Giclee Prints 101 

Hi Karen. I appreciate the video. A couple of things to help you out. 1: Giclee printers use between 8 to 12 colors according to the kind of printer. Where as your Epson uses 4. So in other words, more colors to better match the original. 2: The Giclee prints uses pigments like the pigments in paints, where as the Epson uses Inks made from dyes. Why is this important? Those Inks are not permanent and fade over time. Most pigments do not fade. So pigments are more permanent. 3: Giclee prints are printed on archival paper or canvas. Archival paper and canvas is made from cotton and not trees (paper). Trees and thus paper have acid in it. So it starts to deteriorate over time. Cotton paper, refereed to as 100% rag, and canvas has no acid in it. So the prop (surface) is permanent. 4: Heavy weight paper. Regular Epson printers print on a lighter weight paper. Giclee printers print on canvas or heavy weight paper which is very close to water color paper in weight. Hope this helps. Thanks again for the video.

Very informative. I really wanted to learn about this product and thanks for recording and showing it to us. It was a bit difficult to listen to and hard to see the quality of the material. Please, don't consider it a criticism. You are an artist not a TV presenter.

let's clarify something here for your readers. dots per inch are not per square inch but are per lineal inch. Think about it, were you to have 72dpi in a square inch that would mean you have approx 8-9 dots across and 8-9 dots down to multiply into 72 per sq inch. Even for low quality that is not enough ink, so what you really have at 72dpi is 72X72=5184dots per sq.inch. hope that helps

For the very first time today, I came across the term "giclee" while perusing some digital prints, and after doing a Google search. I came across your video. So thank you for introducing me to the world of giclee, especially on how to pronounce it (I had been saying it as "gick-lee" LOL). :)

Extremely informative. Until watching this video I was NOT clear on the term. Thanks.

Good info! Thanks for taking the time to make this video. I own a small Art Gallery in Las Vegas and my husband does giclee printing for local artists. We use a 12 ink giclee printer and the results are sometimes better than the original.

Just started selling my work online thru an "artists print shoppe" kind of setting, and they offer work in giclee form. I had no idea not only how to pronounce (son thought it was close to 'icicle' pronunciation! ;) ) but what the difference was, only that they cost more... ;) NOW I understand WHY, and I'll proudly recommend them from now on. THANK YOU!

Thank you very much for making this video. I had no knowledge regarding giclee before - not even how to pronounce it. The only thing to improve the presentation, in my opinion, is to reduce fillers. Good job and thanks again!

Best video I have found explaining just what Giclee printing is, how it is done and why it is valued over just a regular high quality print. Thank you so much for the concise information.

Thanks for the question, @Sean F. I do not do my print my own giclee prints. This is a decision I made a few years back, acknowledging that I am an artist and not a printer. I do have some artist friends who do produce their own giclee prints with varying degrees of success, but I have chosen to outsource to a full-time, professional fine art printer for many reasons including 1) Costs of purchasing/maintaining/upgrading equipment, 2) Learning curve/anticipated wastage, and 3) Time. -K

I've recently been commissioned for an art piece for the first time in my life and I did not now how to go about printing the piece...A friend of mine suggested doing a Giclee printing...after watching your video I'm convinced this might be the best way to go...one of the most informative videos I've seen on Giclee,.... to the point and well edited, Just wanted you to know, another person in this crazy world, has benefited from this post... Thank you very much.

I appreciate the education. As I'm currently looking into having my own work reproduced, I seek only the highest quality. One thing that bothered me, though, was the amount of times you used "umm" and "uhh" between statements. It was exhausting. But I've got the stamina, and made it through. Thank you again.

Karen: I see the word all the time, but never bothered to look up the meaning. Your video was helpful, informative, and will enable me to look at art in the marketplace in a whole new light. THANKS

Absolutely wonderful short video thank you Karen! You explain giclee prints in an empirical way that would make any scientist proud =)

Thank you Karen for this very instructive video. I had no idea what a giclee print is, and I just received a giclee portrait as a gift. Wonderful explanation.

