Printing Your Own Comp Cards:

This is an added post to the topic I wrote about dealing with creating your own comp cards in Photoshop. After creating them, the next step obviously is to print them! Of course you don’t want to just go to anyone and since you’ll be paying out of pocket for it, you’ll want to make sure to find a printing company that offers affordable services without compromising the quality.

Not lucky enough to own a printer that can easily spit out clear and top quality digital images? Then I suggest researching various printing places. You could go with FedEx Kinko’s since they are the most conveniently located company but because they don’t technically specialize in comp card printing, you may not be happy with the results and personally and professionally, I wouldn’t recommend using them for this particular project. Of course if you have successfully had Kinko’s print out your comp cards with no issue, then by all means stick to it. Or if you want to have them print out a test copy to see what it would look like, that’s fine, too.

If you want to deal with a company that has experience in this type of printing for your modeling purposes, here are a few websites you can check out:

www.compcardexpress.com

www.buycompcards.com

www.zedcardprinters.com

Make sure to choose a card stock that is durable and won’t bend easily. The last thing you want is to have an accident and waste money on a bunch of comp cards that are bent and creased. The process of putting together an order for comp cards through a printing company is fairly easy and many offer simple step-by-step directions from beginning to end. Depending on how much money you have to spend, don’t worry about going over the top. If this is your first time printing comp cards, keep it simple until you get familiar with the process and have your comp cards in your hands. Remember, these aren’t going to be framed so they don’t have to super fancy or contain every feature that the printing company offers.

Most printing companies offer different quantity amounts for ordering your comp cards but it is highly unlikely you’ll be able to order only 10 or even 50. Many start their quantities at 100+ copies. How many will you actually need? While it can be overkill, you can safely start out with between 100-250 copies. Freelance models will find that their comp cards will go pretty fast, especially if you are diligent about getting them out for networking purposes. And if you run out, simply order more. But don’t go overboard and order 500 or more or else you may be stuck with a lot of copies. You never want to just throw your comp cards out there. While it is important to get them circulated, plan where, when and who you’ll be distributing them to. Your comp card is your business card so it’s important that you still treat them with care in handing them out and not just chucking them at anyone you run into.