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Harvest Productions' Toujours™printing technology can produce

giclée prints on nearly any substrateincluding walls, wood, acrylic and

other surfaces.

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, printmakingand 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 ElementIn 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 of Blazing Editions,an East Greenwich, R.I.-based digital printmaking studiodedicated to the production of fine, limited-edition giclées. “This is acraft. 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 personnel that there’s the technical side of printing, and then there’s the ‘feel’ end, andthat’s understanding what the artist is trying to convey,” he says.

When interviewing employees, Blazar asks them to point out what’s wrong with aprint 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 manycolors you’re working with, you have to learn artist-speak and convert it to technicalknow-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 inthe company’s 25,000-square-foot production facility. First, the staff consults theartist 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 andthe best way to do the reproduction,” says Tim Dickson, vice president ofproduction for Collectors Editions. “We talk about the importance of the texture onthe canvas and the color palette they use. We get a feel for the overall piece andthe artist and how they work.”

Collectors Editions’ printing department, which claims more than 100 years ofcollective experience, has been trained in mixing color by hand and recognizingcolor by eye, Dickson says. The skills are put to use during the color-correctionprocess, in which computers play a major role, but they are not the driving force.

Developments in Fine-Art Printing Issue Date: ABN February 08, Posted On: 2/13/2008

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The Cruse Synchron Scanner produces an artist proof of a floral

image at Parrot Digigraphic Ltd.

When printmakers are ready for machinery, it’s important that they have the best ofthe 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, three9800s and the 9600; one IRIS 3047 printer; G5 computers; a CreoScitexEversmart Scanner for scanning transparencies; a Phase One digital scanningcamera to scan original art; and an AquaSEAL 1600 UV Roll Coater.

Squirt Printing, another printer of high-quality art reproductions, uses HP Designjet5500 printers and HP ink/media. “It is the same system we have used since dayone, and we love it,” says Andy Wood, co-founder and CEO of Squirt Printing. “Weuse a Wasatch RIP and are very impressed with its functionality. It allows us tocontrol multiple printers from one location, which is a critical need when doing largevolumes. We also utilize a Better Light scan back camera system with North Lightcopy lights.” (Don't miss the Q&A with Wood in this issue!)

Fine-art printer Global Editions recently converted to the next generation of gicléeprinters developed by Canon. “These printers use a revolutionary Lucia 12-colorpigment ink set,which provides a broad and rich color gamut while also pushing theenvelope 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 released into the market, Blazar adds.

Even with the ever-improving technology, Maui Giclée President RobMedrano—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 canintegrate 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 softwareprograms, 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 incapture, 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

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Body art was scanned on the Cruse Synchron Scanner at Photokina in

Cologne, Germany

A Harvest Productions employee works in the pre-press department

color correcting an image for digital reproduction.

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 theshortcomings of capture with low-end digital cameras by stitching together anumber of images,” Lorusso says. “We counter that the time spent in Photoshop orother imaging applications often does not measure up because detail and tonalrange 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, hasdeveloped new image-capture systems that it says are not available anywhereelse. The company’s process starts with a 16-shot image capture using aneffective 88-megapixel, medium-format digital camera. Each of the 16 layerscaptures all of the red, green and blue pixels, and the process is repeated until all16 layers are flattened. Additional shots and layers are taken and manipulatedindividually before being flattened in order to give the image accurate texture andhigh 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 indigital imaging and color management,” says George Hue, director of research anddevelopment for Gamut Control. “Our final image is a pixel-by-pixel clone of theoriginal fine art, stretching the gamut of the high-end, wide-format inkjet printer toensure that each color is accurately portrayed. Plus, no proofing is necessary priorto printing. The number of image shots and layers is determined by the type andsize of the painting.”

Depending on the type of art, Fine Art Impressions spends a considerable amount of time setting up the proper lighting toaccurately capture the surface with its 108-megapixel Better Light Digital Capture(up to 309MB/16-bit) camera. An oil painting, for instance, “typically has structureand needs to be lit using an asymmetrical lighting principle to ensure that thenuance of the art is captured,” says Gary Kerr, president of Fine Art Impressions, afine-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 inchparallelism.”

Why is such accuracy vital? “Because it is necessary in order to avoid unwanteddefects, such as soft focus, image distortion and blurred images,” Kerr explains.The company began employee laser alignment in fine-art reproduction captureearly on in digital reproduction history.

