Digitizing Your Artwork
A common struggle that we’ve found with artists that we’ve worked with is how much time goes into making an original piece of art. An original piece of artwork can only be sold once even though it takes many hours to create.
A digitized version of that same artwork can be sold hundreds of times. Digitization allows artists to create an additional stream of revenue to help ensure that they are adequately compensated for their skill and time! Additionally, these images can be used for marketing on your website/social media, they might become part of a book on your work, or even part of a lifelong retrospective exhibition of your work. Digitizing your work creates a world of new possibilities for you and your art!
It’s definitely worth getting this professionally done to make sure your digital assets are as good as possible. It should be clear that only great technique will get you great files to make your reproduction prints from. Please understand that the quality of these files severely impacts the quality of the reproduction prints – and this can significantly impact their potential value.
We know how important quality is. That’s why we provide the finest materials and inks for your artwork. In order to maintain this standard we will need a high quality digitized copy of your artwork. Don’t worry, it’s simple and we’re here to help you with step-by-step instructions how to how to do this.
Images intended for print should be captured at the highest [pixel] resolution possible for the best print quality. Lower resolution images printed at larger sizes may stretch the pixels beyond the point where they look clear and sharp however it is amazing how large you can print a small file that is sharp and properly exposed. View your files at 100% in an image application such as Photoshop, this will give you an excellent representation of how the file will print.
You Can Get Setup in Under 5 Minutes!
1. Register
Complete the HiveMind Prints registration form.
We use this information to create your own personal site to sell your artwork prints.
2. Digitize
Digitize your artwork.
We give you all the information you need to digitize your art for high quality reproduction.
3. Upload
Complete the HiveMind Prints setup form.
This will let your personal Account Manager establish your automate print store, and go live!
4. Focus on Your Art
That’s it! Now that your prints are ready to go, all you need to do is share the link to your site with your customers/followers! You’ll be able to watch your print sales roll, providing you more time and money to focus on what matters most to you – creating wonderful art.
How to Digitize Your Artwork
First thing first – how do you get your original artwork into the computer?!
There are two ways you can digitize your artwork.
How to Photograph Your Artwork
Whether you want to make prints of your paintings or share your work online, it is important to know how to take a professional photograph of a painting. Our friends at Artists & Illustrators Magazine know this all too well and have provided a comprehensive guide to photographing your art for the highest quality.
Go to Artist & Illustrators Article
How to Scan Your Artwork
Apart from photographing artwork, scanning is another method for converting your art into digital images. You can pay a scanning bureau to scan your work with a drum scanner, but you can often achieve good quality results with a flatbed scanner at home.
Go to Art Web.com for more information
Photoshopessentials.com – Where Everyone Can Learn Photoshop!
Photoshopessentials.com have everything you need you for coming to grips with the vast world of the Adobe Creative Cloud.
We strongly recommend their tutorials and content to help you on your journey in the digital world.
Resize Images without Losing Quality
Aspect ratios are crucial to scaling your image across the widest range of print sizes available. That means that if you would like to see you art across more prints, you’ll need to resize it – without losing any of its quality!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC4rI2dYd-4&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=PhotoshopEssentials
How to Crop and Resize for Frames
While it’s not essential to crop and resize your images with HiveMind Prints to be included in our fantastic frames and matted frames, it can add an extra quality to your artwork. This video is a great guide on how to do just that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VdGaMvXmfA&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=PhotoshopEssentials
How to Crop Images in Photoshop
Othertimes, we don’t have to skew the image to adjust its aspect ratio. The video below goes through how you can crop your image to achieve the same change in the ratio and put your print across a wider range of sizes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IPsFtYQ6UI&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=PhotoshopEssentials
How to Enlarge Images in Photoshop
Sometimes when we want to make an image larger we compromise the quality by stretching the initial pixel quality. It’s important to know how to preserve the integrity of your artwork during this process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dfJWqklrGY&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=PhotoshopEssentials
G-Drive Access
Access permissions can be tricky. Here’s one of our HiveMind Account Managers showing you the exact process to make it as easy as possible.
https://www.hivemindprints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/g-drive-instructional.mp4
Dropbox Access