow (Mar 6, 2015)

I generally work at 300dpi, sometimes 600dpi if I wanna be fancy, letter size/A3-A4, but I often crop or extend if I know the piece is never gonna be printed. I tend to actually _draw_ at a 25% zoom, 50%-60% for refinements. I try not to spend too much time at 100% or you get really into inane details that will totally be lost because it'll never be that big/that close to someone's eyes. The web version is usually resized to 25%, sometimes 30 or 40% depending on the final dimensions.

Clients don't get full size images unless clients _pay_ for full size images, imo. That means starting quotes at least at $100 [usd] and potentially going up, and explicitly discussing reproduction rights. I know most people won't do anything with reproduction rights that I don't cover with a CC license, so they don't really need to have files at the print size. I tend to give a web size, a larger size, and (if there's a bg), a version of each without the background.
That person who said you should charge less for smaller images sounds kinda dickish and like they just wanted your art for cheaper. I know a few artists who work at lower resolutions/smaller sizes and charge less because they feel they should, due to the lack of big sizes, but as others said, it's really the time/skill that's being paid for, and outside of specific usage rights and print needs, that's what's being compensated for.


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## Samandriel Morningstar (Mar 6, 2015)

3000 x 3000

I crop them sometimes if needed be or make them smaller as I see fit.


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## Appalachia (Mar 6, 2015)

I almost always start with 4000x4000 and then re-adjust the size once I'm finished.


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## RailRide (Mar 7, 2015)

2552x3300

The oddball figure is what my scanner produces when it scans a full letter-size page at 300dpi. Also I rarely work completely digitally (I'm much better at re-drawing parts of a scanned image than I am at sketching it out from the from the ground up on the computer), so almost everything I draw starts out as pencil-on-paper.

For display it's almost always resized down to a 750x1000 bitmap. Prints are generated from this image, as well as the JPG that gets displayed on the web, usually less than 150K for those with slow connections. I haven't gotten any complaints about the size or resolution of the material I display.

Commissions get the 300DPI image as well as the smaller ones, with and without watermarks. I archive all versions of anything I post (including descriptions and references used) on removable media.

---PCJ


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## Suid (Mar 15, 2015)

I normally go 1000x, and just resize if needed


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## Floogle (Mar 18, 2015)

9in x 12in at 300 dpi. I dunno, makes my lines look real crisp, though I usually size down to 1280p x 1280p to fit posting and sending requirements.


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