Giclee Canvas Prints

I have seen this method of print explained on the web over and over again. They tend to start off with Giclée, pronounced as "zhee-clay" yada yada yada  The word "giclée" is derived from the French language word "le gicleur" then they carry on going yada yada yada about there print service.

So I thought I would explain on how today's giclée canvas prints came about.

I have been in the print trade since 1987 and obtained a Diploma in print at PCAD. In those days Mac computers just started to become a key tool for the Graphic Design and Print Industry. Even though Macs had its ups and down, they still play a big part in the print and design industry.

Ok so you are wondering how this is leading to Giclée Canvas Prints. Well I am getting there, you just need to know a little about pre Giclée.

Once I left collage I worked in a Reprographics House as a Traditional Bench Planner and Scanner operator. I use to get asked allot what type of job it was. In a nut shell - The Graphic Designer use to create the artwork and the printer use to print and I do the bit in  the middle - converting the designs to a printing plate so that the artwork could be printed.

This method of conversion to print was expensive and took time. An additional service to this was to create colour proofs (3M Match Proofs or Cromalin Proofs) from the films produced to make the printing plates.

The idea of the colour proofs was to show the end customer how his job will look before it was printed. The proof was also then given to the printer to match to. The problem with this type of proofing was that the proof was always glossy and there was only one type of substrate.

The other option was a wet proof which was very expensive. The advantage of the wet proof was that the customer could see how exactly his final print job would look like on the paper it was going to be printed on.

As the printing industry progressed and invested more into digital, new devices came alone.  Slow at first, the image setter arrived. This device produced film direct from the Mac with the main application being Quark at the time.

But when the Film was produced a proof still had to be made.

Then came along digital proofing devices. The idea was that you could produce a digital proof from the Mac without having to run film.  Even though the early day digital proofs were not as good as the traditional proof, it did save time and money on film.

One of the digital proofers was the Iris Printer, which was originally developed by Iris Graphics and exhibited in 1987.

The Iris printer was originally developed for prepress proofing and was quickly recognised as a way forward for proofing because of the quality of the print it produced and the different substrates it could print on. This inkjet printer differs in many ways to the type of inkjets you have on your desktop. Looking at the Irus printer the first thing you would notice is that the Paper for printing is loaded onto a drum. When in operation the drum will spin while the print head will transverse along the drum to create the image.

The Purpose of the Iris was to produce prepress proofs. However Photographers and Artist quickly realised that there was another use of these printers. This is when two new invented names came about which were Giclée and Digigraph.

Simpy Iris is a digital printer. But can you imagine trying to sell a Limited Edition Digital Print, It dose not have quite the same appeal as "Limited Edition Giclée Print.

In 1991 Jack Duganne wanted to define the difference between Digital Proofs and Digital Art Prints. So after playing around with a few word "Giclée" was invented for digital fine art prints. Giclee prints were born and first advertised by Bartz Studio Newsletter for ArtExpo California. These were printed on paper and were not canvas prints.

The Name Digigraph came about the same time and was named by Graham Nash and Mac Holbert after an incident of some negatives went missing and their contact sheets were scanned and printed out on the iris printers. But again not onto canvas prints.

The Iris printers did have one major problem producing fine art prints, and that they were designed as proofs for the printing industry and because of this the inks started to fade after a couple of years. Knowing the potential of this new the use of new inks and substrates extended the longevity and light fastness of fine art Iris prints.

In time the inkjet industry developed more types of printers for different purposes. Epson (and Agfa sherpa) produced a range of large format printers with Micro Piezo Print Head Techology. This type of printer allowed you to produce a lower dpi print but at a better quality than its thermal type print heads. Because the wide colour gamut the Agfa sherpa and  Epson were used for Prepress proofs. Also the Epson became the affordable Giclée printer which could produce giclee canvas prints. There was a period That Epson was know for its quality and HP was know for its speed, then only a few years ago Canon came up with the New IPF range and out smarted Epson for Quality and HP for Speed (They can both print onto canvas). The Canon new 12 colour printer became the leader in Giclée Printers and produce outstanding Giclee canvas prints

In the past 7 years there has been an explosion in Giclée Canvas Prints because the cost effective printers on the market, but also it has been a miss leading trade because of cheap import of canvas from China which has not been tested and has unknown chemicals in them.

The original idea of a Giclée over the years has been distorted. So I thought it's time to redefine a Giclée Canvas Prints.

