By Ahsan Khowaja · Updated 27 October 2026
How to use the canvas size calculator
Pick what you are setting up:
- A digital canvas for a print size. Choose a size (4 × 6 in to 24 × 36 in, A5, A4, A3, square sizes, or your own in inches or cm), the DPI and any bleed your printer asks for. You get the canvas size in pixels, the total megapixels and the aspect ratio. Type those pixels into the new-canvas screen of Procreate, Photoshop, Krita or any other app.
- A gallery-wrapped canvas print. Choose the size of the canvas face, the DPI and the wrap depth. You get the pixels needed for the whole printed area, including the part that folds around the stretcher bars.
- Check my image on a canvas print. Enter your photo's or artwork's pixels, the canvas size and the wrap depth. You get the resolution across the wrapped canvas and on the face alone, and how much will be cropped.
The formula
Canvas pixels = print width in inches × DPI, and the same for the height.
Procreate, Photoshop and most other apps label this setting "DPI", although what they mean is pixels per inch. For centimetres, divide by 2.54 first; for millimetres, by 25.4.
With bleed, the canvas grows by the bleed on every side: canvas width = (print width + 2 × bleed) × DPI. With a gallery wrap, the wrap depth replaces the bleed: (face width + 2 × wrap depth) × DPI.
Worked examples:
- 8 × 10 in at 300 DPI: 8 × 300 = 2,400 and 10 × 300 = 3,000, so the canvas is 2,400 × 3,000 px (7.2 MP, a 4:5 shape).
- 12 × 12 in square at 300 DPI: 3,600 × 3,600 px.
- US Letter at 150 DPI: 8.5 × 150 = 1,275 × 1,650 px.
- A4 plus 3 mm bleed at 300 DPI: the sheet becomes 216 × 303 mm, so the canvas is 2,551 × 3,579 px instead of 2,480 × 3,508.
- 16 × 20 in gallery wrap, 1.5 in deep, at 150 DPI: the printed area is 19 × 23 in, so the file needs 2,850 × 3,450 px. The face alone is 2,400 × 3,000 px.
- 11 × 14 in, 1.5 in wrap, at 200 DPI: 14 × 17 in printed, 2,800 × 3,400 px.
- 8 × 10 in, 0.75 in wrap, at 300 DPI: 9.5 × 11.5 in printed, 2,850 × 3,450 px.
Procreate canvas sizes for printing
Procreate's custom canvas screen takes a width, a height, a unit (pixels, inches, centimetres or millimetres) and a DPI. If you choose inches or cm and enter the DPI, it works out the pixels itself; the calculator shows you the same numbers in advance so you can compare sizes. It also matters because Procreate limits how many layers you can use, and that limit falls as the canvas gets bigger and depends on your iPad's memory. The app shows the maximum layer count for the size you enter.
Procreate canvas size for printing A4: 2,480 × 3,508 px at 300 DPI. Add 3 mm bleed on each side if your printer asks for it, making 2,551 × 3,579 px. Other common print canvases at 300 DPI:
| Print size | Canvas at 300 DPI | Megapixels | Canvas at 150 DPI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 × 6 in | 1,200 × 1,800 px | 2.16 MP | 600 × 900 px |
| 5 × 7 in | 1,500 × 2,100 px | 3.15 MP | 750 × 1,050 px |
| 8 × 10 in | 2,400 × 3,000 px | 7.2 MP | 1,200 × 1,500 px |
| A4 (210 × 297 mm) | 2,480 × 3,508 px | 8.7 MP | 1,240 × 1,754 px |
| 12 × 12 in | 3,600 × 3,600 px | 12.96 MP | 1,800 × 1,800 px |
| 11 × 14 in | 3,300 × 4,200 px | 13.86 MP | 1,650 × 2,100 px |
| A3 (297 × 420 mm) | 3,508 × 4,961 px | 17.4 MP | 1,754 × 2,480 px |
| 16 × 20 in | 4,800 × 6,000 px | 28.8 MP | 2,400 × 3,000 px |
| 18 × 24 in | 5,400 × 7,200 px | 38.88 MP | 2,700 × 3,600 px |
The bottom rows are big files to paint on. If the layer count gets too low, a common compromise for large prints is 150 to 200 DPI, which is still sharp from normal wall-viewing distance. The poster size calculator shows how low you can go for a given viewing distance.
Best Procreate canvas size for illustration
There is no single best Procreate canvas size for illustration; it is decided by the largest thing the drawing will become. Some guidelines that follow from the maths:
- Set the size before you start. Procreate brushes paint pixels, so enlarging the canvas later stretches every stroke and makes lines soft. Starting at the final print size × 300 DPI avoids that.
- Draw bigger than the screen. If the work is only for screens, a canvas two to three times the display size gives room to crop and zoom; scaling down at export is lossless.
- Keep the shape. Pick a canvas with the same aspect ratio as the final print or post, or you will have to crop. The aspect ratio calculator finds a pixel size for any shape.
Procreate canvas size for Instagram: Instagram works in pixels, so DPI doesn't matter. A 4:5 portrait post is 1080 × 1350 px. Drawing at twice that, 2160 × 2700, keeps the same shape with extra detail for zooming in. Check the current sizes in our guide to Instagram image sizes before you post.
Gallery wrap canvas size for canvas prints
A gallery-wrapped canvas is stretched over a wooden frame (stretcher bars), and the printed canvas folds round the sides and is fixed at the back. That means the file has to cover the face plus the depth of the frame on every side. Frames of 0.75 in and 1.5 in deep are common, but use the depth your printer lists. Most canvas printers let you choose what goes on the sides: the picture itself continuing round the edge (an image wrap), a mirrored copy of the edge, or a plain colour. With an image wrap, keep faces, text and signatures well inside the face area, because anything within the wrap depth of an edge ends up on the side.
The "check" mode shows what happens to an existing photo:
- A 4032 × 3024 px phone photo on a 16 × 20 in canvas with a 1.5 in wrap is spread over 19 × 23 in, giving 159 PPI. On the face alone it would be 189 PPI. Because 4:3 is a longer shape than 16 × 20 (4:5), about 6.3% of the long side is trimmed.
- A 6000 × 4000 px camera photo on 24 × 36 in with a 1.5 in wrap reaches 148 PPI over 27 × 39 in, or 167 PPI on the face. Both are 3:2, so there is no crop on the face.
Canvas texture hides fine detail, which is one reason 150 PPI is widely used for canvas prints. Use the print size calculator instead for paper photo prints, where the full 300 PPI shows.
Canvas size in Photoshop
In Photoshop the new-document dialog takes the same three numbers: width, height and resolution. The calculator's result goes straight in. Image › Canvas Size is a different command: it adds or removes space around the existing picture without scaling it, for example to add a bleed or a border afterwards. To make an image itself bigger or smaller, use Image › Image Size, or our image resizer for a quick resize in the browser.