Maui Giclée also dedicates a lot of time and effort to ensuring the best possiblescan. 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 absolutelyessential 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 overallquality 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-basedcoatings,” 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 gainconfidence in our ability before committing to a specific print run,” Kerr explains. “Our canvas giclées also get liquid lamination

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Harvest Productions' master silkscreener and manager of the

Silkscreening Department works on a piece by artist Thomas Arvid.

Harvest Productions’ Toujours™printing technology can produce

giclée prints on nearly any substrate.

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-artreproductions sit as long as possible before it ships the final products to the artistsand publishers. “We prefer to let the giclée sit for a couple days and cure in aclimate-controlled environment,” Medrano explains. “It’s just another step to ensurethe artist [or publisher] receives the best archival print possible.”

The advent of new canvas substrates and inks for non-IRIS printing technology hasallowed John Doe, owner of California-based Harvest Productions, to increase theimage quality and archival standards of his clients’ fine-art reproductions. SinceApril 2007, Harvest has been working to re-color correct its IRIS imagery to themore stable pigmented inks. Harvest has now retired its 22 IRIS printing machines in favor of Roland technology for thepurpose of giving its customers the extended longevity. “This is, admittedly, a tremendous amount of re-proofing work in orderto attain a state-of-the-art giclée, but it’s a requirement,” Doe says. “With the advent of modern materials, it would beimprudent of Harvest to keep its established customers on a technology that didn’t offer the longevity advantages ofpigmented inks.”

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

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

The first is the birth of Toujours™ printing, an outgrowth of the traditional gicléeindustry. It requires the same digital capture of the original and the same colorproofing, profiling and editing, but it produces a product on a unique substrate.“Giclée prints are widely understood to be canvas prints, but what happens whenyou can print directly on acrylic, stone, wood or aluminum?” Doe asks. “These newtypes of art reproductions (Toujours) that are being sold as limited editions areclearly a different product with a different market and price point than the gicléemarketplace we’re familiar with.

“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 artpartition separating two areas cannot be produced on canvas or paper. Toujours has a place in the art-reproduction industry inthat 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 introductionof 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 hopethis new application for giclée production will serve a need in the hospitality industry and provide new opportunities for digital

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Shown above is another application of Tojours prints, which can be

created on walls, wood, acrylic and other surfaces.

Gary Kerr, president of Fine Art Impressions, is shown at the giclée

print studio in Davidson, N.C.

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 andaccuracy while also adding lighting modes,” Coons says. “But to achieve higherthroughput, the scanning speed isn’t the entire picture; we’ll also need tostreamline our accounting and database systems to match. We’re also in theprocess of helping our clients adopt color-management workflows.

“Finally, Audrey II will streamline our existing process so artwork can be scannedwhile the customer waits, instead of requiring them to return a few hours or dayslater to pick it up.”

Output technology is also evolving, according to Lorusso, a 35-year veteran of thedigital-printing industry. “Printer technology continues to improve,” Lorusso observes. “Hewlett-Packard has established newmilestones in color and black-and-white image quality, archival performance and integrated media profiling capability with theZ-Series aqueous inkjet printers. Epson introduced the Stylus Pro 11880 64-inch-wide printer and enhanced UltraChrome K3inks in response to Canon’s 60-inch format 12-color printer. Eco Solvent printer image quality is also improving. Printers andink systems that will allow printing on a range of substrates, including uncoated media, wood, stone and metal are indevelopment. 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 aone-size-fits-all approach to supplying businesses with the digital technology andequipment necessary to produce high-quality giclée prints. Before DTG sells acustomer anything, representatives find out as much as possible about thecustomer’s business. “We know that every customer is a little different in themarket 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 askmany questions, such as, ‘What kind of customer are you going after? Whatworkflow 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 tocolor correction and output.

Depending on the market a giclée printing business is targeting, DTG offerssystems priced from $4,000 to $75,000. The products the company carries fall under the categories of printers; inks, papers and media; RIP software; color 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 theprinting process. The company also refers to Wilhelm Imaging Research (www.wilhelm-research.com) for archival standardsand 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

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on products we have evaluated and have determined that they meet our stringent performance, consistency and reliabilitystandards. Keeping these high standards allows Parrot to help eliminate costly missteps, needless expense and potential lossof 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 andgovernment 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); anda 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.