DPI Question

[LooneyMann]

I'm in my last semester of college, and my Digital Painting Techniques teacher [we're learning in Painter] insists that we work at 72 dpi, and just set how many inches by how many inches we want to work at. She also insists that it will look just fine at 72 dpi as opposed to 300 dpi, and that it'll be easier to work with.

However: I work at my school doing graphic design [flyers, posters, etc] and we always work at 200-300 dpi. Furthermore, my school's having a gallery, and one of the pre-reqs for digital submissions is to be 200-300 dpi.

So here's the question itself: my friend and I are collaborating on a for-fun comic book thing, and I'm wondering if you guys think it's always better to work at 200-300 dpi so that it's best for print [like if we ever get published], or if it's okay to work at 8.5x11/72 dpi, and it'd still be okay for printing?

Thanks!

[aesir]

The only reason you wouldnt want to work at a higher resolution is if you've got a slow ass computer that chugs when working with a high res. If your comp can handle it, go high.

[gorillagrin]

Definitely go with 300 as long as your computer can handle it and it won't slow you down too much. It's way easier to drop it down to 72 than it is to up-res it and clean it up for print.

[LooneyMann]

That's what i figured, and then what my teacher said threw me off. x_x; Thanks for the confirmation. : )

[Jabo]

300 - 400 ppi is optimal for printing. And let go the 72dpi. It's a myth, and it's wrong. 72dpi(ppi, actually) has no meaning in any way, as long as you're not working on a 1985 monitor. Most modern monitors have a resolution above 90ppi. It's all in the maths, but no one (including teachers, I know) bothers doing the maths because it's much easier to rely on a 20-year-old standard.

[Elwell]

She also insists that it will look just fine at 72 dpi as opposed to 300 dpi, and that it'll be easier to work with.
It will look fine on screen, but if you try to print it it will look like complete and utter crap. :nohope:

[S.C. Watson]

It will look fine on screen, but if you try to print it it will look like complete and utter crap. :nohope:
Quoted for emphasis.

[mwillustration]

if you ever want to print it, do it at 300dpi minimum.
that's the standard for printing almost everywhere you go.

remember, you can always scale down and have it look fine, but you can't scale up or it'll look like you printed it off of the internet.

if you want to do illustration digitally, you need to show that your work looks good when printed, which also includes color accuracy.
so if you have a color calibration system on your machine, make sure to use it.
if you paint in rgb and don't use a profile setting to "preview" what it will look like when printed (in cmyk) to that specific profile, it may print way off from what you expected.
you're brights will especially look different, and duller overall.

[Jason Rainville]

Another vote for 300 dpi and your teacher not exactly knowing what she's talking about.