Production template
Photoshop production template of a mainstream American standard comic book, accounting for bleed, trim, and live area. Essential for formatting final art.
Production
Building the perfect beast
While your work is traditional ink-on-paper, print media is exclusively produced with digital tools. Photoshop has been the industry-standard tool to this end for more than 20 years.
Scanning parameters
To get each page done in one pass, you'll need a tabloid flatbed scanner. Resolution parameters:
- 400 ppi
- 100%
- Grayscale
Save each scan as a TIF with the naming convention of STORYNAME-PAGENUMBER.tif (example "sliceoflife-01.tif")
Budget approximately five minutes to scan each page. For instance, scanning 20 pages could take 90 minutes.
Print production
Preparing for print reproduction:
- Copy/rename your source template for print (example: sliceoflife-print.psd)
- Scale your new source template down to 60% (classic) or 66.25% (modern) at 400 ppi
- Export each page as a TIF as YOURNAME-STORYNAME-PAGENUMBER.tif (example "davidmarshall-sliceoflife-01.tif")
Post production
Fix issues missed on the original art (typos, redraws, etc.), convert grayscale art to appear as line art, templatize the art:
- Create an original size story template by copying/renaming our Photoshop production template (example: sliceoflife-src.psd)
- Paste scans into the story template, each page in its own layer
- Trim and rotate scans as needed
- Copy/paste from any corrections and post-production changes in separate layers
- Make grayscale art appear "black and white" with "Image/Adjustments/Levels"
Explore more
- Scanning quick reference
- Resolution: 400 ppi
- Scale: 100%
- Mode: Grayscale
- Format: TIF
- Naming: STORYNAME-PAGENUMBER.tif
- Example: sliceoflife-01.tif
- Time budget: ~5 min per page
- File naming conventions
- Source file: storyname-src.psd
- Print file: storyname-print.psd
- Export TIF: yourname-storyname-01.tif
- Print scale: 60% classic ยท 66.25% modern