Enlarging images: One artist's process

Ever tried printing an image from your computer, only to find it comes out as a 2x3 inch rectangle in the middle of an A4 sheet of paper? Then you hit "fit to paper" and print again and it comes out all blurry?

The way to solve this problem is by enlarging the image using a method that won't cause it to go blurry. Below you will find the basic instructions to the method I use. It's definitely not the only method and it's quite possibly not the best method, but it works fairly consistently and has only a few steps.

First up, you'll obviously need the image above for this tutorial.

You'll also need a program that works in vectors and a photoediting program. I will be using Adobe Illustrator, but Inkscape will probably work just as well.

You'll also need a fair working knowledge of your chosen programs, though this is fairly straightforward stuff.

The short answer is: Yes, probably. That is the beauty of creating vector images - even an image just a few pixels wide can be vectorised!

Of course, if you have the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel saved as a 50x50 px image, that probably won't work - you can't create detail using this method, you can only enhance it. A little common sense and experimentation will quickly show you which images will work well and which won't. Play around with it to see what you can achieve.

Do you have large blocks of one colour? The first to check is the number of colours you have set. If this number is too low, the program will interpret similar colours as being the same in order to meet the maximum number. To fix this, simply hit ctrl+z and do the trace over with a higher number of colours set.

The other setting that can cause big patches of colour is the "minimum area" setting. If this is too high, too many pixels may be interpreted as single pieces of the image. To fix this, hit ctrl+z and do the trace over with a lower minimum area setting.

If you have other problems, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll see what I can do for you :)

Simple enough, if you want the image to be wider or higher, just drag it from the side or the top without holding the shift key. Be aware that the image will be distorted if you do this. Depending on the subject matter, though, some distortion may not matter. Play with it and see if you like it, you can always hit ctrl+z if you do something you don't like.

That's the beauty of vector images - not even the sky is the limit! Want to make an image big enough to see from space? You could concievably do that with a vector, provided you have a big enough printer.

Incidentally, if you do have a big enough printer, would you let me know?

Well done, you've got yourself a big, useable image! Obviously this technique is easily adaptable to just about any image, if you play with the settings when you trace.

I'm sure this is not the only way to do this, and it's probably not even the best, but it's the way I do it and I hope it's at least a little helpful.