Turn Low-Res Art Into High-Quality Prints
As an artist, one of the most consistent streams of income you can have is selling prints, whether that’s online, at craft fairs, or at your local boutiques. But what happens when you have artwork you know would make a great print, only to find that it was originally scanned at a low resolution or that the digital file has become compressed? Prints need to be high-quality, especially at larger sizes, and digital retouching can be painstaking or just plain ineffective. Thankfully, with the Photo Editor’s powerful Upscale tool, you can effortlessly enlarge your artwork while also enhancing detail and clarity. No need to choose between a large size or a high resolution – with the AI-powered Upscaler, you can have it all.
How Do You Upscale Art Without Losing Quality?
Traditional digital resizing of raster images – including JPEGs or PNGs – always leads to a reduction in quality, particularly when sizing up. When enlarging a raster image, the tiny pixels that make up the image are stretched out, resulting in an image that looks blurry or blocky. Standard resizing techniques used in basic editing software try to smooth out stretched pixels by guessing and blending colors, but they can't add new details that weren’t originally there. If a piece of art has already been scanned at a low resolution, it’s impossible to upscale it using these methods without it looking pixelated.
In contrast, BeFunky’s Upscale tool uses artificial intelligence to reconstruct details based on the existing content, creating a clearer, sharper image even when increasing the size significantly. Colors and details will remain true to your original vision, and you’ll have a high-resolution print that’s ready for an online storefront, your local craft fair, or even a gallery exhibition. And rather than redoing or painstakingly retouching your artwork, the AI Upscaler restores and enlarges your image in just one click.
Can a JPEG Be High Resolution?
Absolutely! While JPEG files are commonly compressed and can lose significant detail upon saving, the Upscale tool can transform even a heavily compressed JPEG into a high-resolution, print-ready file. Once upscaled, you can save your file as a PDF for the highest quality print results, or a PNG for digital sharing.
How to Turn a Low-Res Image to High-Res
Turning low-resolution images into high-res files used to be impossible, and your artwork would either have to be rescanned or it would remain unusable. But with the Upscale tool, you can enlarge and enhance your image simultaneously – and it only takes a single click. Here’s how simple it is to upscale your artwork using BeFunky.
Step 1: Upload Your Low-Res Art
Begin by heading directly to BeFunky’s Upscale tool. Click Open to upload your low-resolution artwork from your device, or drag and drop it directly from your files. The Upscale AI will get to work instantly, enhancing fine details and smoothing out any blurring or pixelation. You'll see an immediate before-and-after comparison that clearly showcases the transformation.
Step 2: Make Size Adjustments
The Upscale tool will automatically resize your image up to 4x its original size, which is the maximum size it can provide. If you’d like it to be smaller than that for your particular print, you can change the output size. Once your image is at the optimal size, simply click Apply for the transformation to take effect. And if you need your image to be even bigger, you can return to the tool and upscale your artwork a second time!
Step 3: Save and Print
Click Save at the top of the canvas to download your high-resolution file. Note that a print-quality PDF is the best option for printing.
You're now ready to produce professional prints of your artwork at any size. If you want more tips on printing your file, check out our article on producing high-quality, frameable prints.
More Ways to Enhance Your Art With Upscale
BeFunky’s Upscale tool isn’t just for scanned paintings – it's versatile enough to enhance various art forms like drawing, photography, and design as well. Here are just a few ways the AI Upscaler can help make your artistic process easier and more efficient.
Raster Graphics
Graphic designers often face the issue of low-resolution graphics, logos, or typography, especially when using raster images instead of vector art. Using the Upscale tool, you can enhance your raster files, making them crisp enough for large-scale posters, banners, or merchandise. Use the Background Remover to make the background transparent so that you can use your newly scaled-up graphics anywhere!
Landscape Photography
If you're a photographer, upscaling low-res JPEG images is invaluable for printing. Large landscapes and architecture shots for commercial use can be lucrative prints to sell, but these images can easily look shabby and low-quality at large sizes, especially if they were compressed at some point in the past. Use the Upscaler to create large, panoramic prints that anyone would be proud to display on their wall.
Zines
Zines are home-brewed, small-scale “magazines” that often blend photography, text, collage, and hand-drawn illustrations. At one time, most zines were created at small scale or low resolution and distributed for free. But these days, zines are more mainstream and can help bring in significant income for an artist – especially if they’re high-quality. The Upscale tool enables you to enhance your older zine artwork to reprint at higher resolution. You can also upscale small drawings, found materials, and hand-written text for new zines, and get to selling and sharing your work faster than ever. Increase contrast with the Exposure tool for even cleaner results.
Elevate Your Artistic Process With the Upscaler
Whether your goal is gallery-quality prints, eye-catching portfolio pieces, or crisp graphic designs, BeFunky’s Upscale tool can turn your low-res art files into vibrant, high-quality prints in seconds. Don’t let compression and resolution issues hold you back from showing off your art – enhance your piece today with the Upscale tool!
