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My process is to do any illustration work on paper and scan it. Then in Photoshop (at 300 dpi) I touch it up and add text and such. Then trace it in Illustrator and save as a vector file for the die maker.
You can usually download a die template from stamper, Legacy or Innova for example, and use that to line up your artwork at the proper size.
Zam has told me that that a 600 dpi Photoshop is also acceptable format for die makers. (correct me if I'm wrong here, Zam)
Yep, assuming the stamp is sized correctly to the diameter specified by the manufacturer/stamper, 600dpi pixel art is good to go.
I run a Threshold on the final flat file to get it to pure 2-color black or white. After that, it's off to the engraver in either JPG or GIF. GIF!?!? That's right, a 600dpi GIF made of only 2 colors is pixel-perfect and *tiny*. You can imagine the chaos if we publicized GIF as an acceptable format for anything in stamping. It's only good for the final submission to the engraver.
All the die files that go to our engraver are 600dpi pixel files.
Personally I've only submitted vector art a handful of times in the last 5 years... Neutron stock and D-Line stock.
Skulboy's process is similar to mine... it'll include any appropriate combination of paper/scan, processed photos, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Sometimes 3D modeling will come into play for source imagery (ex. MVP Proton).
Unfortunately, the only way to center a stamp properly is to do it by sight. Sometimes stamps need to look right more than be dead center (especially on non-circle based designs).
Legacy wants vector files for the artwork they except. Which makes sense after reading this discussion. Very interesting and u guys are super knowledgeable.