Very helpful! I am an amateur artist and I would like to do prints. This was helpful. It is also always helpful to give some idea of cost.

At last a human that talks about the subject in the title! fantastic information very helpful and put across very well.

Lovely! Thank you for the information that you make so clear and concise. You have such a clear voice and you keep focused on your subject. You have done great job.

Thank you for this explanation. I was trying to figure out what this kind of print actually entails and this video helped immensely.

I am a watercolourist(hobby) and always wondered what the term meant.. now I know!!! Thank you.. a very clear description!

Thanks for this info. I have wondered about this for years but never took the time to really look into it. After watching this video I feel that I now have a pretty fair idea about what giclee is. It was informative and to the point.

A++ video ! this actually helped a LOT , yours is the first video that.....actually explains what it is

I used to do a combination of scanning and photography to digitize the image, but I now use all photography, and I use a professional photographer who provides me with the images and color strips on disk. I've been much happier with the fidelity of the photography over the scans. Hope that helps!

Thank you so much for this Karen! This is the first time I've heard someone go into depth on the difference. So grateful for you sharing this information :)

Thanks for sharing this info. I am planning to place my first order of giclee prints very soon, and was grateful to hear why giclee is the way to go.

Thank you, this was very informational. I wasn't completely sure what a giclee was or what made it special. Very nicely summed up here.

Thank you Karen for sharing. I've always wanted to know what giclee was, and the process.

Great explanation ... thank you for taking the time to make a video on it!

Thanks for taking the time to do this video. its very useful and Im going to blog about it. There is an interesting discussion over giclée prints versus traditional prints and the value of the first. The points you´ve brought in this video are key, and I will use them as part of the selling arguments for my work which is mostly in this technique. Best and thanks for the good work.

THANK YOU for all the information. This was VERY helpful!

This video was very helpful. I now understand what a giclee print is. Thank you Karen.

What a wealth of information! Thank you for this thorough explanation of what a Giclee is.

SUCH great information! I have been so curious as to what exactly a giclee was. Thanks!

Thank you for this video. I wasn't sure what the differences were in prints, now I have a much better understanding.

Thank you very much for explaining that to everyone. I’m a crafter of little decor pieces. I wanted to craft a flag sign or framed photo for my dad and I looked on pottery barn website to honestly dupe one of their products if I possibly could. Well..I had to look up a word and it led me to you, an artist! Thank you for explaining and beyond that I’m captivated by your water color paintings!

Thank you very much for the complete definition. I am a beginning artist and most certainly appreciate you posting this video.

Thanks! I recently bought a giclee reprint of an illustration that appeared in HG Wells' first illustrated edition of his book War of the Worlds and wondered why I paid so much more than a poster. Now I know! Very informative, especially the dyes vs pigments thing, as well as the quality of the paper. Thanks so much! I'll be buying giclee prints when I can now :D

Karen, thank you very much for a well done and detailed explanation on Giclee and the different examples provided.

This was an excellent video! You were very thorough. I appreciate you taking the time to share. I now can pronouce the "Giclee" correct! Thanks to you!

I am looking for a printer to make Giclee prints of my watercolors. Your video was extremely helpful. Thank you.

Nice explanation Karen. One thing, for future reference, you mentioned on-screen resolution as 72 dots per inch (dpi); in actuality, on-screen resolution is measured in pixels per inch (ppi) and there is a significant difference. This is an extremely common assumption. Thanks for your video.

Very informative. I had just bought a Steven Adler giclee (Think about You). And the dealer said it was giclee. I had no idea what type of Median that was. Thank you.

Awesome job, Karen! Thanks so much for posting this video and for clearing up my confusion of the term. Excellent job of clarifying!

Thank you for this...Giclee is on my Art exam for teaching certification and I needed a good explaination. Great!

Great video, very clear and informative. This cleared up a few things I was wondering about.

Hi Karen, that is a very useful video, thank you. I didn't know anything about giclee printing so this makes me feel a lot more confident about ordering my first prints.

