When In Doubt, Choose a Larger Canvasīefore we talk about the specifics of choosing the right canvas, it’s important to understand how much wiggle room you have. As we’ll talk about later, as long as you have your DPI set correctly, you only need to know either your pixel dimensions or your inches in order to setup your canvas. These are most of the standard print sizes, but if you need something different, check out this great Pixel-to-Print Size Calculator. And, as we’ll talk about more in depth in the next section, choose a larger size if you’re not exactly sure what size you’ll want or need. These dimensions are based on 300 DPI, which is generally considered to be the minimum DPI for print work. That said, if you couldn’t care less about how all of this works and just want a clear answer on what size canvas you should pick for your digital art, I totally get it. Later in this post, we’ll talk about what you need to consider when choosing a DPI for your canvas and how it impacts its size. How the heck do we know the size of Instagram posts? Quick Guide to Choosing a Canvas Size Not to mention that it becomes more complicated when thinking about digitally displaying your work. We have to think about DPI, which will change the size of your canvas, even if you’re still aiming for an 8×10 print at the end of the day. Ok, but it isn’t really that simple because our canvas size isn’t all that matters. So, if you eventually want to print an 8×10 print, make your canvas 8×10. If you plan to print your work, it really is as simple as choosing a canvas that’s the size of your desired final product. The DPI of your canvas should be at least 150 for web work and 300 for print work. The size of your canvas designed for the web depends on the platform you plan to display it on. Use an inch to pixel converter to find your dimensions in pixels. So, the question is, what’s a good canvas size for digital art?įor printed work, your digital art canvas should be the same size as your desired final print. It’s so easy to choose the wrong sizing and make a mistake. But, what about digital art? The canvas is the size of my screen, whether it’s small or large. It’s easy to walk into an art store, see a canvas that will fit on that empty spot of the wall and know for certain that it’s the right size of canvas that you need.