Fine Art Reproduction

I have been a graphite and pastel artist since early childhood and have always sold or given away my originals. I have had a few ventures into reproductions and limited edition prints but unfortunately, getting the color right, the cost involved and potential for damage with limited edition prints have always held me back.What I have found is that recently there have been amazing breakthroughs with digital media that makes fine art reproduction more affordable and sensible. You can now print amazing reproductions on an as need basis. Most people know these types of prints as Giclee or Digital Pigment Prints capable of printing on multiple types of media.With the amount of time it takes to create your stunning originals you are almost sad to see them go and rarely do the artists recoup their time out of the sale of an original. Many artists lack funding to properly reproduce their artwork in a quality format, the first hurdle I see artists struggle with is accurately reproducing the colors in their pieces.Depending on whether the image is scanned, or photographed makes a difference in the color output as well as what type of lighting is being used. My most successful photo captures have been utilizing natural light in slightly overcast conditions. Other times of day have been early evening and late morning, as long as the light isn’t so harsh as to fade the colors away. Next is making sure that you have little to no light reflection within the photograph of the image to create the best digital capture for your reproduction.Once you have your digital copy it is off to Photoshop or editing program of your choice. I personally love Photoshop, but its cost can be preventative to some artists. This will allow for full control of the colors and amazing filters to create the best reproduction. Forgoing this step can lead to disappointment when your piece goes to print. In most cases what you see on your screen does not even remotely resemble what comes out of the printer. I recommend the purchase of calibration equipment to save money on ink and paper.Last but not least to have the best result you need to have the profile of your paper selection loaded in for your printer. This tells the printer how to put the ink on the page for best results. When you see set up fees ranging from $50 to hundreds of dollars, it is referring to many of the steps you see above. Not all printers are capable of printing to high enough standards to be considered Digital Pigment or Giclee. You want to make sure your printer is using Archival quality media and Fade resistant inks some when printed on proper materials and framing can last up to 200 years.Happy Printing!