a work in progress

There has been some discussion among the members of the Visual Artist Street Team at Etsy regarding the decision to offer prints. I was writing the group a really long letter about my decision to offer and create my own prints when I realized that I have learned quite a few things about the world of fine art printing that may be helpful to others. So here is a list of things for artists to consider as they venture into the world of fine art prints.

• Many artists offer prints up to 80% of the size of the original to preserve the uniqueness of the original and justify its higher price. This seems like a good principle to me in light of the demand for prints on canvas and the quality of those prints. I’ve adopted this rule for myself.
• The retail cost of a fine art print is typically determined by multiplying the artist’s cost by five or six. This works especially well for open editions, which require much less bookkeeping and time tending to stock. I offer open edition prints for some of my paintings and limited editions for others. Initially I will print some proofs and offer them to see what items others are interested in-it doesn’t always match with what I like best. Then I select which items will run in a limited edition and determine the breakdown of sizes for that print. Because I want everyone to enjoy the same price, I do not increase the cost of limited edition prints until I reach the last five prints in a run. This allows me to slow down sales and keep a larger selection in stock. I also choose to allow people to order prints on demand of paintings which are not in a limited edition. That is to say, if I have created a painting, a print of it will be available to anyone who asks. I want my images to find their way to the places they belong. Pricing is always determined by a formula and there are never any surpise this way. Not to say prices will never increase, but they will only increase across the board as my costs of selling increase.
• Your cost includes a lot of materials you may not have considered, since you will have to package your prints. I use acid-free foam core and clear bags. I cut most of my foam core myself, but it can also be ordered pre-cut. There are less expensive ways to package prints, but the difference in quality is far greater than the difference in price. I decided my customers will get the best available for print conservation because that is a big factor in my choice of inks and papers. I also enclose a business card and apply a printed label for indicating the size and price to the back of the bag. Small cost for a professional touch.
• Prints are typically signed in pencil just below the image. Title aligned with left edge of print, signature to right. If it’s a limited edition the number goes to the right of the title.
• Most prints will be framed with a white border showing around all sides such that the title and signature will be seen. Make sure to account for this when you order your prints.
• Unframed and unmatted prints seem to sell better. A friend of mine who owns an art gallery has noticed that if a print is offered with a matte in one color, some people have a difficult time imagining it in a different color. Too many color choices can be daunting and halt a sale as well. Like many artists today, I do not matte my prints. They look great with their white border showing in their clear bags. I do frame some of my square prints, however, and while they are for sale, I do this more as an example of the types of off the shelf frames which are available for square images.
• When deciding which sizes to offer (and maybe even to paint in) it’s a good idea to take into consideration the standard sizes of mattes and frames. It’s a good selling point if the gallery staff can say “That will fit a standard 16″ x 20″ frame.” I’ll post a list of standard sizes later.
• Photographic papers offer phenomenal quality and longevity, but unless your paintings are truly off-beat, an off-beat paper can hinder your sales. Although most art buyers do not handle the packaged print, matte paper with some weight to it is preferred. I have posted an entry with a photo about some of the papers I’ve been experimenting with and you can read that here.
• Good prints require excellent scans or photographs. The best printer in the world can only print the information it is given. You must start with a very high quality image to get a very high quality print. 72dpi works great for the web but printed image should have 150- 300 depending on the size of the print. So much has been written about resolution, dpi, ppi, cmyk, sRGB that I don’t see a need to go into it here. If this a foreign language to you, your foray into creating fine art prints will begin with photographing your work. Tripods are good, sometimes I even use mine! I use natural light, fill the frame with the image, highest res setting possible and shoot bracketed images.I don’t want to alter my work digitally, I’m funny like that. I don’t like doing this part of my job at all, but I LOVE that we’re digital now and when I resent the photo shoots I remind myself of the days when waiting for slides to come back made the task even more trying.
• Prints, reproductions, giclees…giclee is just french for spraying a liquid! It’s a high resolution ink jet print. It can be on paper, canvas, or even silk and linen. Not just any ink jet printer can produce the resolution demanded by fine artists, but many of the desktop photo printers can produce the resolution. The newest technologies are further defined by the size of the droplets of ink being sprayed (expressed in picoliters) and the main thing to consider when ordering your prints is the quality and compatibility of the inks and papers. I suggest pigment inks for their permanence and at least a six color process. You may notice that the large format printers used to produce huge prints offer a lower resolution and larger droplets than the Epson R1800 that I use. They are still excellent quality and probably the best available for their size. The printer I use prints up to 13″ x 44″. I chose it on the advice of professional photographers who said the quality of the output far surpassed their (former) photo labs. This is more than you need to know if you are ordering prints and keeping things as simple as possible.

That’s it for now, but there may be more in my head! So if you have any questions you can ask them here and I will try to answer. I’m still learning lots about turning paintings into fine art reproductions.