Giclee Printing Practices

Giclee Printmaking versus Giclee Printing

Some artists have a single giclee or a body of work that they wish to make but dont have the equipment, knowledge or perhaps the experience to be able to control process. They cant 'see' what the file holds because their equipment or knowledge just isn't good enough to show them what they are working with. They may wish to undergo a 'hands on' printing service where multiple print proofs can be made and the giclee developed under their supervision until it reaches a state with which they are satisfied. This is 'Printmaking' as opposed to 'printing'.

In the past with commercial photographic printing, a lab would make a print from a negative without consultation. Assuming that a standard negative will produce a standard print. Many giclee printers and service bureaus continue in this tradition and demand a perfect file to make a mediocre print. This process can be unsatisfactory for the fine artist who requires a greater degree of control to develop the subtleties of the image which can make the difference between a good print and an amazing print.

Lastly it's difficult to acquire the calibrated equipment and proof printers to be able to tell if the file you have is perfect. What you get from your own personal desktop printer is usually not what will come out of a calibrated system or any other system than yours. So we also offer a printing service where we will make the changes to a file to enable it to be printed on any calibrated system. The process is quicker if the artist can offer an example of how they would like the print to look then what we do is take your print and make the file match your output.

These are just three of the many different ways in which giclee prints can be made. In each way of working all files and artists are different so please ask for an estimate.