Print Article http://www.artbusinessnews.com/ME2/Audiences/Segments/Publications...

Issue Date: ABN February 08, Posted On: 2/13/2008

Developments in Fine-Art Printing

Jennifer Dulin Wiley, Kristin Stefek Brashares and Daniel Mullen

Fine-art giclée printing has come a long way since it became a form of art reproduction more than a decade ago.

Thanks to significant advancements in equipment and inks, publishers and printmakers can go the extra mile to assure the
fine-art reproduction comes as close as possible to the look and feel of the original piece.

Most fine-art publishers and printmakers follow a standard path to creating a giclée: scanning, editing, proofing, printmaking
and finishing. But it is the extra steps taken by certain printmakers during the process that makes the difference in the overall
quality of the giclée. Each printmaker has its own approach, and the end result depends on a variety of factors.

Technology & The Human Element

In the highly specialized industry of fine-art printing, having talented printmakers has become as important as investing in
top-of-the-line equipment.

“You can’t just buy a nice machine, push a button and out comes wonderful stuff,” says Alan Blazar, owner ofBlazing Editions,
an East Greenwich, R.I.-based digital printmaking studiodedicated to the production of fine, limited-edition giclées. “This is a
craft. To make really good prints, you have to have someone who’s astute and good with color.”

Blazar describes a quality printmaker as someone who understands what he calls the “feel” of the art. “We teach our person
nel that there’s the technical side of printing, and then there’s the ‘feel’ end, and
that’s understanding what the artist is trying to convey,” he says.

When interviewing employees, Blazar asks them to point out what’s wrong with a
print without showing them the original first. “If you can’t see it, you can’t make it,”
Blazar says. “What matters most is the skill of the craftsman. No matter how many
colors you’re working with, you have to learn artist-speak and convert it to technical
know-how. The tools of an artist have changed, but know-how has not changed.”

The subtleties in art that might slip by a computer are exactly what the printing
department of another fine-art giclée printer and publisher, Collectors Editions
(Eclipse Workshop), tries to identify before ever touching a piece of machinery in
the company’s 25,000-square-foot production facility. First, the staff consults the
artist and asks questions about his or her original art.

“We talk to the artist directly and get a feel for how they created the original and
the best way to do the reproduction,” says Tim Dickson, vice president of
production for Collectors Editions. “We talk about the importance of the texture on
the canvas and the color palette they use. We get a feel for the overall piece and
the artist and how they work.”

Collectors Editions’ printing department, which claims more than 100 years of
collective experience, has been trained in mixing color by hand and recognizing
color by eye, Dickson says. The skills are put to use during the color-correction Harvest Productions' Toujours™
process, in which computers play a major role, but they are not the driving force. printing technology can produce
giclée prints on nearly any substrate
including walls, wood, acrylic and
other surfaces.

1 of 6 2/18/2008 4:52 AM
 When printmakers are ready for machinery, it’s important that they have the best of
the best to work with. Maui Giclée has an 8,000-square-foot printing facility in Maui,
Hawaii, that includes at least seven Epson printers—the 10600, 10000, three
9800s and the 9600; one IRIS 3047 printer; G5 computers; a CreoScitex
Eversmart Scanner for scanning transparencies; a Phase One digital scanning
camera to scan original art; and an AquaSEAL 1600 UV Roll Coater.

Squirt Printing, another printer of high-quality art reproductions, uses HP Designjet

5500 printers and HP ink/media. “It is the same system we have used since day
one, and we love it,” says Andy Wood, co-founder and CEO of Squirt Printing. “We
use a Wasatch RIP and are very impressed with its functionality. It allows us to
control multiple printers from one location, which is a critical need when doing large
volumes. We also utilize a Better Light scan back camera system with North Light
copy lights.” (Don't miss the Q&A with Wood in this issue!)

Fine-art printer Global Editions recently converted to the next generation of giclée
printers developed by Canon. “These printers use a revolutionary Lucia 12-color
pigment ink set,which provides a broad and rich color gamut while also pushing the
envelope on production speed and media management,” says Grant Henley,
president and founder of Global Editions, part of The Global Arts Group.

According to Blazar, certain aspects of the technology are getting better. There are
now large-format, wide color-gamut machines from HP, IRIS, Epson and Mutoh,
and Epson and HP have developed better, more durable technologies. Plus, highly
durable products and prints that are more resistant to light and humidity have been
The Cruse Synchron Scanner released into the market, Blazar adds.
produces an artist proof of a floral
image at Parrot Digigraphic Ltd. Even with the ever-improving technology, Maui Giclée President Rob
Medrano—like Blazar—acknowledges the importance of the human element in the
process. “At Maui Giclée, we consider ourselves the science behind the art,” he says. “It is only the human element that can
integrate the science with the emotions of the artist and articulate their desires into a true representation of the original.”

