Maintaining resolution when scaling - new thread

[allysa]

Hi artists!

I found an old topic on resolution but it didn’t quite have the answer I was looking for. I’m working in procreate on large canvases - 7000x5000 pixels or so, and was disappointed to see the pretty intense pixelation when I scaled a drawing down to the 1200 pixels per long side for the most recent critique arena (in procreate using the resize tool). Most other submissions are quite crisp by comparison - are folks just creating the original artwork at the right scale, or is there some trick to maintaining a bit more resolution? I know some loss is inevitable, but oof.

I also can’t even upload the side by side comparison bc the original file size is too large - I’ve a sneaking suspicion this is part of my problem - but you can see this image when scaled is pretty pixelated.

Someone please help me!

Thank you!!

[Griffin McPherson]

@allysa I can’t offer much help but I’ve often run into the same issue and been so confused by it. I recall other’s suggesting that you make an empty canvas at the dimensions needed for the submission and then you copy and paste a flat version of your piece in there. Hopefully that helps for ya!

[AngelinaKizz]

@allysa procreate is a pixel based program, not vector based. Any time you're scaling up or down in procreate, you'll have some loss. From 7000 pixels to 1200 pixels is a huge drop, and procreate is choosing what to drop. If it were vector, you'd be able to scale up or down without loss, as the program predicts how to fill in the gaps. But that doesn't happen with raster (pixel based). I work much smaller for critique arena. I usually work at 2400x2400. Then I copy the canvas, and drop it into the 1200x1200 svs template I've created on procreate for myself.

[Asyas_illos]

Yes, as others have said, in procreate you’ll have to work much smaller. I use a 4000 x 4000 pxl canvas then copy and paste the canvas to the 1200x 1200.
It’s very limiting and a bit frustrating but you get used it.