I need photoshop. Help!

not possible in photoshop, that's just the nature of pixels. you could try using the pen tool but even then it's going to go pixelly up close. if you want perfect sharpness you need to use vector art, ie Illustrator.

No, when you work with Photoshop everything's laid out in pixels. If you want something that stays smooth the closer you zoom into it, you want to use a program like Illustrator because it uses vectors (mathematical equations that map out where the lines go, rather than a grid of pixels like in Photoshop).

Aw man, Leon beat me to the punch. He always does...

like that time we raced to grow beards

thanks so much!

I know! You even gave me a few years head start.

youre zoomed at 1600% in that image...if you have your dpi up in the 300 range at actual size, you nor anyone else will notice pixelation when you print it out.

priscilla, do you normally use illustrator for your designs?

I use Photoshop. I have a Photoshop Coloring Tutorial if you need it.

oh so you DO use photoshop! ok awesome! does threadless mind when printing designs if it's pixely when zoomed/made in photoshop? lol

just work at at least 300 dpi and all is good.

work at actual size (ie a canvas size of twelve inches or whatever) at 300 dpi and it won't matter.

Yes, they definitely mind if it's pixely. No, they don't mind if it's made in Photoshop. Do as Ed and Steve said and work at 100% size and 300 dpi. They can print at 150 dpi so it's good to work larger than that in case they need to resize.

Read through the tutorial first and then see if you have any other questions :-P

ok i have another question (mostly for priscilla, but if anyone can answer it, that would be awesome!)
this is what i'm working on looks like at 100%



is this as un-pixely as it's gonna get, or is there something i can do about it?
if i zoom out to 50%, it looks better, and 25% looks even better...

Sometimes there are weird anomalies with Photoshop... at certain percentages it looks pixelated, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it IS pixelated. It's just a quirk of the program. If you're unsure, zoom all the way in to double check.

In this case, it looks like the edges might be slightly bumpy... this isn't terrible, but if you're picky then there are ways of fixing it. I don't know if you scanned in a drawing or if you drew this directly in the program so I'm not sure how to help...

i scanned it. and the edges are pretty bad. =)

Make sure you scan it in grayscale mode and not black & white

i did that and this...

is what it looks like. NOT SOLID!

Go to the tutorial and find the part about levels. That might help.

ok i will leave you alone now. thanks sooo much! really, thank you thank you thank you!

hue/saturation and make your drawing pop

i lost half what i typed because of accidental html... basically i think you should leave the marker texture, it adds depth and personality to a market overrun with clean vectors, just separate and and go to adjustments-hue/saturation

thanks! you guys are a great help!