Giclees for other family members

[Richard Monro]

An enhanced giclee is probably what should be produced as they can almost be indistinguishable from an original if done right.

1) Get the very best reproduction of the original that you can get. Scanning through a professional scanner is best or alternatively by a very high quality, high mega-pixel digital camera (>10MB).

2) Put image into photoshop and eliminate any artifacts, blooms, etc.. One can also adjust color and value contrast at the same time if necessary .

3) Output giclee on the highest dpi, professional printer you can access using high quality, fine weave artist canvas.

4) Use a regular or heavy bodied acrylic gel medium to carefully put in simulated brush strokes. Try to emulate the brush strokes you used in creating the original painting. Use the regular gel medium to minimize the indication of brush strokes and heavy body gel medium to enhance brush strokes. Note: Some artists paint in a style that produces a very smooth surface. If so this step can be skipped. However, the indication of brush stokes is what makes a fool the eye reproduction.

5) Varnish using a polymer varnish with UVLS (ultraviolet filters and light stabilizers)

If done with care, I defy anyone except a professional to determine if the resulting enhanced giclee is anything but an original.

Enhanced giclees usually sell anywhere from $400 to $2000 depending upon the quality of the original and size of the giclee.

Hopes this helps all interested parties.

[Cindy Procious]

Thanks, Richard, for your response.

I'm really asking more about the concept of prints of your original portrait in general. Where does one draw the line? Yes - you can make 4 prints - to give to the grandparents? You can make 20 prints and hand them out as party favors at your next barbeque? You can make 300 prints and give them to your extended family at your next reunion?

Obviously, if the artist is going to allow print production, they should be in charge of the process for quality control purposes. But, if you're making prints - are you selling them at a profit, or giving them to your client at cost as a service to them?

[Richard Monro]

Cindy,
Sorry I didn't answer the question you asked. Here is my more responsive answer to your question.

1) An artist is in business to make a profit. Therefore reproductions need to have an adequate markup to not only cover the artists valuable time but also a reasonable profit. If we give away giclees, we are making a gift which takes money out of our pocket.

2) As I understand copyright laws in the US, reproduction runs greater than 150 lose copyright protection. That is a no no, especially if the art in question becomes popular.

Hope this is a better response.

[John Crowther]

I and others I know have had incredibly good results from www.finerworks.com in Texas. They will do single prints on high-quality art/watercolor paper at a very reasonable price, and will drop ship if you want. For example, one 16x20 print costs $28.20. Were one to go as large as, say, 24x36, the cost would be about $78.00 per print. There is a turnaround time of about 4-5 days. They will also print on canvas, and will stretch it if one wants, also very reasonably. There's no set-up cost. You need to have a high-res digital photo to upload, which you would correct in Photoshop. Obviously, the better the uploaded image the better the prints. The prints I've got from them are as good as any I've seen.

I think this may be the answer to the question about creating good quality copies of portraits to give to family and friends.

John C.

[Cynthia Daniel]

What do you have to reproduce from? 4x5 transparencies or 35mm? Perhaps you could be our test case on one of them. I want him to prove himself before I make any commitment for general promotion to my clients.

[Karin Wells]

Mostly I have 35mm slides.

But there is one that won an award and the museum owns a 4x5 but won't let me have it. I wonder if they would allow a detailed scan of their transp. on a CD Rom. Would this help? The painting sold long ago.

[Karin Wells]

This is the one that I want. I could have sold this painting at least 10 times already!

[Michele Rushworth]

Can someone tell me how to pronounce the word "giclee" ? In French it would be pronounced "zhee-klay" but is that how people say it in America?

- Michele

[Cynthia Daniel]

Michele,

I always hear gee-clay.

[Rebecca Willoughby]

I once saw an artist who had giclee prints made. He then went over the highlights of some of the colors with oil paints. The results were beautiful. Those highlights seemed to breath life into the print. I think he said that he got the idea from the Thomas Kincade gallery. It seems that the prints in these stores are done in the same way. Mr. Kincade has a staff of artists who apply the highlights for him.

Has anyone else ever heard of this?

Rebecca