It is no secret that technology has been transforming the world in recent years. From the way we live to the way we communicate to the way we work with one another, rapid advances in technology have been changing the very way we relate to the world around us. This transformation is also happening in the world of fine arts, where advances in printing technology and the quality of printed reproductions is changing the way artists around the world market and sell their creations.
Just as digital photography slowly but surely killed off the world of film cameras and darkrooms, advances in digital printing technology, most notably the giclee method, has been quietly transforming the way prints are made. Before this printing procedure was introduced artists had limited choices when it came to creating prints of their original artworks. With the advent of digital high end inkjet printing, artists have many more choices when it comes to creating special edition prints and marketing their favorite creations.
The term giclee is thought to derive from the French, and the term loosely translates to “squirting” or “spraying” in English. This is no doubt due to the way these high end professional quality inkjet printers put colors on the canvas to reproduce original artworks pixel by pixel. No matter what it is called, there are a few important characteristics of true digital fine art printing. One of the most critical is that the print uses archival pigmented inks along with archival fine art papers to create those works of art. If quality inks are not used, the results will not be good.
And even if the initial prints look fine, they will not stand the test of time and will begin to deteriorate rapidly. Giclee printing also uses true professional grade inkjet printers. These printers are a far cry from the ones most of us have sitting on our desktops at home. A true professional inkjet printer will use professional grade nozzles, along with the finest quality inks, to produce results that are far superior to anything a typical computer user could achieve at home.
When choosing a giclee printing service, it is also important to make sure that service uses individual color profiling for each paper. This is very important, since this individual color profiling will provide colors that are richer, more vibrant and truer to the colors used on the original piece of art.
The giclee process has definitely pushed artwork into the new digital world, and this can benefit both artists, who can create more unique and varied art pieces, and customers, who will get them for cheaper than ever before.