Control Panel Art Question

[Vash]

I've got a picture that I'd like to make into a background for my future control panel.  I'm a little art retarded, but I think I can manage.  However, I don't know what resolution is ideal for a mamemarquee lexan control panel.  I have the dimensions of my future panel drawn up in sketchpad, but my worry is that when I send the picture in to mamemarquee it's going to come back extremely pixelated and shoddy.  To avoid that pitfall, what should I do?

[MaximRecoil]

Raster artwork should be created at least 300 DPI. The final resolution will depend on the size of your CP. For example, if it is going to cover a CP that is 24" x 12", then the resolution for 300 DPI will be 7200 x 3600.

If your artwork is vector then DPI and resolution don't apply.

[Vash]

It's 35 x 15.  How much should I scale up for that?

[MaximRecoil]

It's 35 x 15.  How much should I scale up for that?

What do you mean by "scale up"? The art has to be created at 300 DPI. If your existing art is less than that, e.g. 72 DPI like most images you find on the internet, it is no good for quality printing. You can't fix it by "scaling up" or whatever. You can't get more out of something than what was put in.

[Vash]

I mean if I'm going to edit the picture and extend a blank area around, what should I scale the resolution up to to allow it to still be a smooth final product?  I'm not looking to extend the main picture, but draw around it so that the picture I have is still the focal point.  What should the final resolution of the image be to avoid any pixelation of the pic if my CP is said size?

Edit - And by blank area, I don't mean just white.  I'm going to extend the image on the sides but just ease the colors into a light grey from the blue/white that currently borders the picture.  Meaning the main image will still be the same, but the surrounding area that I add in will need to be that unknown resolution. 

[MaximRecoil]

You need to find out what the DPI of your existing picture that you want to use is. If it is less than 300, the results are not going to be good. 150 DPI may be passable, but 72 DPI would look awful.

Even by creating a border around it, if the picture is 72 DPI, it is going to look bad when printed out.

But in any event, just multiply by the DPI to get your resolution. For 300 DPI, 35" * 300 = 10,500. 15" * 300 = 4,500. So 10,500 x 4,500 would be the resolution of 300 DPI artwork that would print out to a size of 35" x 15".