CPT vs JPEG issue

[Raya Wolfsun]

First of all, I hope this sort of post is solicited. The rules don't seem to say anything against it, but nearly all the posts I see here are about avatars and sigatars, so I have to wonder...

Anyway, these are 2 graphics I made some time ago. Both were painted with a mouse and the standard tools in Corel PhotoPaint 9.
1. End of the Waltz
2. Minx

What perplexes me is why all of Waltz and the text of Minx appear so fuzzy. They are sharp in the original .cpt file - I mean, to the point that you could see every individual hair on the girl's head in Waltz - so why on earth should they have gone weird when ported to JPEG? They were saved at the highest quality possible, too.

Any explanations, or ideas on how to avoid this sort of trouble? I'd appreciate it very much, thanks!

(The images are Copyright (c) 2004. All Rights Reserved.)

 

[MacMan]

JPEG is an incredibly lossy format at lower qualities. A quick look at your images shows obvious JPEG artifacts. The short answer: it should be exporting it at its highest quality, but for some reason it's not. Double check all of your settings.

 

[Raya Wolfsun]

Thanks... though it's still somewhat perplexing. In Minx for instance, why is the image sharp but the text fuzzy? The colours are also severely screwed up in Waltz.

I mean, I'm aware that JPEG is a lossy format, but it's only with these 2 images that I've ever seen such gross distortion of my original paintings. Weird, eh?