The Art By Pip Printing Process
Why Print?
The first and foremost reason I print is due to the medium used for my illustrations. Alcohol markers contain dye based inks. This means I get a beautiful blending ability that wouldn’t be possible with, say, acrylic markers, but the tradeoff is the reduction in lightfastness i.e. they fade over time. Additionally, not all colours are created equal, so over time, some colours fade more than others. Eventually, over a period of years, the original illustration will look nothing like it did when it was completed, even with the very best care.
The second reason I print is to make my illustrations available to a wider audience, as many other artists do for many other mediums. The flexibility offered by printing lets me make different sizes and collections that wouldn’t be possible with a single, original piece.
How do you print?
The first step, once an illustration is finished, is to make a high-resolution scan to create a digital file. This file is then developed with software to make sure the print has the best chance of being an exact match of the original illustration. Colour-matching and making the correct adjustments to the digital file is time consuming and extremely detailed, but it has to be right.
To make a giclée print, you need two things; pigment based archival quality inks that are UV stable, and acid free archival quality coated paper. In order to have the most control and flexibility in this area, we have our own in house print studio, utilising professional grade print technology.
Inks – we have opted for the industry leading Canon Lucia Pro II pigment-based ink system. Ink is delivered via a combination of 10 separate ink cartridges, resulting in beautiful, long-lasting prints.
Paper – all of our prints are made on Hahnemühle Fine Art Photo Rag Ultra Smooth 100% cotton 305 g/m2 paper. Whilst that seems like a lot of detail for a piece of paper, you can be sure that this is the very best quality paper for prints of this kind.
We generally print on demand, avoiding the need for long term storage of prints. Once printed, each print is left to aerate for around 24 hours before being carefully placed into an acid free protective sleeve, possibly with additional glassine paper (depending upon size). Prints are then put into appropriate packaging determined by the shipping location, and sent out to you as soon as possible.
