Getting some distance from your work is essential to understand how it looks and feels for an outside reader. Printing is one of the best ways to accomplish that.
In the FILE > NEW… > COMIC:: MULTIPLE PAGES section, check the Option: Open the appropriate page. the option to align crop marks and set pages up as double-page spreads. This is a printing customization that your printer will appreciate you making.
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Make Sure Your Artwork is Clean
When a comic book is printed, it will go through several different stages before being read and enjoyed by readers. Paying attention to every detail is essential to ensure the final product is high-quality and enticing. Many things must be considered when printing a comic book, whether a simple text-only funny or a complex illustrated story.
An excellent place to start is by ensuring your artwork is clean. This means removing stray lines and ensuring everything is centered correctly.
Another thing to remember is that if you’re using a digital medium, ensure your artwork is scanned at 300 DPI or higher. Otherwise, it will print blurry and pixelated.
Another thing to remember is that a quality comic bag can help protect your comics from damage. When choosing a funny bag, look for one that is acid-free, lignin-free, and buffered (to neutralize acids). Choose a polyester comic bag (sometimes known by the brand names Mylar or Melinex). These are the best bags available.
Make Sure Your Artwork Has Bleeds
While many comic book creators are used to working with the RGB spectrum, print mediums like physical printers must use the CMYK. This means that any colors in your artwork need to be converted from RGB to CMYK before printing. This will ensure that your color looks right when printed and does not appear washed out or oversaturated.
When preparing your files, ensuring they have bleeds and trims is essential. The bleed is the area that will be cut off when your comic is printed, and the trim is the area that will remain. You must leave at least a 1/4″ of space between your live location and the trim size to ensure your art isn’t accidentally cut off when printing.
This is especially true if you plan on having your comic bound using saddle stitching, which requires that each page be folded in half and stapled along the spine. If you’ve ever tried to pin a paperback comic with text or images that extend up to the edges, you know this can be incredibly difficult and even dangerous.
Make Sure Your Artwork is in the Right Format
Your printing method will significantly impact your comic’s final look. You’ll want to use a high-quality paper that will feel good in your hand and stand up to repeated readings. A glossy paper will make colors pop, while a matte paper will give your comic a more subdued look.
You’ll also want to ensure your artwork is in the correct file format. Your copy shop may have specific requirements for what file formats they accept, so be sure to ask if you need more clarification. It’s also good to check out any file submission guidelines your copy shop has posted online.
Depending on the size of your project, you’ll need to decide whether you want to saddle stitch or perfect-bind your comic. Saddle stitch binding is an excellent option for comics that are less than 64 pages long. With this binding style, your comic will be glued in the middle with flexible glue, and then the edges will be trimmed to achieve a crisp edge. Perfect binding is a better option for 64 pages or more comics.
Make Sure Your Artwork is Scaled Properly
Most comic books today are created digitally, meaning the artwork is scanned into computers and then manipulated through editing software. This is a great way to get crisp images with lots of detail and shading. However, it’s important to remember that the image’s resolution depends on its print size (not its screen size). Scanning something at a low resolution will look blurry when printed, even if it looks clear on the computer.
Another thing to remember is that print shops usually prefer PDF files, so make sure your artwork is in that format before handing it over to the printer. It’s also a good idea to ask the printer what file submission guidelines they have and to follow them closely.
Finally, reviewing the comic with an eagle’s eye is essential before sending it to the printer. This will help you catch any grammatical errors or typos and ensure the art and text are all in the correct places. The last thing you want is to end up with a comic book that looks terrible or has mismatched panels.
Make Sure Your Artwork is Ready to Print
The story behind a comic book is more than just the pencils, inks, and colors that bring it to life. Dozens of people work on the project from start to finish: the writer, editor, letterer, and colorist, among others. It takes an expert printer to get that story from their computers to your hands.
When preparing your artwork, it is essential to remember that comics are made for reproduction. That means you should always consider how your art will look once printed on paper. That is why thinking about dpi (dots per inch) is essential when scanning your art. Dpi is the resolution at which your art will print, and if you watch it at too low of a resolution, your images will appear blurry.
When making your comic book, it is also essential to consider binding options. Saddle stitch binding is the most common and inexpensive way to bind your comic, but it is also possible to use perfect-bound bindings, which look great on bookshelves.
