7/16/15
Well, I printed out an actual cel today. The detail is stunning and would easily hold up to an 11"x17" transparency. It looks very much like hand inking to me. I could enlarge this quite a bit if needed. All of the attention to fine detail has been preserved, and my source file is 7K so nothing is lost. I needed to make a transparency to calibrate an optical measuring device at work earlier this year and found that other than accounting for a shrink factor between my CAD model and the printout, a high quality laser printer can make very fine and accurate lines. This is what convinced me to use digital inking.
Here's a scan of the printed cel with a piece of paper underneath it.

Even blown up, the detail remains.

Times like this make me very glad to be both an artist and an engineer. I'm not letting any artistic or technical challenges get in my way. This cel is going to look absolutely gorgeous once it is painted and photographed, both artistically and technically. They are equally important qualities, as one influences the other. The possibilities are limitless!