Document setup (canvas, resolution, color profiles / color-management awareness)
Setting up canvas size, resolution, and color profile so your file holds up on screen, in print, and across devices.
What it is
Document setup is the canvas size, pixel dimensions, resolution (DPI/PPI), and color profile you set before painting. In real work you get a brief or spec, then match your document to it — for example a 6000×4000 px, 300 DPI CMYK cover for print, or a 2560×1440 sRGB splash for a game launcher.
You choose pixel dimensions based on final use and needed detail. For web and most games, you think in pixels and aspect ratios (16:9, 4:5, square). For print, you think in physical size (A4, 11"×17") with enough resolution for clean lines and type. You keep an eye on file size so your brush doesn't lag and your file stays easy to share.
Color-management awareness is knowing what color profile your file uses (usually sRGB or a print profile), what your reference images use, and what your client or studio expects. In practice, that means assigning the right profile, soft-proofing for print when needed, and checking that exports don't shift or wash out from wrong or missing profiles.
Why it matters
When document setup is off, problems surface late, when they're expensive to fix. A canvas that's too small falls apart when a client asks for a crop or close-up. An unmanaged or wrong color profile means the piece looks one way on your screen and another on the client's, or prints muddy and dull. Setting up in CMYK when you're painting for screens limits your colors from the start; setting up in a wide-gamut space with no plan for how it'll be seen can give you colors that collapse when converted.
You can check it when
- ✓You can choose canvas dimensions and resolution for a piece based on its final use (web, in-game asset, print) and hit the needed detail without guesswork.
- ✓You can explain which color profile your working file uses and why, and you know when to stick to sRGB versus when a print profile is required.
- ✓Your exported files (JPEG/PNG/TIFF/PSD) look the way you expect on other devices and in clients' tools, instead of randomly duller, more saturated, or shifted.
- ✓You rarely have to rebuild a finished piece because the canvas was too small, the aspect ratio was wrong, or the color mode didn't match the brief.