So, you’re an artist and you’re looking to share your creations with a wider audience beyond the original pieces? A question that often pops up, just like “how do you self-publish your books?”, is How Do You Make Prints Of Your Artwork? You’ve got your beautiful art, and the idea of offering prints is exciting, but the process can seem a bit mysterious. Today, we’re going to demystify that process and explore how to create stunning prints of your artwork without breaking the bank.
Getting a High-Quality Digital Image of Your Original Art
The first critical step in creating excellent art prints is capturing your original artwork in a high-quality digital format. Think of this as creating the perfect digital blueprint for your prints. While some artists opt for professional scanning services, and others try to photograph their art, there’s a middle ground that offers both quality and control: scanning it yourself.
Initially, like many artists starting out, I used an all-in-one inkjet printer and scanner combo – something similar to this Canon model. For a year or two, it served its purpose adequately, despite being a bit slow and occasionally temperamental.
However, I encountered a challenge when I created a mixed media piece featuring fluorescent orange paint. Upon scanning, the vibrant orange areas turned out gray in the digital image! After some research, I discovered that standard scanners often struggle to accurately capture fluorescent colors.
This led me to invest in a dedicated scanner upgrade. After exploring various options online, I chose the Epson Perfection v600 scanner. Years later, it remains my go-to scanner, and I’m extremely happy with its performance. It’s notably faster, delivers superb image quality, and integrates seamlessly with all my computers.
While the Epson scanner is pricier than the Canon all-in-one, and it doesn’t print or copy, its scanning capabilities are precisely what I need and it performs them exceptionally well and efficiently. If you already own a device like the Canon, it’s perfectly fine to use it until you feel the need for a higher quality image capture. However, if you are choosing between purchasing a new all-in-one or a dedicated scanner and don’t require printing functionality from it, I would strongly recommend opting for the Epson for superior scan quality.
Producing Your Art Prints: DIY vs. Outsourcing
Once you have a high-quality digital image, the next crucial step is producing your art prints. When I first began offering prints, I attempted to produce them myself using the same Canon inkjet printer/scanner mentioned earlier, printing on cardstock-like paper.
This DIY approach quickly became a source of frustration, not to mention wasted materials and money. Investing in truly high-quality art paper was expensive, and achieving accurate colors and print quality often required multiple attempts, consuming a lot of ink – a costly issue with inkjet printers.
Realizing the limitations of DIY printing for consistent quality and cost-effectiveness, I decided to explore outsourcing my print production. I initially inquired with local print shops, but they primarily focused on large bulk orders, which wasn’t feasible for my print-on-demand needs. Turning to online solutions, I first experimented with RedBubble.
RedBubble offers impressive product quality, and their prints are indeed fantastic. However, the artist’s profit margin on RedBubble is quite small. I would recommend RedBubble primarily if profit isn’t a major concern, or if you have a very high volume of sales where the small per-print earnings accumulate significantly.
I did appreciate RedBubble’s card options, which are delivered cello-wrapped with envelopes and available individually or in bulk. However, I wasn’t fond of the non-customizable RedBubble shop link printed on the back of the cards. I’m still searching for a cost-effective way to produce high-quality cards, so any recommendations are welcome!
After RedBubble, I briefly considered Fine Art America before transitioning my print production to iPrintfromHome, a service I continue to use today. iPrintfromHome provides high-quality prints on various media, including fine art papers, prints with a white border, and crucially, they offer drop-shipping directly to your customers. This means when someone buys a print from my online shop, I can order the print through iPrintfromHome’s website, and they handle both the production of a beautiful print and its shipment directly to the customer. This hands-off approach is a huge advantage for a busy artist. Customers have even complimented the exceptional shipping packaging from iPrintfromHome.
I also utilize iPrintfromHome for bulk print orders for art fairs and exhibitions. Again, the print quality is consistently excellent, and the packaging for larger orders is equally impressive, often with cost savings for bulk quantities.
While iPrintfromHome is excellent, there are a few things I wish they offered, such as matting and cello-wrapping for prints, as well as card printing services. Additionally, they currently don’t offer international shipping, which means for orders outside the US or Canada, I have to have the print shipped to me first and then reship it to the international customer – a minor inconvenience. But these are minor points in an otherwise fantastic service.
One of the delightful aspects of IPFH is the personal touch. You feel like you’re interacting with real people who care about your art. Their Twitter engagement is fun, their customer service is responsive and helpful, and they even send a personalized anniversary card each year to mark when you created your account. This human element is something I truly appreciate.
Of course, there are many other avenues for producing art prints. However, this combination of scanning and print-on-demand outsourcing is what currently works best for my needs, budget, and desire to maintain control over my work and its production process.
Finding the Right Balance for Your Art Print Business
Ultimately, the key to successfully making prints of your artwork is to find a method that is affordable and sustainable for you. If the process becomes overwhelming or prohibitively expensive, you’re less likely to produce prints consistently. And that’s perfectly acceptable if that aligns with your artistic business model (as exemplified by artists like Micki Wilde, who focuses solely on original paintings). The important thing is that you get to decide what works best for you. Don’t feel pressured to follow what everyone else is doing or what you think “real artists” should do. Make informed choices, own your decisions, and enjoy the process of sharing your art in print form.
If you are an artist who creates prints, what methods do you use? Do you have any recommendations or insights to share? Please share your advice in the comments below! And if you are considering making prints of your art and still have questions, please ask them in the comments – I’ll do my best to answer them.
*This post contains affiliate links to products I genuinely recommend. Thank you for supporting independent authors and artists!
