Got my artscow calendars...

g8rbeckie

g8rbeckie

New member
and I'm kind of disappointed. Here's my take:

Pro: the paper quality is wonderful. each page is heavy cardstock, very nice quality.
Pro: the price was pretty good. $9.99 for each one.

CON: the photo quality completely sucks. It's really terrible. I'm so disappointed about that.

The quality of the calendar base and the scrapbook elements around the pictures aren't noticeably degraded, so I'm surprised at the poor photos.

For anyone else who has uploaded to Artscow for printing - size/resolution did you upload to artscow? I uploaded the same full-quality jpg I would have used to print a scrapbook page. SHould I have reduced the quality some myself so the filesize was smaller? Has anyone else had this experience?

thanks!
 
ive printed calendars for my mom from there for the past 2 years. I think before that I used Shutterfly.

I've been pleased with the calendars both times I've ordered. I use the same resolution as my layouts when I uploaded.
 
I feel the same way this year. My calendar base and stuff looks great but the photos themselves look different in print than they did on the upload..
 
I finally got my calendars yesterday. I ordered back in November and made a couple as Christmas gifts, so I was not pleased with the delivery time. However, I have to say I'm really pleased with the quality. The calendars themselves are really strong, and my photos came out really well.

I just used their blank templates and made my own scrap pages with photos for the top, and scrap pages with calendar grid for the bottom. So basically I didn't upload my images as seperate files, if that makes sense, the image was already part of an 8.5x 11 (I think) scrap page.
 
I ordered one for my mom back at the end of November & it just arrived Monday! Not at all happy with the shipping time on that. But the calendar looks great. The colors are very clear & sharp, a bit brighter than I was expecting but Mom likes it. I uploaded full layouts on mine rather than individual photos though
 
I ordered 2 from Mpix for my MIL & Mom and one from Artscow for myself.

I didn't see any major differences.
 
WTH??

I did what you girls described - took their blank calendar template, loaded my calendar top page as a full file, then loaded the bottom and removed the grid. But I'm telling you - the photo quality is HORRIBLE. pixelated and lowes.

I get my LOs printed all the time so I know the quality of the jpg I uploaded was perfect.

I'm so disappointed. :thumbdown:
 
If you ordered before November 30th and didn't get your calendars in time for Christmas they will give you a free photobook, btw.
 
I wasn't pleased with several of the pictures on mine last year either, but I thought it was just me because the elements and paper looked ok. I didn't even end up making calendars this year but now I'm regretting it and might use Shutterfly while they are on sale. I prefer the custom bottoms though!
 
Beckie, what were the pixel dimensions of the images you uploaded?

That is so weird about the shipping. I did a calendar for a friend of mine and I ordered it the first week of December and she received it before Xmas.
 
I always print with Inkubook- I've never had a problem with them at all- Artscow, though, sucks! I tried them for a photo book once and it was horrible! I'll never print with them again!
 
I ordered 4 calendars and 3 photos books during the last week of November, first week of December, got them all before Christmas and they were all fabulous. The only time I had any issue with anything I have printed there (and its been a ton, seriously) is the very first book I printed, the people who were naturally red, looked really red, that's it and that was a long time ago.
 
I have had a few things done with Artscow and I had the vivid pics on my calendars, too. But I cheated this year and used Dani and Penny's Quickpages for the top. I ordered mine October 15, when they ran a special for 7.99 w/shipping and they came the second week of Novemeber.
 
I still haven't finished the calendars :blink: and I was going for Artscow - but now... I am not so sure! It is so much cheaper for me and I put a lot of work in my grids...
 
SeattleSheri said:
Beckie, what were the pixel dimensions of the images you uploaded?

That is so weird about the shipping. I did a calendar for a friend of mine and I ordered it the first week of December and she received it before Xmas.
Click to expand...

Hey Sheri!

all of the files are 299 DPI, 3300x2550pixels, bit depth 24 (whatever that means!).

I made calendars from the same photos (smaller calendars) and I printed them on my printer at home and they look awesome.

grr.

so weird how inconsistent everyone's experiences are.
 
Don't know about the whole bit thing, but I did only photos for mine -- full bleed photo on the top -- and they look very good. I just cropped them at 8x10, 300 dpi. Worked well. Then again, I only paid $5/calendar with free shipping, so I wasn't expecting too much either.
 
I saw quite a few bad reviews about ArtsCow...exactly what you are saying - color quality was the issue, so I think they are a "hit or miss" kind of company.
 
I printed my first calendars at ArtsCow and was also disappointed at the colour quality. Moreover, since their instructions about the bleed were kind of confused, I ended up with 27 calendars that were cut at the wrong places. I have to admit that I cried when I saw that, even though I have a shared guilt there, not knowing anything about professional printing and bleed before.

BTW, is there any other company that allows you 100% customisation (grid included) and that has better results? The primary reason why I used ArtsCow was that they had this possibility.
 
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Sounds like your images were fine. I would maybe contact them and see what they say. They shouldn't be printing pixelated at 300 dpi.
 
helenvader said:
I printed my first calendars at ArtsCow and was also disappointed at the colour quality. Moreover, since their instructions about the bleed were kind of confused, I ended up with 27 calendars that were cut at the wrong places. I have to admit that I cried when I saw that, even though I have a shared guilt there, not knowing anything about professional printing and bleed before.

.
Click to expand...

Not that it helps you now, but when you upload there, they have guidelines right on the pictures that show you where it will be cut off.
 
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