The Most Critical Step

It has been said that 90 percent of creating a successful fine-art reproduction hinges on the first step of the technical process:
the scan.

Fine-art printmakers constantly work to refine the procedure, and in doing so, some follow a general rule of thumb: garbage in,
garbage out. In other words, make a poor recording of the original art, and you’ll get a poor reproduction. Computer software
programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, can clean up imperfections, but they can only do so much, experts say.

“The initial scan is critical,” Wood says of the Squirt Printing process. “All of the color and texture has got to be brought out in
capture, or it is lost. Or, worse yet, the customer pays for too much Photoshop work.”

High-performance capture requires that the artwork be faithfully digitized to assure that color gamut, shadow detail, texture
and subtle tonal characteristics are preserved, adds John Lorusso, president and CEO of Parrot Digigraphic Ltd., a

2 of 6 2/18/2008 4:52 AM
 Massachusetts- based company that offers scanning, printmaking and consulting services in addition to a complete range of
integrated imaging systems, hardware, software and consumables.

“There are those who believe that extensive work in Photoshop can mitigate the
shortcomings of capture with low-end digital cameras by stitching together a
number of images,” Lorusso says. “We counter that the time spent in Photoshop or
other imaging applications often does not measure up because detail and tonal
range is not preserved in the initial capture.”

Parrot has made significant investments in scanning technology and perfecting

high-performance image-capture workflows. The company provides/employs Cruse
scanners and Better Light scan back systems for the best capture capability
available. When portability is required, Better Light is the obvious choice, Lorusso
says, because it can capture artwork in remote settings and generate 16-bit raw
files over 1 gigabyte (GB) if required. The company also employs a Cruse
Synchron Scanner, which produces a 16-bit (1.1GB+) raw-file capture of artwork
and other mediums in sizes up to 48 x 72 inches in a single pass. The technology
can scan multiple pieces of artwork in a single scan and has captured framed
artwork, tapestries, wood, stone and even body-painted models with great detail,
tonal range and color accuracy, the company reports.

Gamut Control, LLC, an art reproduction company based in Irving, Texas, has
developed new image-capture systems that it says are not available anywhere
else. The company’s process starts with a 16-shot image capture using an
effective 88-megapixel, medium-format digital camera. Each of the 16 layers
captures all of the red, green and blue pixels, and the process is repeated until all
16 layers are flattened. Additional shots and layers are taken and manipulated
individually before being flattened in order to give the image accurate texture and
high definition. The final size of the image turns out to be at least 500 megabytes
(MB). “These techniques and special settings are a result of years of experience in
digital imaging and color management,” says George Hue, director of research and
development for Gamut Control. “Our final image is a pixel-by-pixel clone of the
original fine art, stretching the gamut of the high-end, wide-format inkjet printer to
ensure that each color is accurately portrayed. Plus, no proofing is necessary prior Body art was scanned on the Cruse
to printing. The number of image shots and layers is determined by the type and Synchron Scanner at Photokina in
size of the painting.” Cologne, Germany

Depending on the type of art, Fine Art

Impressions spends a considerable amount of time setting up the proper lighting to
accurately capture the surface with its 108-megapixel Better Light Digital Capture
(up to 309MB/16-bit) camera. An oil painting, for instance, “typically has structure
and needs to be lit using an asymmetrical lighting principle to ensure that the
nuance of the art is captured,” says Gary Kerr, president of Fine Art Impressions, a
fine-art giclée printer based in Davidson, N.C. “In addition to high-resolution data,
we align our camera to the original art with a laser within 3⁄1000 of an inch
parallelism.”

Why is such accuracy vital? “Because it is necessary in order to avoid unwanted

A Harvest Productions employee defects, such as soft focus, image distortion and blurred images,” Kerr explains.
works in the pre-press department The company began employee laser alignment in fine-art reproduction capture
color correcting an image for digital early on in digital reproduction history.
reproduction.
Maui Giclée also dedicates a lot of time and effort to ensuring the best possible
scan. Scanning is done at 135 megapixels in true RGB, and significant attention to
detail is placed on alignment and lighting to ensure proportions are uniform with no distortions. “A precise scan is absolutely
essential to produce a premier fine-art print; no amount of computer manipulation can compensate for a substandard scan,”
Medrano says.