Giclée Canvas Prints has to be:-
Light Fast inks used that are branded.
Produced by an inkjet printer that produces smooth tones
Canvas used are branded like the Hahnemühle Canvas.
The Printer uses a RIP and ICC Colour Profiles ensuring accurate colour reproduction onto canvas prints.

Anything else isn't quite like a Giclée Canvas Print.

If you want quality canvas prints - You can order your Giclée Canvas Prints Here!

I get asked allot by Friends and Family on advice when they are looking at buying a new digital camera. And they tend not to look for the expensive SLR camera, just one for daily use. So this is what I advise them for compact cameras.

1. set your budget to the amount you want to spend. You will need to include extras in this budget.

2. Ignore digital and combined zoom. There no good to man or beast. Only look at what optical zoom the camera has to offer.

3. Don't get carried away with the amount of megapixels. 7mp or above is more than ample for most users unless you want to produce large canvas or photo prints.

4. Recargable cameras tend to cost more but are worth every penny, otherwise you find yourself going through batteries like it's going out of fashion.

5. Before buying a camera check out how much the memory card is. (and the camera case if you require one).

6. There are loads of website that give reveiws but they tend to be for high end cameras. I personally find Amazon very good to find reveiws by customers.

7. once you have narrowed down to a few cameras. Go to the shops and see if you can try one. See if you are happy with the controls and how quickly it starts up.

8. Once you have chosen a camera, shop around for the best price and don't forget to check it's compatible with your computer.

Extra Long poster of Torbay - In Panoramic Format.

Just For Fun! The Image above was taken by myself from a spot near Brixham Harbour just a short walk from Furzeham Road / Shortfeild Lane. Some of the clouds looked quite dramatic I thought.

From left to right you can see a bit of Broadsands, Goodrington, Paignton, Preston, Torquay, Thatchers Rock and Brixham.

If I was to print this as a long poster, I could reproduce it at 8 meters wide by .5 meters high. (It could go up to 16 meters wide by 1 meter high for a road side graphic).

If You live in Torbay and have sea views then you may see your house on a larger version - The large image is still a smaller version of the final print but there is enough info to see various buildings and structures.

I Would like to print this picture out and put it up somewhere in Torbay for the public to view,
Any suggestions were! Please comment below or contact me.



CLICK HERE TO SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE (It may take time to load + Your browser my let you zoom in and out)

If I get enough interest I will be printing out some smaller ones at 200cm wide by 12.5cm deep - They will be printed, laminated and mounted onto 5mm Foamx  for only £59 each. If you are interested then please contact me at sales@scrivs.co.uk

Cheers Jake

Ps. Click here If you want to learn more about Panoramic Photography.

Looking at Canvas Prints

Over the past few months I have been looking at canvas prints, not just online but in shops as well. You may think that I am a bit sad going around looking at competitors canvases, the real reason is to highlight to you cheap canvas prints and there faults.

Mass Produced Cheap Canvas Prints

I assume The big chain of stores like Argos and Next import their art canvas prints and I expect from China.
But they are not the only ones that get their canvas prints from china. One shop that I went into was Wilkingsons in Torquay to have a look at their canvas prints. In The store there was a Large Rose Canvas which is not very original nowadays.  

How The Canvas Print Was Made.

The size of the canvas was about 30x24 inches and it was under £30. My first thought that came across my mind was that if I produced a canvas like that I would be making a loss, and if I was selling it to the shop for only £10 then that wouldn't even cover the wages.

So I was interested to have a closer look to see how it was made up. As I picked it off the shelf I was quickly surprised  how light it was, it was like picking up a cardboard box with nothing in it.

The print quality was ok, but is was not canvas, it was artificial canvas (nylon).

The walls/sides of the canvas edges were only 3mm thick, yes that's right only 3mm. This shocked and surpised me.

The construction was simple. The frame was made from 3mm cheap mdf board with the nylon photo glued onto the mdf panels. The print was not stretch or wrapped around to the back of the canvas. Then to save even more costing there was a tiny bit of wood glued to the back fir the hanger to be attached. These kind of prints are showing up more and more on them market place, it's a cheap way of decorating your room as long as you are aware that like cheap batteries, they just won't last long. I expect I will see alot of these prints at Torbay Tip soon. (in a years time).

There was a shop assistant there and I asked her if they sold many of these canvases, she replied say, "na!" (I wounder Why?)

And the reason I came up with the heading of this blog was because what my son had said to me in the shop.
"Dad, can I have a pack of these batteries for a £1".
I replied, "No, they won't last long."
Then the thought came into my head, "Just like their cheap canvas prints."

We produce High Quality Canvas Prints... Always!