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I'll try to keep this as simple as I can. I'm just about to pen over a sketch on A4 paper but my intention is to print it on a shirt about A3 size. It's also a design which doesn't look very well when vectored and my intention is to colour it in Photoshop.

I've done some practice scans and expanded the black outline a bit to A3 size and don't see too much a difference on screen but was wondering if it would show when printed? I know expanding anything on Photoshop is complete no but I'm trying to find a shortcut to purchasing A3 paper and starting again.

Also, if this doesn't work then are their any other solutions other than using a drawing tablet to computerize the sketch?

Thanks to anyone who can share their experience and answer the question :).

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    Out of curiosity, what process are you going to use to print on to the shirt? If it's silkscreening you may have issues if you start using large numbers of colors or subtle fades. One of the nice things about doing things as a vector illustration is that you're forced to look at how your shapes are filled and how many colors you're using.
    – lawndartcatcher
    Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 18:33
  • Will definitely be done by silkscreening/screenprinting. fully understand the issues with loads of colours and fades and aim to keep that at a minimum. The main thing is that I want that handdrawn feel so it is either expanding my A4 drawing or starting again with A3 and need to know whether expanding an A4 page to A3 on Photoshop can work. Apologies if this sounds confusing!
    – NeilK27
    Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 20:34
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    You could try scanning it in at something ridiculously high like 600 dpi, then resizing it in Photoshop down to 300 dpi but keeping the same pixel count (in other words - scan it in at 600 dpi; you end up with something like 4960 X 7016 pixels. Resize it to 300 dpi, but keep the actual pixel size at 4960 x 7016. You will now have an image that's larger than A4 but contain the same number of pixels. Since A3 @ 300 dpi (still probably fine for creating screens for t-shirts) is 3508 x 4961 you can scale and crop to get to A3 size from your original scan.
    – lawndartcatcher
    Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 20:52
  • I think @lawndartcatcher has given you the simplest solution without needing to start again!
    – Jenna
    Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 20:56
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    Worth posting as an answer @lawndartcatcher
    – Jenna
    Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 22:52

1 Answer 1

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You could try scanning it in at something ridiculously high like 600 dpi, then resizing it in Photoshop down to 300 dpi but keeping the same pixel count (in other words - scan it in at 600 dpi; you end up with something like 4960 X 7016 pixels. Resize it to 300 dpi, but keep the actual pixel size at 4960 x 7016. You will now have an image that's larger than A4 but contain the same number of pixels. Since A3 @ 300 dpi (still probably fine for creating screens for t-shirts) is 3508 x 4961 you can scale and crop to get to A3 size from your original scan.

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