What are art prints? Everything there is to know about art prints and more…

Art prints are a high quality machine printed reproduction of an artists original painting. Mostly printed using specialized inkjet printers on canvas or premium grade paper.

Art prints have been growing in popularity the past few years, Complex abstract art prints have been gaining a lot of interest in praticular.

In this blog post we’ll try to lay out everything there is to know about art prints: What are art prints? How are art prints made? How do art prints differ from original artwork? and more.

As stated at the beginning of this article – Art prints are a high quality machine printed reproduction of the artists’ original work.

Essentially what that means is that art prints are a reproduced replica of an original artwork.

That in no way means art prints are of lesser quality than original artworks.

In most cases art prints are printed on canvas using premium, high quality specialised paints to mimic the original artworks depth, sharpness, tones and contrast.

How are art prints made?

Different artists and gallery may produce art prints in a different manner.

The most common way of producing art prints consists of a few key steps.

The process begins by photographing the original artwork using special lighting conditions to eliminate any glare or color distortion in the artworks image.

It is important to make sure the artwork is photographed from a straight on angle to not distort the shapes, planes and alignment of the subjects in the artwork.

For large artworks, the photographer may need to photograph the artwork multiple times, zooming in on various parts of the artwork in each photograph.

Next, the photographs of the artwork are worked on using a photograph editing software to “stitch” the various photographs together and to make sure the colors in the photograph are as identical as possible to those of the original artwork.

The photography process is of utmost importance and has to been done professionally and carefully in order to produce a high quality photographic representation of the artwork that can then be printed using special machinery and materials.

Once a high resolution photograph of the artwork is made and ready the artwork is printed (usually on canvas) using a specialised, extremely high resolution art printer and high quality pigments that are able to replicate the artworks’ original colors, sharpness and contrast.

The final step is a review by a professional who makes sure the printed artwork resembles the original piece as closely as possible.

How are art prints different than original artworks?

Art prints and original artworks are two very different products.

Original works of art are one of kind while an art print of the same artwork may be reproduced multiple times.

From an artistic point of view the main difference between an art print and an original artwork is the texture on the canvas.

When working on an original artwork the artist uses various tools to get the paint on the canvas: Brushes, Rollers, Putty knife, etc…

This process leaves a unique and aesthetically please textures on the canvas.

When a specialised art printer prints an artwork it obviously does not use the same tools to recreate the colors and shapes on the canvas.

The printing process leaves the canvas rather flat and with lack of texture.

This again is almost undetectable by the naked untrained eye, Especially when appreciating art from a reasonable distance.

From a financial perspective – Since original works of art are one of a kind they tend to be more expensive than

Why do artists offer art prints for sale?

Offering art for sale as art prints is a great way for artists to make their art more available and affordable to more people.

Selling art prints may enable artists to make extra income and help support the artist financially while working on new original art.

Production of art prints also allows for one work of art to be owned and put on display on multiple venues while original art is one of a kind and can only be owned and displayed in one place.

In summary, Art prints are a great way for an artist to get his art in front of more people.

How to choose wether to buy a print or an original art piece?

Due to the fact that original artworks are one of a kind they tend to be more expensive than canvas art prints which may be reproduced multiple times per artwork.

If you intend to use the artwork to decorate your home or office on a specific budget – canvas prints may be the right choice for you.

Not all artworks are available as print reproductions.

The artist or gallery may choose to offer some artworks as prints and not produce prints for other artworks.

If only the original artwork is available for purchase it might be considered more unique and expensive.

Premium canvas prints are able to be produced in different dimensions – This feature may make more artworks suitable for your designing and decorating needs.

Original art is very impressive, While high quality abstract prints are almost undistinguishable from original art to the naked eye – The texture of the paint on the canvas in original artworks is not something any machine can replicate.

We hope this article helped you better understand what art prints are, Their history, The difference between an art print and an original painting and How art prints are made.

Please feel free to browse the online gallery for a wide selection of cherry picked works of art by our world class artists