What is vector art? A guide to preparing your artwork for custom printing.
On the left, you will see “raster” artwork and on the right, you will see “vector” artwork. When zoomed in, the pixels of raster art are clearing visible while in vector art, there are never any pixels involved. With mathematically formulated vector art, we can scale any image to any size without losing detail! When using raster art, the edges are never clearly defined which can affect the final outcome of any custom printing process.
Preparing your artwork for printing! In this blog post, we will explain the difference between vector and raster art, how to prepare your custom shirt order and what you need to know to get your order printed sooner!
Vector vs. Raster Art
Vector Art
When screen printing and getting the most out of your custom made apparel, we always ask if there is vector art available. When working with a paid graphic designer, this is the first thing to ask them! Vector art is made of mathematical curves and paths to formulate your artwork at any size. This is the best form of art for printing your custom logo on apparel or any medium. When using vector art, we can make the design any size without losing any detail. Since the artwork includes a mathematically, built in formula; the edges and lines will never get blurry. Vector art is only created in vector-based programs like Adobe Illustrator. File formats include .AI, .SVG, .PDF, .EPS. This is very important for artwork setup when the method of printing is screen print.
Raster Art
Raster, or bitmap images, are made up of pixels or tiny squares of color. When put together, it forms one large image! This is not the most ideal form of artwork for screen printing because any scaling needed will result in blurriness or pixelated lines. We will need to adjust artwork to make it print ready every time! One of the easiest ways to identify raster artwork is to zoom in on your image. If you see tiny squares or pixels, that means it is raster art. This form of art can be converted into a vector image but will sometimes change the fine details. When custom merchandise shops charge an art fee, this is one of the main reasons because they must convert your raster art into a workable vector file. At Big Red Prints, we will never ask you to pay extra to fix your art but will strive to teach you how to be better prepared for your merchandise order. Raster art is created in programs like Adobe Photoshop and Procreate. File formats include .TIFF, .PSD, .PDF, .JPG, .PNG, .GIF, and .BMP. If raster art is your only option, we ask that it is a minimum of 300 dpi or ppi so the pixelation is kept at a minimum. Downscaling raster art is always the best case scenario so having artwork at a higher scale than needed is always best!
At Big Red Prints, we work with highly trained, professional designers to make sure your artwork is print ready. Whether you have vector art or raster art, we will make sure all artwork is usable to produce the best print possible. We take care of everything at Big Red Prints to make sure you are more than satisfied and ecstatic when you open up your box of custom printed merchandise for the first time!
-Nate (owner & operator)
