Preparing Calligraphy for Printing

[Erica McPhee]

Yes, Elsa is right.    (Hi Elsa, by the way - love your web design!)

I started with Photoshop Elements (it used to come free with scanners!). But since I was a professional photographer, I bumped up to the full Photoshop. However, you probably could do everything you need to with Elements initially. I could even do actions in Elements. I believe everything I have done in the tutorials can be done in Elements (someone please correct me if I'm wrong - it's been a long time). But I agree with Elsa in trying out the free trial first.

If you are a student or homeschool your children, you can purchase Photoshop at a very good price at http://www.academicsuperstore.com.

[emrdesignstudio]

Hi Erica,
Tanks and I'm glad to be here

Yes, Elsa is right.    (Hi Elsa, by the way - love your web design!)

[Selle.A]

Thank you ladies!

Maybe I'll try the photoshop elements since I'm just doing calligraphy for a hobby.

[Lynda]

Hi Erica,

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!  I like it here at the Forum and have started a new notebook dedicated to it.

I have a question about how to save something that is going to be sent off to a printer to be printed.......does it matter if you save it as a jpg, tiff etc  I don't understand what half of those "things" mean (and obviously what they're even called).
I know saving as a PS file allows you to still work on your piece before flattening it, right?

Thank You ~
Lynda

[Erica McPhee]

Hi Lynda,
So happy you are finding good information on the forum! 

This is an excellent question and I am preparing a very descript answer for you. I will post it as soon as it is complete! 

[Erica McPhee]

Hi Lynda,
I posted the answer to your question under it's own topic: http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=114.0. If you have any questions, please post them in that topic. Thanks!

[dreamingkathleen]

This is great! I bring my lettering into Photoshop and do some of the same things but now I see I do them the hard way. Your way is much better! I did not know about threshold and color overlay...amazing! I can use those all the time.

[Erica McPhee]

Thanks Kathleen! I am glad it is helpful!

Just remember the Threshold adjustment is to turn the work into true black and white. So what it does is force any "gray" areas into either black or white. It won't be the same for every piece of work (or every ink used). So 210 is just a rough starting guideline but you should adjust it based on how the lettering looks going higher or lower. You want a nice crisp, black line, without losing any hairlines and without noise being created.

I wish now I had included that in the video. So hopefully those watching will read the comments.

Thanks for your comment! 

[dreamingkathleen]

No worries - just making me aware of that feature is enough! I'm mostly self taught in Photoshop and get around it pretty well. This video is a great starting off point for getting us going and giving us basic tips.

[Selle.A]

Hi Erica!

I seem to have some difficulties with the magic wand tool. I tried to use it to transfer the word I cleaned up (after scanning) to a new document but whenever I use it, it would highlight the whole document I scanned instead of just the word I want. Also, another trouble I had with was the color overlay. I attached a screenshot to give you an idea. I used the lasso tool to transfer the word that I want instead of the magic wand. I'm thinking its because of the lasso tool that's why it's coloring the whole area?? Does that make sense?

Thanks!

Selle

[Erica McPhee]

Hi Selle,
Yes, that is why - there is too much white still included with the lettering. The magic wand will typically choose the whole document if you haven't clicked right on the letter. So if you can, zoom in quite close, and then use the magic wand to click on the widest, blackest part of the lettering. Then change back to the black pointer tool to grab the selected lettering and pull it to the new document. You should get a little tiny pair of scissors when it is over the selection.

If you are still having trouble with the magic wand - check to see what your tolerance is set at (at the top along the top of your document). It is usually set around 32-36. For straight black and white, that should be fine. "Anti-alias" and "Continguous" should be checked but "Sample All Layers" should not be.

Let me know if that helps or if you are still having trouble. 

[Selle.A]

OH IT FINALLY WORKED! Ahhh Thank you so much Erica!!

[tintenfuchs]

I do most things differently, too, but I tried your ideas as well.
One thing I can't get over is how ugly it all looks when zoomed in. The edges! Ugh. I had something printed and it looked just fine, but I still have the feeling that it shouldn't be quite so ugly and I'm afraid the zig-zaggy edges will show when printed on a larger scale.
As a graphic designer I'm used to smooth edges, but the threshhold command and also the levels adjustment (which I use instead) just kill the pixels in between black and white, which takes away many "filler pixels" and therefore the smoothness. I feel the need to fill this in with black again. 

[Erica McPhee]

Yes, I understand what you mean. It especially looks horrible zoomed in. At 100%, it should look fine. But there is a very big difference between how it looks in Illustrator and in Photoshop so I understand what you are saying.

That is exactly what the threshold adjustment does - it forces all shades to either black or white - no inbetween. So there is a fine line    that is the right adjustment - too far over and you have excessive noise, not far enough and you lose lines.

If you were to print it on a larger scale, you very well could see the pixeled edges because it is not vector based. However, I have printed calligraphy on canvases over 16x20 with no pixels showing, just smooth calligraphy lines  . But yes, no doubt, the potential is always there since it is indeed pixel based. 

[tintenfuchs]

I'd really love to see a scan of one of Joe Vitolo's works. I've never seen anything as smooth as his stuff.