I used to just hit 'save as jpeg' and call my digital art done

For years, I'd finish a piece in Photoshop, save a low-res jpeg, and post it online. That was it. My work always looked flat and a bit muddy compared to others. The change came about six months ago when I was trying to print a piece for a friend. The colors were totally wrong. I started digging and learned about color profiles and file formats. Now, I always export a high-quality PNG with a transparent background for online stuff, and a separate TIFF file with the Adobe RGB profile if printing is even a possibility. It adds maybe two minutes to my process, but the difference in how crisp and vibrant my art looks is huge. Has anyone else had a specific file type or setting that made their digital art look way better?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole_mitchell5712d ago

That "flat and muddy" look was my life until I learned about PNGs.

emery_jenkins12d ago

Yeah but pngs can get huge, right? I still mess with jpegs for most things, @cole_mitchell57. Just gotta watch the compression.

terry_mitchell7d ago

Totally get what you mean, @cole_mitchell57, switching to PNG was a game changer for me too.