UPDATE: 01.02.2024 – This post is old. Since then, I have learned much, refined much, and also put all my desktop publishing skills to use at a commercial print shop where I learned and refined even more and became a prepress expert (although, there’s always more to learn).
While the information in this post can still be used, I find its accuracy to be limited and outdated. I have also found some of the writing to not be as clear as it could have been. In fact, I have made a couple small edits (indicated as such in the text).
It would be more useful to download my newest templates. It comes complete with instructions and facts:
Comic Page Sizing Guide Templates v02 (2024)
That said, I will be keeping the post up for posterity. Maybe one day I’ll write an updated post on the subject. Until then, I’ll let the new templates linked above serve as a more contemporary and accurate set of information.
Thanks for reading,
~Phillip
Being anal retentive, a technique-head, and needing to have a good method in place for comic page post-production, I’ve searched the Internet for as much information regarding comic book pages sizes and reduction methods. I’m sure a comprehensive guide is out there, but I’ve been doing this for years and I haven’t found one that is definitive, at least for me.
After doing yet more research and some calculations (with the assistance of, yes, a calculator and Photoshop CS), I’ve come up with a process that I can actually use to reduce my comic pages so that they meet today’s standard specifications… I think. All measurements below are in inches.
ARTWORK:
Paper size: 11×17
Full bleed dimensions (EDIT: trim dimensions): 10×15
Safe picture/text area: 9×13.5
REDUCTION AND PRINTING:
Standard trim size: 6.875×10.5
Standard print size, after trim: 6.625×10.25
Safe picture/text area, print size: 6×9
Comics are generally printed in a 2×3 ratio, but not exactly, and not always. For ease of use, we’ll be sticking with a 2×3 ratio and make adjustments if/when we need to.
1. Scan your 11×17 page. I have an oversized, 12×17 flatbed by Microtek, but I did used to use an 8.5×11 to scan in large pages and then spliced them together in Photoshop.
2. Once you’ve cleaned up your scan (another post) and have it looking the way you want, save it as a master copy.
3. In Photoshop, or some other comparable application, reduce the canvas size to 10.5×15.75. This makes the page dimensions a perfect 2×3 ratio at a good-sized scale that will result in having our safe area come out to a near-perfect – if not perfect (at least to the eye) 6×9 in the end.
4. Now, reduce the image size by changing the height to 10.5. This will (in Photoshop CS, at least) change the width to 7. If you are using another application, or a higher version of Photoshop, the scaling might be different.
5. Reduce the canvas size by changing the width to 6.875.
This process gives you the page size of 6.875×10.5, which is the size you’ll need to use when going to print. These dimensions will allow you to have full bleed pages, meaning that you can have images running off the edge of the page. The printer will trim off what they need to, depending on a page being on the right or left (if necessary), resulting in a 6.625×10.25 standard comic book size with a safe 6×9 area.
For this method, I’ve recorded this process as an Action in Photoshop. This way, I don’t have to think about it after Step 2.
Now, if you’re going to be printing a trade paperback book, then you have some leeway. You can choose to have this printed at standard comic book size (which is a good size), or at different size. If you choose to go with a different size, then you’ll need to figure out what size you’re printing at, then add 0.25 to the width and height of the print size. This way, you’ll get your trim size.
For instance, let’s say you want to print a 6×9 sized comic. This means your trim size (EDIT: bleed size) will need to be 6.25×9.25. In Step 4 above, you’ll need to change either the width to 6.25 (giving a height of 9.375) or height to 9.25 (giving a width of 6.167). Then, in Step 5, you’ll need to change either the width to 6.25 or height to 9.25, depending on how you completed Step 4.
If you want to have a print safe area that is larger or smaller than a perfect 6×9 size, then in Step 3, change the canvas size to a different 2×3 ratio. The larger the ratio, the smaller your safe area; the smaller the ratio, the larger your safe area.
For example, 11×16.5 is a 2×3 ratio. After reduction, your print safe area will be about 5.73×8.6. 10×15 is also a 2×3 ratio, and after reduction, your print safe area will pretty much be 6.3125×9.46875.
Now, these may seem like minute difference, but beware that if your print safe area is too small, there will be a lot of room between it and the edge of the page, so you you don’t have artwork that bleeds to the edge, that’s a lot of blank space. The opposite is true, too; if your print safe area is too large, there will be less room between it and the edge. In this scenario, depending on how large the print safe area is, you’ll either have too little space, you run the risk of having the artwork within the safe area getting cut off (if the safe area is too large), and you really run the risk of having the artwork on the inside of the pages get lost in the binding (DC’s reprint of V For Vendetta comes to mind).
This is why I like to stick with 6×9. There’s a good amount of space between it and the edge of the paper, there’s still room for bleeding art, and chances are artwork won’t get lost in the binding.
Hopefully this has been helpful to anyone who reads this. If you have a different method and want to share, or if you find that the information I’ve outlined here is a bit off, let me know so I can go back and re-examine it.
