Digital Art Lesson #1: Vector vs Raster

  • Oct 18, 2021

Vector vs Raster

Want to sound like an art pro? The promotional product industry knows just how much good quality art is pivotal to a beautiful end product. So with that in mind, read on and stay tuned for our Digital Art 101 series. Seeking to dispel the most common art questions and confusions. 

 

Today we are covering the difference between the two types of digital art files vector, and raster. 

 

 

While all manufacturing processes can accept vector art, many cannot use Raster.

So, when preparing art for production, it is extremely important to know what type of art you need for your final product.

 

Vector is a versatile art file that is produced in digital programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, inkscape, or CorelDraw.
Made up of mathematical curves, shapes, and points, vector art is a high-quality art able to be resized without losing quality.
 

As large as a billboard, or as small as a penny, vectors can do it all. Making them valuable for any production process.
Vector art is required for our silk-screen, metal, mold, laser engraved, pad printed, and woven products.
 
 

Raster Art

While vector art is made with math, raster art is made up of tiny little squares called pixels. 

 


 
 
Raster art is always used for photography, scanned objects, and is commonly used for traditional
or digital illustrations altered or produced in Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, or Corel Paint. 
 
 

 

Raster art is acceptable to use in any final product that describes the imprint as CMYK, offset printing, full-color digital print.
Our plastic cards, offset printed lapel pins, stickers, door hangers, Colorsplash drinkware, and buttons are just some
of the examples of our full-color products.
 
Raster quality is variable and has restrictions on what is considered high-quality enough for print.

Standard print quality is 300 dpi at inset size, so be careful to review and make sure you don’t end up with a blurry end product. If it looks blurry at 100%, it will likely print blurry.

 

 

As always, Cowgirl Promos is here to help you answer all your questions.

If you are unsure if your art is up to snuff, send it in with your order and we will help
you make the highest quality end product!

 

In our next blog, we will discuss how to know if the art you are provided is vector or raster.

 

Credit - Mary Huff (IDProductsource)

Photo by SIMON LEE on Unsplash


  • Category: Digital Art 101
  • Tags: Art 101, Vector vs Rastor, Identifying Art, is it raster?, is it vector
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