Withstanding the Test of Time

Giclées have weathered their fair share of scrutiny mostly because the original inks used in the process faded and the overall
quality left a lot to be desired. Today, archival inks and substrates have become the standard.

Squirt Printing holds its materials to high qualifications. “We UV guard all of our canvas prints with ClearStar water-based
coatings,” Wood says. “This system is yielding the highest quality prints our customers have seen, and we are very pleased.”

Fine Art Impressions offers seven different canvases and 14 different fine-art papers. “This enables the client to gain
confidence in our ability before committing to a specific print run,” Kerr explains. “Our canvas giclées also get liquid lamination

3 of 6 2/18/2008 4:52 AM
 utilizing a solvent-based chemistry that we feel is the best in the business.”

Gamut Control loads images onto a wide-format printer using UltraChrome K3

pigment inks and special, coated canvases. The printer transfers a cloned image
to canvas accurately with all of its textures and colors intact. After printing,
canvases go through a hand-varnished process with specially made varnishes and
are dried in a climate-controlled environment with airflow systems designed to
remove surface vapors.

After concluding the printing and finishing processes, Maui Giclée lets fine-art
reproductions sit as long as possible before it ships the final products to the artists
and publishers. “We prefer to let the giclée sit for a couple days and cure in a
climate-controlled environment,” Medrano explains. “It’s just another step to ensure
the artist [or publisher] receives the best archival print possible.” Harvest Productions' master
silkscreener and manager of the
The advent of new canvas substrates and inks for non-IRIS printing technology has Silkscreening Department works on a
allowed John Doe, owner of California-based Harvest Productions, to increase the piece by artist Thomas Arvid.
image quality and archival standards of his clients’ fine-art reproductions. Since
April 2007, Harvest has been working to re-color correct its IRIS imagery to the
more stable pigmented inks. Harvest has now retired its 22 IRIS printing machines in favor of Roland technology for the
purpose of giving its customers the extended longevity. “This is, admittedly, a tremendous amount of re-proofing work in order
to attain a state-of-the-art giclée, but it’s a requirement,” Doe says. “With the advent of modern materials, it would be
imprudent of Harvest to keep its established customers on a technology that didn’t offer the longevity advantages of
pigmented inks.”

New Directions
The future of fine-art digital printing, proponents say, is wide open. “It’s only going to get faster, cheaper and more
sophisticated,” says Mac Holbert, president of Nash Editions, one of the pioneering companies of digital printing. “It’s a
wonderful time for people to get into the new technology.”

Doe, one of the initial proponents of the medium, says 2008 is going to be an
exciting and explosive year for digital printing. “There’s a myriad of new
opportunities that publishers and self-publishing artists are already employing to
grow their markets, distribute their art and build their client bases,” Doe says. “At
Harvest, we’re playing a role in a portion of this new expansion with new
technology departments that are serving the art reproduction marketplace.”

The first is the birth of Toujours™ printing, an outgrowth of the traditional giclée
industry. It requires the same digital capture of the original and the same color
proofing, profiling and editing, but it produces a product on a unique substrate.
“Giclée prints are widely understood to be canvas prints, but what happens when
you can print directly on acrylic, stone, wood or aluminum?” Doe asks. “These new
types of art reproductions (Toujours) that are being sold as limited editions are
Harvest Productions’ Toujours™ clearly a different product with a different market and price point than the giclée
printing technology can produce marketplace we’re familiar with.
giclée prints on nearly any substrate.
“You might ask ‘Why would someone want to print on those unusual materials?’
The easiest answer is that the original art was produced on one of them. To paint
on wood and then print a giclée on canvas doesn’t make any sense. An original work that is intended to be displayed as an art
partition separating two areas cannot be produced on canvas or paper. Toujours has a place in the art-reproduction industry in
that it allows artists the freedom to create accurate reproductions on appropriate substrates.”

The world will also see Harvest Productions’ newly launched online mural and wall-covering business. “With the introduction
of our new Vutek 10-foot-wide, solvent-based printing machine, we can rapidly create high-quality murals up to 10 x 50 feet,”
Doe says. “We’re prepared to create murals to size and specification on fireproof material with a rich canvas texture. We hope
this new application for giclée production will serve a need in the hospitality industry and provide new opportunities for digital

4 of 6 2/18/2008 4:52 AM
 printing to continue its growth.”

