On the download
Beren replies That’s great to hear Izzy! It’s an old debate now, but I remember the time where artists disregarded any type of photobashing as somehow not as ‘pure’ as coming up with an image straight from your imagination. The truth is, Donglu, as so many other artists who feature in the mag, are commercial concept artists. Their need to convey an environment or character quickly means using all tools and techniques to hand. And as you’ve noticed, there’s immense skill involved in doing this to create a unique end result. When I found out that Sam Nelson was going to do a workshop for your magazine, I was really looking forward to learning about his methods. I loved what he wrote – very insightful! When I went to download the resource files, it saddened me to see that the files were all such a small resolution and that the PSD had only two layers.
Ever since your magazine switched the resources files online, you started flattening the layers and lowering the resolutions of the Photoshop files. Those files are one of the most important part of your workshops because that’s where you get the opportunity to see up close the artist’s work and understand their thinking behind it.
So I ask you, could you please stop flattening the PSD files and let them stay at the original high resolution they were when the artist finished it please? Jeremie Locas, via email
Beren replies Hi Jeremie – thanks for your letter. Just to make a few things clear – we don’t flatten any of the PSD files we receive from the artists. We do reduce the resolution, however, for a number of reasons. Primarily, this is to stop redistribution of an artist’s work. If we gave out print-ready artwork, it might be sold online as canvas prints from dodgy sites (of course, I’m not for a second saying you’d do this! But some undoubtedly would).
We also drop the resolution to reduce file size, so that the downloads don’t become unwieldy. Even when we had DVDs, the art was always reduced in file size so it would fit on a disc. That said, I hope you can find some use for all these great files..