What measurements do I start with for end result enlargement 43ft 4inches wide by 8ft 8 inches tall

[Alaska Dawn 907]

What measurements do I start with for end result enlargement 43ft 4inches wide by 8ft 8 inches tall

I am creating an illustrator file for a mural so that's why it's so big.

thank you D

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

If this is a wall graphic that will be printed by a display vendor, have a chat with them as to what they require.

That being said, with murals I have done, I typically do the artwork quarter-size, so make your file 130" x 26". Give yourself at least 1/4" of bleed at that size (for a final bleed when enlarged of 1" which gives the vendor plenty to play with). If you work with images at 300ppi (i.e., export your final PDF at 300 ppi), these will drop down to a very respectable 75ppi when enlarged 400%. This is more than fine for a large graphic like this.

[Alaska Dawn 907]

Brad,

130" equals 10ft and 83inches ! That's too big for an illustrator file to create with?

Thx 

[Monika Gause]

Please contact the printer. You do not want to mess around with this.

And if you do not have their contact details, then ask your client. It's necessary to talk to the printer. Everything else could just get more expensive than necessary. Maybe your client wants to pay more than required. But maybe they will later on just point at you for this. 

[Alaska Dawn 907]

Ok thx

[Jacob Bugge]

Alaska Dawn,

The quarter size suggested by Brad is within the normal work area (Canvas to use the PS inspired term) of about 227.55", so it is large but doable, even without using the Large Canvas which is 10 x larger and therefore could hold the full size, albeit maybe giving some (unnecessary) issues.

It also requires a nice and quite normal resolution (of raster effects and raster images).

[Jacob Bugge]

Alaska Dawn,

To elaborate on what MR said, you can also scale down to 1:8 which will bring you to 5ft 5in wide by 1ft 1in tall, which makes it clear that the proportion is 5:1, in connexion with a raster effect/image resolution of 600PPI.

[Monika Gause]

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@Jacob Bugge wrote:

Alaska Dawn,

you can also scale down to 1:8 

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Never heard of any production folks recommending that ratio. And if they then scale it up with a ratio they are used to - probably a factor of 10 - then you get a nice and wrong and expensive result. And that's why it is so important to talk before creating.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

True. Although they COULD use a one-eighth size, they don't like it. As a prepress guy, 400% is as far as I like to go. 
it might be prudent to split it into sections if working on a 130" wide is daunting.

[Alaska Dawn 907]

Very helpful. Thank u very much!

[Alaska Dawn 907]

Very helpful Thank u!

[Alaska Dawn 907]

600 dpi ?i didn't know it went up that high. I don't think that my iPad will handle that 🤔

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

That's a pretty big project for an iPad. You might consider moving to a desktop for this one!

[MR21850889ui59]

If your design is entirely vector, size doesn't matter, prefer small size to ease the load on your device. Your artwork can be scaled up to any size without losing details. If you have rasters in your artwork, discuss this with the printer. For such a big canvas, they will have specific requirements. You should contact a person who is already doing this.

[Alaska Dawn 907]

Very helpful. I don't want to distress my tablet working in illustrator app. Thank u!