As an artist or photographer, the quality of your work is your livelihood. To ensure that your fine art prints are as clear, enduring and high-quality as possible, it’s important to choose a printing process that reflects your needs.
Settling for standard printing is ok for standard documents – but when it comes to fine art printing, the options provided by digital printing experts turn images into works of art.
Fine art printing isn’t just for the pro’s – whether your prints are your work, or you are an individual looking for a perfect print, there are a number of options to choose from in order to be provided with your best work yet.
Take a look at four fine art printing options available at Creffield that can take your images to the next level.
Giclée is the real deal. A digital printing process that uses ink-jet printers to produce the highest quality results, giclée is for fine art prints that really matter.
If you’re an artist or photographer looking to display or sell your work, giclée printing is the only printing option guaranteed to do your art justice. Giclée can also be printed on archival media, to ensure longevity and create long-lasting prints.
Canvas prints can be used for all sorts of purposes – from artists high-quality work, to everyday people looking to print artwork or create a unique gift.
But common and varied uses doesn’t mean they should be produced with lower quality. At Creffield, our canvas printing uses giclée and then 2 coat liquid laminate, stretched and finished with framers’ tape and hanging wire – turning every canvas print into a fine art print.
With canvas printing, you can replicate or reproduce artwork on canvas, or print an image and paint over the top to create an entirely new piece.
Keeping digital copies of everything is commonplace these days – but how do you ensure quality and clarity of a physical fine art print in the digital realm?
The answer is image capture – a process that allows you to capture an original piece of art or photograph, with every detail and nuance, and store it as a digital file. This process is perfect for both professionals and amateurs, allowing you to:
There is something special about an original, but not every piece of art was made to be a one-off. If you wish to make multiple copies of your work, original replications make it fast and easy.
Using image capture and digital printing technology, multiple copies of an original piece can be made without compromising quality or detail. Turn one fine art print into many and enjoy endless possibilities – from promotion, to display, to sales.
While there’s a range of fine art printing options that can deliver you great results, they’re not always the right one for your project – and they’re definitely not all easy to achieve.
Utilising fine art printing experts ensures you get the desired result every time – and will guarantee consistency across your orders, every time you print.
At Creffield Digital Print, we use leading digital printing technology, years of fine art print knowledge and world-class customer service to deliver the best fine art printing services across Melbourne and Geelong.
We will always:
Want to know more? Click here to see our range of fine art printing in Melbourne and Geelong, or contact us to learn more about our fine art printing processes.
Now that you understand just how awesome these prints really are, let’s get down to technique. What does the term “Giclée” really mean? It’s actually quite simple, despite how it sounds.
It boils down to three things:
High Quality Art File
Special Printer
Special Paper
All art prints should originate from a high quality file, but when it comes to Giclée printing, this is a must. The expensive inks and papers will do nothing if your image is blurry. To create a high quality file, original art should be 300ppi or higher.
Having a high quality art file is the best way to get a crisp image at any size. Think of a photo you open on your desktop. If you zoom in enough, you will see little pixels or squares. The higher the dpi (dots per inch), the tinier the pixels. This means better image quality. This also means bigger files to store, but it’s worth it for the end result. That’s I think a file storage system like Dropbox is a must for artists.
For smaller work, you can use a scanner to digitize your work. If you make larger work, you need to use a camera to photograph your art.
This is where the cost of Giclée comes in. You can’t just use a regular printer to produce Giclée prints. You need a printer with more than the traditional four CMYK inks. When looking for a Giclée printer, you’re looking for a 10+ pigment ink printer. The more inks the better. Epson and Canon are the leaders here. If you want to print really large prints, you could easily spend thousands. This is why you have to be selling enough work to make it worth the cost. I always recommend artists outsource their printing until they are selling a minimum of several prints a day.
So why are these printers worth the cost? It’s all about color. The beauty of them is that you don’t have to color correct your artwork much. If you paint something neon pink, and that’s exactly how the scanned in print will come out of the printer! It captures vibrant colors perfectly. When the prints come out, the colors are so accurate, they look like the original painting. Dark shades are so rich, you won’t believe your eyes. Really, the result is stunning.
Another downside to these printers (which adds to the cost) is ink usage. Because there are more ink colors, it’s a full-time job keeping all the ink tanks full. The less white space your artwork has, the more ink the printer will use. I always have extra inks on hand, and I have to change them out every few weeks. A second negative is the learning curve. These printers take a lot of patience to figure out. You will figure it out eventually, I promise. You just need to be patient, and try not to stress about using up ink when things go wrong. You definitely will have some misprints, and color mishaps. A final downside is that these printers are bulky as heck. They usually weigh upwards of 100 lbs. Not ideal for someone who lives in a small space! If you get a really large one, taking it upstairs isn’t even an option.
This is the final element of a Giclée print, and it also adds to the cost. You’ll want to use a thick acid-free, archival 100% cotton rag paper. For this type of paper, you’re looking at a cost of over a dollar per sheet. Large sheets can be up to $5 per sheet. This type of paper ensures that the inks stick properly and produce a vibrant color quality. The acid-free and archival properties of the paper will keep it from yellowing and showing signs of age over time. By using these papers, again, your prints look like the original paintings.
It’s really just a matter of preference as to which paper you use. Some people like more textured paper, and some like more smooth. Some people like ivory, and some like bright white.
Epson and Hahnemuhle are great paper brands.
This may sound great thus far, but how can you calculate costs before diving in head first? As I mentioned above, costs will vary for everyone based on how much white space your art has. For me, the cost of ink is around $1.50-$5.00 per print. Then, you need to factor in packaging costs. It gets tricky when you try to add in what your time is worth to make each piece too. All I can say is that you need to make sure you’re charging enough. I would aim for a 60%+ profit margin.
For Giclée prints, you can charge more, so it shouldn’t be difficult to exceed this. Just make sure you are recording your ink usage and supplies costs so you can adjust your pricing accordingly.
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