David Coons, owner of ArtScans Studio, Inc., a professional scanning service for
fine-art printers and artists based in Culver City, Calif., is taking strides on the
scanning end with the development of the Audrey II, a custom-made,
state-of-the-art scanner that will attempt to capture all of the texture, colors and
shadows of the artwork for an even purer scan.

“The Audrey II scanner is being designed to improve ease of use, speed and
accuracy while also adding lighting modes,” Coons says. “But to achieve higher
throughput, the scanning speed isn’t the entire picture; we’ll also need to
streamline our accounting and database systems to match. We’re also in the
process of helping our clients adopt color-management workflows.
Shown above is another application
“Finally, Audrey II will streamline our existing process so artwork can be scanned of Tojours prints, which can be
while the customer waits, instead of requiring them to return a few hours or days created on walls, wood, acrylic and
later to pick it up.” other surfaces.

Output technology is also evolving, according to Lorusso, a 35-year veteran of the

digital-printing industry. “Printer technology continues to improve,” Lorusso observes. “Hewlett-Packard has established new
milestones in color and black-and-white image quality, archival performance and integrated media profiling capability with the
Z-Series aqueous inkjet printers. Epson introduced the Stylus Pro 11880 64-inch-wide printer and enhanced UltraChrome K3
inks in response to Canon’s 60-inch format 12-color printer. Eco Solvent printer image quality is also improving. Printers and
ink systems that will allow printing on a range of substrates, including uncoated media, wood, stone and metal are in
development. We expect that these innovations will create new market opportunities for print on demand.” ABN

Digital Printing Equipment Needs

With so many digital products to choose from, printmakers, publishers and artists
alike appreciate having a one-stop-shop to fulfill their digital-printmaking supply
needs.

The Digital Technology Group (DTG) is one company that does not take a
one-size-fits-all approach to supplying businesses with the digital technology and
equipment necessary to produce high-quality giclée prints. Before DTG sells a
customer anything, representatives find out as much as possible about the
customer’s business. “We know that every customer is a little different in the
market they’re going after and the way they do business,” says Scott Erickson,
co-owner of DTG. “We want to sell our customers the right products, so we ask
many questions, such as, ‘What kind of customer are you going after? What
workflow are you used to? What experience do you have?’”

The answers give DTG representatives the direction they need to recommend
individual products or an entire package. A system, as DTG refers to the
packages, includes all the equipment needed to produce a giclée, from capture to
color correction and output.

Depending on the market a giclée printing business is targeting, DTG offers

Gary Kerr, president of Fine Art systems priced from $4,000 to $75,000. The products the company carries fall
Impressions, is shown at the giclée under the categories of printers; inks, papers and media; RIP software; color
print studio in Davidson, N.C. management; digital photography; scanners; monitors and displays; laminators
and coaters; finishings and coatings; computers; software; and accessories.

All of the inks, papers and coatings are compatible with one another, meaning one product won’t degrade another during the
printing process. The company also refers to Wilhelm Imaging Research (www.wilhelm-research.com) for archival standards
and provides comprehensive equipment installation and training.

Parrot Digigraphic Ltd. is a passionate advocate of digital photography and fine-art printmaking and has dedicated much of its
resources to the research and education of fine-art printing technology. The company develops and configures complete
turn-key systems for image capture and printing in addition to offering a comprehensive range of high-performance
consumables optimized for limited-edition artwork.

“Prospects and clients come to us requesting guidance and education on all aspects of printmaking, including image capture,
scanning, color-managed workflows, printers, media and coatings,” Lorusso explains. “Parrot will only make recommendations

5 of 6 2/18/2008 4:52 AM
 on products we have evaluated and have determined that they meet our stringent performance, consistency and reliability
standards. Keeping these high standards allows Parrot to help eliminate costly missteps, needless expense and potential loss
of business while at the same time enhancing our clients’ capabilities and services that they provide to their customers.”

The company’s clients include printmakers, artists, photographers, museums, educational institutions, graphic designers and
government agencies. Parrot offers hardware (scan backs and digital cameras: Better Light and Canon); scanners (Cruse,
Kodak, Epson); printers (Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard); RIP software (Onyx, ColorBurst); color management (X-Rite); and
a complete range of media products, including canvas, fine-art paper, photobase paper and specialty media from Parrot,
Arches, Canon, Crane, Epson, Hahnemuhle, Hewlett-Packard, Ilford Galerie; and inks from American Inkjet, Canon, Epson,
Hewlett-Packard and Kodak.

6 of 6 2/18/2008 4:52 AM