That was just a wonderful talk and explained so much to me! I enjoyed it. Thank you Karen.

Thank you, Karen. I am preparing to sell my photography for the first time. I just set up an account and applied to sell on Artfinder.com. I have seen the term before when I started thinking this could be a possibility about two years ago. Now I know. Now to find a good giclee print service. Once again, I thank you.

Very informative video. I thought you did a great job of editing the video and presenting general information - giclee prints as well as - specific information on your own art work - It was a bonus to find a linked video telling about your new (now a year old) gallery in Rockland, Maine! I vacationed on North Haven Island last summer for two weeks. My son has since purchased a small home on the island so next summer we will visit again - I will forward information about your gallery to my son and his friends - you prints look like the would fit out there . And your gallery the best place to see them. Thank you for your video...We live in NJ - (The video looked pro to me)

I suppose I'll just say to each their own. For me as an artist, the bottom line is that some of my clients see real value in limited edition giclee prints, and I do the very best job I am able to do to provide an excellent product for them that will withstand the test of time and truly be the "next best thing to an original".

Thank you for the good information and the easy to understand way that you explained it. I love your fish pieces. They're beautiful.

I want to thank you for explaining giclee` I had no idea what it was or how it was pronounced, I had seen the word over and over again on Pinterest in conjunction with watercolor art pieces, so now I know thanks to you!

A lot of good points but one crucial element missing, the number in the edition of prints of a piece in order for it to have a continued value. Like any medium, the maximum number of images created from an original is to be limited to ten (10), three artist proofs A/P and seven 1/7, 2/7, 3/7 etc. Numbers above that devalue the work and images created from it.

Thank you for explaining giclee so well. I saw some Giclee prints at an Art Galleery this evening and was wondering what they were.

i learned so much watching this. thanks for taking the time to explain giclee to the novice.

Thanks for a very informative and well thought out presentation -- I learned a lot from your video!

A very interesting and informative video. Thank you Karen and well done.

Hi, @Heather Tomblin. I am currently using a local fine art printer in Camden, Maine. When I lived in Laguna Beach, I also used a local fine art printer there. I have used a fine art giclee printer in Florida that I really liked, but the added cost of mailing and the challenges of working collaboratively with a printer who was not local proved difficult for me.

Thank you so much for your informative piece on giclee prints...It was very helpful when shopping for some art works.

Thank you, this is a great explanation, exactly what I needed. Much appreciated.

Thank you so much for your tutorial. It was quite educational, and you made it very easy to understand. Ignore dansterism's post.

Thanks, Stacey. I keep meaning to do a part II to this video clarifying some points, but I'm glad you found it helpful!

Karen, thank you for this video, you taught me a great amount in a short non boring fashion. I will look for more of your work in the future.

Very, very nicely done video. Concise, precise, only the info I need and not a lot of talk. Perfect! Make more!

I've been to Laguna Beach one time in my life and I actually visited your studio. Awesome work! Thanks for the tutorial. I'm looking into getting some of my photographs printed and the place I'm using does giclee prints but I had no idea what that meant lol. Thanks again!

That was a wonderfully concise and informative video. Thank you!

Thanks, @Fred Whitall. When I finish a painting, I decide if I am going to release it as a print. I do two types of prints: The first is a ltd ed run of giclee prints and the second is an open ed run of fine art prints. The ltd ed run is the same size as the original and printed with museum quality reproduction technology. The open ed prints are standard size. While they use archival materials, they aren't t the same quality as the giclee prints. When the ltd ed run sells out, I retire the image

Thank you, Karen. This is a very informative video.

Very instructive and knowledgable. Excellent job and thank you!

Thanks so much, you explain the giclee process so well, very easy to understand.

For 20 years+, I have been doing digital art primarily using Photoshop (though I don't use photos), StrataPro, Bryce, KPT, and PainterX2. I have been interested in selling the images as glicee prints to canvass. Your video is very insightful and helps. Perhaps there should be an online gallery of digital art> original, photo derived... Thanks for being motivated enough to put your video out where we all can see it.

