Anybody got any graphic editing experience

[Devonai]

I'm attempting to convert the cover art I created for my latest novel from 96 DPI to 300 DPI.  The original image looks fine for Kindle purposes but the current DPI only allows it to take up about 70% of the paperback's cover.  Amazon recommends 300 DPI so I assume this will allow me to size the image properly for the paperback.  As with the initial creation, my tools are MS Paint and Irfanview.

As you might imagine, simply upscaling the image in Irfanview from 96 DPI to 300 DPI degrades the quality too much, but that didn't come as a surprise.  So I went back to the original B&W template and tried upscaling that.  It looks fine at first glance, with very little aliasing.  However, when I tried to add color and paste it into the background image, I discovered remnants or artifacts from the upscaling that turned my supposedly white background into a barely perceptible pastiche of off-white and dull gray.  So, right now my options are to start from scratch with a blank 300 DPI image, or go in like a surgeon and try to remove the artifacts.  Both choices are time consuming.

Any tips or tricks I'm missing, or am I pretty much stuck going back to the drawing board?

[cordex]

I recommend going back to the drawing board.  There's not a good way to upscale in a clean way.

[RoadKingLarry]

My wife does a lot of that stuff and when faced with a similar issue will recreate the artwork at the proper scale.
When possible always start with bigger artwork, going from big to small is much better than the other way around.

[Brad Johnson]

Throw it in P-shop and see anti-aliasing helps any. Can't hurt at this point. Also, start your next image project at 1200 dpi, minimum. The file will be YUUUUUUGE but it will give you plenty to work with.

100-ish dpi isn't hellishly awful, though, especially given the physical printing resolution likely to be used. Size the image to the approximate dimensions of your cover , leaving dpi alone, and print it on photo paper using an inkjet printer. This is a reasonable approximation of what the finished product will look like.

Brad

[Devonai]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I created the original template in MS Paint not knowing that the default DPI was 96.  Likewise, when I combined the first layer with the second in Irfanview, 96 DPI was carried over.

I have the day off today, and I happened to be working on a paperback version of my original trilogy.  After much vituperation, it appears that uploading images to Amazon changes the DPI regardless of what it was in the original file.  Despite all efforts, that image, which was 300 DPI to begin with, gets changed to ~192 DPI in the online print preview.  This results in Amazon giving me an oh so helpful error message warning that the DPI is too small.

 

I'm at my wit's end with this stuff.  Both images for both paperbacks are acceptable, even if they don't occupy 100% of the cover.  At this point I might as well authorize them as-is.  I mean, it's not terrible (finger smudges notwithstanding).

[HeroHog]

Send me a copy so I can look at it. I may be able to help convert it to Vector Mapped graphics in Photoshop so sizing won't be an issue.

[Devonai]

I appreciate the offer, but after uploading a different 300 DPI image to Amazon, and attempting to use one of their public domain images as a test, both were downsized to ~192 DPI on the cover template.  I don't know what the deal is.

After all, the current image looks just fine in print, even if there is a lot of dead space on the cover.  I've decided to roll with it.

[HeroHog]

Still, If you want me to look at it, I can.