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Welcome to our website covering information about giclee. The aim is to educate the
artist and enthusiast on fine art inkjet giclée printing/reproduction. I will detail
how to get into fine art printing, whether to use a giclee studio or doing it in house.
If you decide to outsource please look at the pricing link above for services. There are
resources and advice across the site specifically targeted to explain how to produce and market your
art.
With the
advent of digital photography and the slow demise of mechanical lithography,
digital inkjet high-end printing is expanding exponentially. Giclee loosely means spraying or
squirting in French. It is sometimes misspelled glicee or geclee.
Characteristics of a true digital art print:
1) The use of archival pigmented inks (inkjet printer inks)
2) The use of archival fine art papers (i.e. canvas, watercolor)
3) An inkjet printer with professional grade nozzles
4) Individual color profiling for each paper
5) Last but not least, who is making your giclees? I see sign shops who already
have some of the equipment claiming they now produce giclée. Do not be fooled;
this is a very specialized field and it takes an experienced printmaker years to
achieve the skills to truly produce high quality work. Also, is the giclee
printer using a RIP and profiling papers and inks?
What makes giclee printing a superior method of reproduction
Giclée combines the beauty and brilliance of this printing technology with
the use of pigments and the variety in paper types from canvas to watercolor or
satin papers. While photographic prints are somewhat dull and limited in paper
choices, a giclée print on canvas, watercolor or other substrates will make
photos and paintings jump out with deep blacks, saturation and gradations hard
to achieve with other media. What makes a great
giclee?
Giclee acceptance in the art world
Giclee prints are bought and sold in auctions worldwide. The concept is not
new: artists made etchings on copper (plates) and would make limited editions on
paper centuries ago. We have a page with a brief art
printing history which explains the evolution of fine art reproduction
technology. A discussion on giclee misconceptions sheds some light on statements we found on the web. The medium has changed but the idea remains the same. Some artists
never even sell their originals: they only market limited editions. Others
enhance the print with brush strokes, giving each piece a unique feel. Artists
such as David Hockney were pioneers in making and marketing the medium.
If you are a painter or an artist's agent and seaarching for a commercial giclee printer a Google search for "giclee" wil list professional outfits. If you are a photographer please see "Printing for commercial and fine art
photography". In addition, if you are a digital artist or manipulate
your images, see the article regarding previewing your images on screen for potential reproduction issues. If you have any
questions or suggestions, e-mail me with any questions
regarding what I covered in these pages.
Technical notes
I included an article on correcting color by
numbers for people who want to manipulate their own images and do it in a
way that will lead to consistent results. Doing so, especially for photographers
and digital artists, greatly reduces problems that are sometimes encountered
when making high quality prints.
Pigment based professional inkjet imaging offers a range of colors superior to
anything available, mostly due to the use of special inks and 6, 7 and up to 12
colors. In comparison, traditional printing utilizes 4 colors (Cyan, Magenta,
Yellow and Black). The use of this expanded range of colors is the main reason
why giclee is the only method that can render accurate tonality and can better
approach the contrast and brilliance of originals. Also, there is
no use of half-screen like in traditional reproduction systems. On a final note,
please take a look at inkjet
canvas choices and giclee coating options.
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