The Character Cafe

Using your digital images with Word Processor

1) Save your image in your preferred location and unzip its contents (using Winzip, similar program or your computer will do this by clicking on the zip folder offering you the option to extract files)

2) Open your word processing program (Word or Works to name a couple)

3) Along the top is a tab labled "INSERT"... click it and the drop down menu will give you the option to insert "PICTURE"... Different programs will do different things here, but you want to find the picture you want to print on your harddrive so go to that folder.

4) Once you open the picture you want to print there will be dotted lines around it.  You can size it by grabbing a corner arrow and dragging it larger or smaller until your desired size is achieved.

5)  You are now ready to print, or if you are like me, you don't want to waste precious cardstock and so you can repeat and add more images to fit on your page!

Using your digital images with photo program

To open your image using Windows...

1)  Save zip file to your computer and extract ifiles using a program such as winzip (most newer computers have a zip extractor installed already).

2)  Locate file(s) on your computer and open them in your preferred photo program.  If you do not have one, you can download Paint.net for free HERE.  It is said that it is close in comparison to the heavy hitters out there, but it's free!  We use both PSP8 and CorelDraw just in case you're wondering.

3)  If you would rather work with .pdf files, open your file (using Adobe Reader) and print using your preferred settings.

Tip for decreasing smearing ink

I just read about a product you can use to spray your image prior to colouring in order to seal it, but will still allow you to use your colouring tools, but I have to do more research on this topic finding valid sources for purchasing as well as product names.  Add yourself as a follower on our blog or a member of our site and stay in touch to find out more about this!

Hit your image with a heat gun (we have been known to use a stove too! shhhh) prior to colouring in order to decrease the chances of smearing ink.  This really depends on your printer type and ink type and so we suggest testing what works for you and your hardware.  We tend to avoid saturating the ink areas too much in order to keep lines looking crisp, and although we love to colour with copics and watercolours, we have managed to steer clear of noticeable smearing so far!  Good luck :)

Why we chose the file formats we did

We chose to use .pdf files for those that what the whole lot printed in one foul swoop and don't need formatting or anything special done.

We chose to use .tif files because they do not lose their integrity over time such as .jpeg files do.  They are crisp, clean and can be easily formatted for your specific project.

If you have any trouble with these formats, or are wishing our files came differently, please contact us and we'll see what we can do for you!