How Can You Identify a Giclee Print?

More than ever before, artists are including reproductions as part of their offerings. A big part of this is to maximize the amount of money one can get out of a piece of art. There’s only one original, and once it’s sold, it’s gone. But prints allow thousands of people to purchase a piece of art if they want, at a lower price than they’d otherwise have to pay for the original.

One specific kind of print that’s particularly popular at the moment is the giclee print. A giclee is a high-quality print created with the use of digital scanning in Los Angeles, CA that captures the art at a very high resolution. The image file for an art print must be at least 300 dots per inch, compared to the 72 DPI that is standard for most digital photos. This means there is a much greater level of detail packed into each little area.

The ink and paper used are also important considerations when making such a print. They must be of high quality, and considered to be “archival.” The inks used for printing them are pigment-based rather than dye-based, and any type of canvas, specialty printing paper or watercolor paper must be designated as archival. The printers used for these types of prints generally need to be larger models that can hold as many as 12 ink cartridges, which allows for a production of a wider range of colors to make it easier to duplicate a unique piece of art. Giclee prints are generally higher quality reproductions, so they’ll be more expensive than other types of prints.

How to tell if it is a giclee

So, how can you tell if what you’re looking at is a giclee print? It’s important to be able to tell the difference between a giclee and an original, just so you know you’re not getting scammed and that you’re getting a fair price for your art.

First, if you can, run your hand along the surface of the art. If the paint is still resting on the surface of the canvas and has been layered, it’s likely an original. However, if it looks like the art is seeped into the canvas, then it’s likely a giclee. Texture can be added by hand to giclee prints, but the extent to which the texture is added will still likely not match that which you’d find in an original. It becomes especially noticeable if the texture is not consistent throughout the print.

In addition, if you can remove the frame to examine the sides of the canvas, this will also tell you whether or not it’s a giclee print. An original will have rough, uneven paint edges, which you will not find in a giclee print.

For more information about giclee prints, how you can tell the difference between a giclee and an original and what’s involved in creating a giclee print with digital scanning in Los Angeles, CA, contact the experts at ArtScans Studio, Inc. today.

Categorised in: Digital Scanning