Publishing Layout

Illustration for print and publication often needs more than a canvas size. Pages have trim edges, spreads have centre seams, and important content may need to stay clear of areas that will be cut away or bound into a gutter. Lumi’s publishing layout tools keep those concerns visible while you paint, without flattening them into the artwork.

Layout boundaries are stored per image, saved with the project, and can be turned off when they are not needed. The goal is to give book, comic, and print workflows a clear sense of page structure while the layered image remains fully editable underneath.

Bleed and trim

Bleed defines how far artwork extends beyond the final page edge. Lumi shows the trim area as the live page boundary inside the canvas, with the bleed margin as a shaded overlay around it. This makes it easier to paint backgrounds and edge details that must survive trimming without guessing where the finished page will end.

Measurements can be set in the units that suit the job, so bleed can be thought about in inches, millimetres, or another familiar print unit rather than only in pixels.

Gutter and spreads

For double-page spreads, a gutter marks the protected zone around the centre seam where important content should be avoided. When enabled, Lumi shows gutter bands across the spread so faces, text, and focal points can be kept out of the binding area while the full spread remains one continuous canvas.

This is especially useful for comics, picture books, and any artwork that will be printed as facing pages rather than isolated sheets.

Composition guides

Optional edge guides mark the trimmed page area with subtle composition ticks. Guides can follow per-page divisions or a full-spread reading, and can use thirds, golden sections, or fifths depending on how the layout should be judged.

The guides are meant as quiet reference during layout and finishing work. They help placement read against the page that will actually be printed, not only against the full digital canvas.

Viewing layout on the canvas

Layout overlays are controlled from the View menu. Bleed, gutter, and guide areas can be shown individually or together, so an artist can focus on the part of the publication structure that matters at that moment.

Image > Enable layout turns layout boundaries on or off for the current image. When layout is disabled, overlays are hidden and view toggles step aside, but the boundary settings remain saved with the file for later use.

Saved with the project

Layout settings travel with the .lum project. Opening the image later restores bleed, gutter, overlay appearance, guide choices, and whether layout is enabled for that file. This keeps publication-aware setup part of the artwork’s working state rather than a temporary display preference.

For artists moving between sketching, painting, and print preparation, the workflow stays in one place: the same layered image, with publication structure available whenever the page needs it.