Excellent - where was this video 16 years ago when i needed to watch it!

Thanks. You explained giclee very well. Nice to know how to pronounce it as well!

We print at 1440 dpi on cotton rag. We can see the difference between that and 720 dpi printing. So in fact we do print at 1440 dpi, on rag papers. The ink does not bleed off the page.

Thank you Karen! Now I know what it is and able to pronounce it with confidence.

I think you did a GREAT job explaining about Giclees Karen! Thank you for this video. I just posted it on my facebook page. (Fellow Laguna Artist Robin Altman)

Thank you so much for this very informative video which I luckily found as I begin to explore the possibility of making prints out of my artwork

wow, your video got me thinking giclee prints in a different light now. Thanks.

thanks for this. clears up a lot of my questions. i guess i would just call around and ask printers if they offer this service. i'm hoping it's not too hard to find a great printer.

Thank you for this wonderful explanation! I have a small but eclectic personal art collection and can't always afford originals. I have purchased numbered prints and NOW I will be sure to ask if they are Giclée to ensure that I'm getting the best quality possible from the artist and for my collection.

Your work is stunning. Thanks for the explanation. Nice video.

Very informative and educational. Thank you Karen!

Thank you for taking the time to explain. Now to find someone local with a giclee printer!

Thanks for the question, @dmsone. I use a variety of media, although pen & ink, graphite, colored pencil, watercolor, and acrylic are the media I employ most in my work. When I intend for an original to enter my print catalog, I either have it scanned or photographed by a professional. I then work with the printer (if he or she is different from the person who photographed/scanned the original) to match the original as best as possible. I no longer live in SoCal, but email me for recommendations

Thank you, @Kirk Bonds. I'll be doing another giclee printing video this fall. Best, Karen

Thanks for the comment, @stormbytes! This is, in part, why I choose (for my client's sake) to outsource my giclee printing to technicians who do it for a living. Regarding the resolution of the Epson Artisan 835 I have in the studio, I was citing the specs provided by Epson: "maximum print resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi." I would have been more accurate if I had said "The vertical print resolution is 5,760 dpi and the horizontal print resolution is 1440 dpi," right?

Fantastic video and a pleasure to watch, THANK YOU!

Great clarifying information. Really appreciated! Thank You.

Lovely video Karen, thank you very much.

Very Informative! Thanks. Take care and God bless, Alan

Thank you for the detailed, straightforward explanation.

@stormbytes, I'm not trying to argue my Epson 835 is better than it is--lol. It is my printer for office work. That was the point of mentioning it in the video. In my experience, many artists with whom I do shows print their own giclees. Most of these artists are doing true giclee printing in terms of hardware, inks and substrate. That being said, I see a fair number of artists who are selling a self-printed product they call a giclee, which is not, in my opinion, a true giclee print.

Thanks Karen for your excellent video. Can you tell us if you take a photo of your original work yourself and also what are the average prices that you have to pay to have a print done in Giclee?

Thank you for sharing this, Karen!

Wonderful presentation, thank you…learned so much from this!!

Really useful, very interesting and very well presented. Thank you.

Thank you so much! I'm the wrong one to ask about which specific model of printer to use. Many of my artist friends have purchased their own giclee printers with mixed success. My decision as an artist has been to understand what type of print product I want to provide to my clients but leave the expertise in the technology, equipment and process to someone who does just that for a living. I'm sorry that's not more helpful. Feel free to email me to discuss more.

Hi, @Elli Michalakea, There is a lot of variability in terms of substrates used when it comes to giclee printing. I print my giclees both on watercolor paper and canvas depending on the original painting and how I think it will be best reproduced.

You've just made my degree show piece even more expensive now! haha

The 2880 DPI is a marketing gimmick. The Epsons are capable of that, but you'll generally get better results out of using the 1440 dpi setting. The difference is that at the 1440 dpi setting, the printer uses variable size dots as it sees fit. At 2880 dpi it uses fixed size dots, but there are times the 1440 with variable sized drops of ink gives better, more even coverage.