Sketch loses quality as I work on it

[Anonymous]

Hi All,  

I'm a newbie to this so please be patient. Started a super detailed drawing and am loving using sketchbook on a new ipad and apple pencil Gen 2. However as I've been working the noticed that the drawing seems to be losing its "crispness’’. Is this some kind of compression thats happening each time I save it?   

I've read that the ipad app is limited to 72 dpi is this the reason? Because when I draw it looks great but seems to lose quality as I work on it. I did start the drawing on the biggest canvas option to try and avoid a low quality end result.  

Can it be "saved" by importing to Photoshop or the desktop app or has the compression (?) lost the crisp lines for good? 

Mary Thanks!  

Here is a pic of what I mean.

[david.lau]

I would start at a higher canvas size when starting the sketch.  

Scaling a layer can cause some pixels to loose the edges a bit.

I would save a copy of your work.  The workflow is not very apparent....

The basic workflow is:

a. Start a sketch.

b. Start a new sketch and save the sketch that you are working on.

c. Go back to the original sketch (in step a) via the Gallery.

d. Work on sketch (in step a) and then start a new sketch. At this point, you can 'Save a Copy" of your work.

[Anonymous]

Well... seems that you've answered your own question.
72dpi is very, very, very low compared to the "standard" 300dpi.

Here's the issue: DPI is not equal to Resolution.

DPI means how many dots are PRINTED per every inch.

Digital software doesn't care if your file is 72dpi, 300dpi, even 900dpi.
What Digital Software cares is the actual resolution on your file, this means, the size in actual pixels instead of DPI.

DPI is only important if you're going to print your digital artwork / document. 

72dpi is the standard for Web Sharing, and it's usually good with pictures that don't exceed 1080p (p stands for pixels)

Now, in order to get a better picture is the following: Set a nice Pixel Size, I work with A4 size at 300dpi (again, dpi means nothing in digital painting)

ALSO: If you're saving your sketchbook files as .jpg, there will be a loss in quality everytime you create a copy of said file, because .jpg compress the file in order to make a much smaller file. This means that it will gradually loose colours, and detail, making each copy a more blurry and pixelated version of the original file. Is like compressing an already compressed file, and compressing it again, and again, and again, and again.