Need Photoshop help on my Super Powers card design

[Fire Marshal Bill]

Just got back from the printer and apparently i need to figure out how to lay out these bad boys 9-up on a page and add 1/8" crop marks or "bleed" . I think i have a pretty good grasp on what they're wanting me to do, i just have to figure out how to do it and save the sheet as a file to give them. I'm using Photoshop 6, so if anyone can give my advice on how to do this, i would appreciate it. I'm pretty good at figuring things out, so if you can just point me in the right direction i can probably run with it.

I also need to figure out what card stock i want to use. The machine they have there will only do digital printing up to 100# and i thought that felt too thin. She showed me some glossy business cards that were 16 point (why we're talking point now and not # is beyond me, but whatever ) and that thickness seemed more appropriate. Anyone know for sure what weight card stock i should use? If i go the thicker route, they will be printed off site, but for the same price i was quoted for the thinner stock. So that's what i'm inclined to do, even though the turn around will be "a little longer".

[Richard J. Fowlks]

PM me, I can help ya. I can either get the digital file from you and do it myself, or I'll do my best to 'splain it to you through the etherweb.

[MegomanJess]

I can help also. Right now I'm a stay at home dad so I got lots of time.

[megoapesnut]

My Bullmark and CIPSA cards are 130# cover, if that's any help to you.

[generic]

Holy crap! Super Powers cards?!?! That's awesome! Where does the line start?

[boynightwing]

I'm also willing to help. Though it sounds like you're already in good hands.

[palitoy]

Museum/PS/AHI/FM/LM cards either run 12pt on a coated stock or occasionally on a 14pt stock with AQ coating.

[Fire Marshal Bill]

Thanks for all the info an offers to assist. I think i have it figured out for now... at least mostly. One thing i'm still not sure about though. I created the card in Photoshop and the default is 72 dpi. When i finished my design, and learned more about dpi and stuff, i changed the card's dpi to 300.... which made it huge on my screen. When i check the dimension of the card, it is still at 2.5" x 3.5". Am i good to go? I realize i still need to add "bleed" to my final dimension. But, did this change in dpi do anything to the resolution of the photo of Superman i used or the SP logo in the bottom corner? I just don't want those images to come out blurry after they are printed. I guess what i'm asking is if i should start at 300 dpi from the get go.

I am also looking in to another option for printing based on a recommendation from a member. So we may be waiting a touch longer than i originally hoped to roll this first card out.

[boynightwing]

Yes, start at 300 dpi from the start. If you do it the other way, you run the risk of distortion. I would do the logo's etc in Illustrator so they are vector graphics. But I'm sure you'll be okay doing it all in Photoshop.

Here is a card I made several months ago, just for fun. The background was from Wolverine Origins. The rest is all me.

[Fire Marshal Bill]

Yes, start at 300 dpi from the start. If you do it the other way, you run the risk of distortion. I would do the logo's etc in Illustrator so they are vector graphics.

So what you're saying is that i'd be better off redoing it...... . I was worried about that .

As far as the logo, it is just photo-chopped off of a scan of an original Super Powers card back. I don't have near the skills to actually create the logo . The card you did is very nice, btw.

[palitoy]

Always want to start in high resolution.

[Richard J. Fowlks]

Yeah, high resolution IS the way to go. Also, you may have a problem with rescreening the dot pattern if you are scanning from a printed piece (if you print a screened image, it gets what's called a moire pattern, and it will NOT look good). I have a workaround since I'm dealing with scanning printed material on a daily basis, contact me if you need more info.

[Type Two]

Go, FM Bill, GO! You can do it, man!

[MegoSteve]

Hate to say it, but you'll want to redo them at 300 ppi from scratch or your cards won't look very good.

Starting at 72 and then just changing the resolution under image size means that Photoshop is guessing what the extra 228 pixels per inch should be. For lack of a better analogy, imagine you've made yourself a can of soup for lunch. Three of your buddies show up at your door hungry, so you add some water to the soup making one portion into four. What you end up with is four times as much soup, technically, but it doesn't taste anywhere near as good as if you started with four cans. The result is watery with just a hint of the original taste of the soup, just like adding pixels by changing the size of your image in Photoshop doesn't accurately reflect the original sharpness and quality of the original picture.

You can get away with some slight enlargement (just like you can get away with putting a little water in soup), but enlarging that much will make your image look fuzzy, the visual equivalent of watery soup.

Mmm, soup.

The reason your cards look so big in Photoshop is that your screen resolution is probably either 72 or 96 pixels per inch, so if you look at the file at 100% size, it'll be 3 or 4 times larger onscreen than the final printed product.

[Fire Marshal Bill]

Okay, now i'm hungry .

I appreciate all the comments and offers for help. I have PM'd with a couple of you, read your comments here, and spoke with a couple different printing companies. I think i have what i need now to put out a decent product. I have decided to redo the card this weekend at 300 dpi. I was concerned about the card turning out blurry from the very beginning. I want it to look as professional as i can. The adding water to soup example actually explains it quite well .

Soooo...... hopefully in the printer's hands by Monday!