ComiXpress Technical Specifications
We tried to address as much here as we could - we encourage you to contact us if you have any additional questions while preparing your files. Incorrectly prepared files will be returned to the creator for corrections.
Page Sizes
- ComiXpress traditional comic page size
- Trim: 6.625x10.25”
Live Area: 6x9”
Margins: Top: .5”, Bottom: .75”, Sides: .3125”
Bleed: 6.875x10.5” - ComiXpress minicomic page size
- Trim: 5x8”
Live Area: 4.375x7.375”
Margins: Top: .3125”, Bottom: .3125”, Sides: .3125”
Bleed: 5.25x8.25" - ComiXpress Zine page size
- Trim: 8x10.5”
Live Area: 7.375x9.5”
Margins: Top: .5”, Bottom: .5”, Sides: .3125”
Bleed: 8.25x10.75” - ComiXpress digest comic page size
- Trim: 6x9”
Live Area: 5.375x8”
Margins: Top: .375”, Bottom: .625”, Sides: .3125”
Bleed: 6.25x9.25” - Explanation of terms
Trim – the edge of the comic book page. This is the finished size of your book.
Live Area – the middle of the comic page. The area that all important art, type, word balloons, etc should appear. No necessary art, type or graphics should appear outside this area. If your supplied art contains type or image outside the live area there is the possibility that it will be cut off during trimming.
Margins – the white area above, below, left and right of the live area. Art can continue outside the live area into the margins, but this should never be a crucial part of the page as it comes close to the trim line and could be cut off.
Bleed – the portion of art at the edge of the comic page that extends beyond the trim size. If your art goes to the edge of the page, it is important that there is enough extra art to extend past the trim line. This is so that we can cut into the art so no white edge will be left on the page after trimming. Art that extends into the bleed will be cut off at the trim line, and should never include type or word balloons (unless you want them to be trimmed off at the page edge for some artistic reason).
Note: the size of a traditional comic page and a minicomic page are proportionate. This is important if you have created your comic pages according to the full comic size specifications but decide to print them at minicomic size.
You can download the ComiXpress standard comic page template in Adobe Illustrator format. Open this file in Adobe Illustrator to take full advantage of the guides included in the file.
File Resolution & Color Mode
All pixel-based graphics files (such as Photoshop PSDs, TIFs, JPGs, etc) should be 300 dpi for both full color files (such as covers, or interior pages if printing those in color), as well as Grayscale and black & white files (inside front and back covers, interior black and white pages, etc).
DPI stands for “dots per inch” and can be adjusted in Photoshop under:
Image > Image Size > in the Resolution box at the popup window’s bottom.
This would be used to reduce a higher DPI file and should not be used to increase a lower resolution file as this will result in a blurry image when printed.
You can change the color mode of your file under:
Image > Mode > and select either Grayscale or CMYK color as needed.
Important: Please note that ComiXpress prints in CMYK colors, not RGB or Index. Color files supplied in this mode will print inaccurately, and ComiXpress will not be held responsible for the color difference of the printed piece.
File Types & Preparation
ComiXpress accepts the following types of files:
- Photoshop (.psd)
- Tiff (.tif)
- JPEG (.jpg) *
- EPS (.eps)
- Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
- Adobe InDesign (.indd)
- QuarkXpress (.qxd)
- Adobe Acrobat PDF (.pdf)
* We do not accept web-resolution 72 dpi JPGs; only high resolution JPGs according to our File Resolution specifications.
Traditionally art files will be created and finalized by you in Adobe Photoshop and/or Illustrator, and composed in a desktop publishing program such as QuarkXpress, Adobe InDesign or Adobe Acrobat.
The preferred file type for printing with ComiXpress is Adobe Acrobat PDF. Supply one PDF for the interior of the book and a second PDF of the covers. The cover file should be four individual pages only, and the pages should be in this order: front, back, inside front and inside back.
Preparing a PDF File
- Before processing the PDF make sure all art files are up to date and all fonts are active.
- In the Page Setup box of your layout program (ie: QuarkXpress, or InDesign) specify a .125” bleed and turn off trim marks.
- Create as single pages, not spreads.
- Set Image Resolution to 300 dpi with JPEG compression.
- Make sure all fonts are embedded under Document Info > Fonts.
If you are using Adobe Acrobat Distiller, you can download our ComiXpress Job Settings file. You load it into Distiller under: Settings > Add Adobe PDF Settings > then browse to the file and add it. This PDF settings file was created using Adobe Distiller 6.0 for MAC, and may not work with older versions of Acrobat Distiller or on all operating systems. If this settings file does not load, follow these screen shots for your settings.
Important: save all of your interior pages as single pages, not spreads and do not use auto page numbering in Quark or InDesign.
We will rearrange the pages into printer spread forms before going to press, and if your supplied files are sent to us as spreads items on facing pages may becomes shifted or jump to another page entirely. Auto numbered pages will print with the wrong page numbers on the pages after we move pages around for press position. If you plan to number your pages do so manually!
If you do supply us with Quark, InDesign or Illustrator files instead of a PDF with the fonts embedded, be sure you include your font files with your job! If you send us your files in Quark or InDesign, be sure to include all support files (images, such as .tif and .eps files) as well as font files along with your .qxd or .indd.