For artists · No technical knowledge needed

Paint it. Scan it. Sell it.

If your work lives on paper or canvas, it needs to become a file before we can print it. Here is how, in plain steps. Most people are done in under an hour, with a scanner or the phone in their pocket.

Check a file you have

It takes a second, and nothing is uploaded.

Scan it at home
Flat work up to about A4
The sharpest copy and the truest colour, if it fits on the glass.
Show me how
Have it scanned
Large, textured or precious work
The best result for anything big, for a small cost per piece.
Show me how
Photograph it
Any size, with the right phone or camera
Works well with soft light, a steady hand and the high-resolution mode switched on.
Show me how
It's already digital
Made in Procreate, Photoshop and the like
Nothing to copy. Just export it at the right size.
Show me how

What we need from you

4,961 × 7,016

pixels, at least

Enough to print sharply at A2. Your phone or computer can tell you a file's size, or let us check it.

The whole piece

and nothing else

Sharp and evenly lit, edge to edge, with no table, wall or fingers in the picture.

JPEG, PNG, TIFF

up to 200 MB

In normal colour (RGB). A high-quality JPEG is perfectly fine.

Scanning at home

A flatbed scanner, the kind with a glass top and a lid (often part of a home printer), gives the sharpest, truest copy of flat work. Most take work up to about A4, which is 21 × 30 cm.

1
Clean the glass
Wipe it with a soft, dry cloth. Every speck of dust shows up in the print.
2
Lay the work face down
Square in a corner of the glass, then close the lid gently.
3
Open the scanning app
On your computer, rather than the quick button on the printer, so you can choose the settings.
4
Choose colour
Even for black and white work: it keeps the warmth of the paper. Pick the highest quality.
5
Set the resolution
Use the box below. It works out the setting from the size of your piece.
6
Save it as a TIFF
If the app offers it. Otherwise a JPEG at the highest quality.

How big is your piece?

Measure just the painted area.

WidthcmHeightcm

Using a scanning service

For anything bigger than A4, textured like thick paint, or too precious to handle much, a professional fine-art scan is the best route. Print shops, framers and photography studios offer it, usually priced per piece, so ask before you book. Search for “fine art scanning” or “giclée scanning” near you.

What to ask for

They'll know exactly what this means. Copy it into your email or read it out.

“I'd like my artwork scanned for printing at A2 (42 × 59.4 cm). Please send a TIFF at 300 DPI at A2 size, at least 4,961 × 7,016 pixels, in the sRGB colour profile.”

Photographing your work

A photo can work beautifully, but it's the route where small things matter most. The big one: an ordinary phone photo is too small. We need about 35 megapixels, and most phones take 12 unless you switch on their high-resolution mode.

iPhone 14 Pro and later

Settings, Camera, Formats: choose Most Compatible and turn on the 48 MP option (Resolution Control, or ProRAW on some models). Then pick 48MP in the camera.

Android

Look for 50MP, 108MP or High resolution in the camera app's settings or along the top of the screen.

A camera

About 36 megapixels or more works well. Smaller cameras can't reach A2 from a single photo.

Get the light right

Soft daylight

Beside a window on a bright, overcast day, out of direct sun.

No flash, no ceiling lights

They make glare and tint the colours yellow or blue.

Out of the frame

Glass and acrylic reflect the room straight back at the camera.

Take the photo

1
Lay it flat
On the floor, or hang it straight on a wall.
2
Hold the phone square over the middle
Parallel to the work. At an angle, the piece comes out as a wedge.
3
Fill the frame
With the work, leaving a little space around the edges.
4
Keep still
Rest your elbows, or use the timer and lean the phone on something.
5
Tap to focus
Then zoom right in on the photo to check it's sharp.
6
Crop away the background
So only the artwork is left. Send the photo itself, never a screenshot of it.

If it's already digital

Start with a canvas at least 4,961 × 7,016 pixels (A2 at 300 DPI): enlarging a smaller one later won't add any detail. Export a PNG, or a JPEG at the highest quality, in sRGB colour. If your app offers a “CMYK” or “print” option, leave it off. We print from RGB.

The shape of your print

Our prints are A sizes, a little taller than they are wide. If your work is a different shape we fill the print and trim a little from the edges, and your Studio shows you exactly how it will print before you send it in. Keep anything important, like a signature, a short way in from the edges.

Check your file

Choose your scan, photo or export and we'll tell you straight away whether it's big enough. It stays on your device.

If something doesn't look right

The file is too small: Don't enlarge it in an app: that adds pixels, not detail, and the print comes out soft. Scan at a higher setting, use the high-resolution mode, or use a scanning service.
It looks blurry: Hold steadier, with the timer or the phone resting on something, and tap the artwork to focus first.
The colours look wrong: Usually the light. Try daylight with the ceiling lights off. A scan almost always gets closest.
There's a shiny patch: That's glare. Take the work out of its frame and move it, or yourself, until the shine goes.
The edges aren't straight: The phone was at an angle. Hold it square over the middle, or crop and straighten it in your photo editor.
It saved as HEIC or RAW: We can't print from those. Open the photo, tap Share, and save or send a copy as a JPEG.

Upload to your Studio Not selling with us yet?

Stuck? Write to support@exoplate.com and we'll help.