Monday 24 July 2017

Limited Editions - is there is another way?

First, we have to look at where ‘Limited Editions’  began? They started in the early days of printing. The first copies printed were normally the best because the printing plates would wear out, go ‘out of register’ - lose alignment and the printer was more careful applying the inks at the beginning of a run. The Limited Editions were seen to be quality printing, the lower the number the better the quality. All very logical, but with the advent of computer-controlled digital printing there is no variation in quality, so there is no real need to limit editions, other than as a marketing ploy.
But that marketing ploy can be far better delivered if the concept of Limited Editions is applied to fine art prints as it is to books. You can have a ‘1st Edition’ book that is number 3, but you can also have a ‘Second Edition No:12’ of the same book. The First Edition is worth more then the Second Edition and holds that ‘exclusive’ cache. 
The same can be done for fine art prints, the First Edition can have seal embossed into the paper, and show the print number and the edition. This will give the artist the opportunity to offer two or more Editions, at different prices, without limiting the overall scope to sell as many prints as there are people wanting to buy them.

Other ideas include having the first 20 or so prints include a hand-signed biography/story or providing something like a sample strip of the paints used or a photograph of the picture being painted. There are many ways to create an exclusive run of prints without limiting your scope to sell your most popular work.

Wednesday 19 April 2017

Reduce the pain- know your market. 

Here’s the conundrum, artists produce an amazing amount of work every year, but only a small amount is ever purchased. Of course, some of that art is not intended for sale, but a vast amount is. What’s going wrong? Why are so many artists out of tune with what people want to buy? Obviously, we don’t want to see art produced to a ‘marketing’ formula, but all that creative energy should be getting some reward. 

We even see art being offered at a price that’s below the cost of the materials used to create it. Something is out of balance here. Imagine if the vast majority of books written were never read, but that’s what’s happening with art. I guess the immediate reaction is that all art should come from the artist’s imagination, be totally original and not be driven by market demand. However there are successful artists out there, some earning significant amounts of money from their art; and they do seem to be aware of their market and yet still produce highly original work. 

Maybe people don’t ‘appreciate’ the range of art on offer, and the hard work the artist has put in to create it? Although all artist want to be appreciated for their work, I think it’s more a case of artists not being aware of what role art plays in all our lives today. We’re not talking about art in public galleries, where its role is clearly defined, it’s the art in people’s homes or places of work where the real market is. It’s the art that people choose to live with, to see and enjoy every day, and, unlike in the fifties and sixties, they don’t all want the same (green lady) pictures. They want art they can be proud of owning, whether it’s originals or prints, and they want to ‘refresh’ their collection as and when their circumstances and locations change. Yes, we have to accept that art for most people can be as much a ‘disposable item’ as their sofa or carpet. But the good news is they will buy more art during their lifetime than previous generations did.

So, how does an artist find out what type/style of art people want? Ask them is the obvious answer. Speak to your local gallery and they’ll soon tell you what doesn’t sell. In fact, finding out what doesn’t sell is probably the most important bit of research any artist can do. But be aware that what doesn’t sell in one area/country might prove popular in another. It’s understandable that artists don’t want external pressures when creating an artwork, but if you hope to sell it you do need to be reasonably confident that someone might like to buy it. Another interesting aspect of ‘knowing your market’ is how big to make your art. Only people in big houses have the wall space for big art, there’s even a practical aspect to defining your market!

So, like it or not, if you want to earn money from your art, you have the same pressures as the car designer, fashion house or wallpaper producer. If the public don’t see a value in your ‘product’ they won’t buy it.

Monday 30 January 2017

Is it right to paint over a giclée print?

In America they call them ‘enhanced prints’, but there is a growing interest in the UK for embellishing giclée prints of art or photography. This seems to have started with artists wanting to put back the metallic colours that the current Giglee Print machines can’t reproduce, and it has gone on from there. Before you try it you need to be aware of two things; 1) giclée inks are water-based and therefore will ‘run’ if they get wet, 2) the surface of giclée papers and canvas have a coating to take the inks and this can ‘lift’ if it gets wet. This coating can also be affected by other applications and treatments.


The answer is to seal the surface of the print with a protective layer before you start applying other materials. The type of protective layer depends on the what you intend to overpaint with. Whilst the protective layer can seal the water-based inks, it needs to be receptive to the overpaint materials. You also have to consider the effect you are looking for, different protective layers can be totally transparent, tinted, diffused, or textured. The best bet is to get a piece of printed material to experiment on to find the desired effect. A good reference source is a book called ‘Digital Art Studio’ ISBN 0-8230-1342-1, although its quite old now (2002), it does cover most things you might want to do to a giclée print.