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sweetpea · Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2001 11:59 am

anyone had experience printing their digital art on something other than a 8.5x11 piece of paper on their crappy 5 year old HP printer?

the reason i ask is i've been commissioned to do a couple of portraits, and they want me to utilize my digital (painter is my god) skills. however, when i give it to them, i want it to look excellent; something they could frame and put on the wall. do print shops cost a bundle to get this done? will kinkos do it? and what's your experience been with it all?

i really appreciate your feedback.

thanks.

christian cox · Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2001 1:10 pm

I make prints with my HP Deskjet 932C, of course it's just the standard 8.5x11" on Photo Paper, but it does an outstanding job. Kinko's is good, you can get large prints made there as well as Alpha Graphics, and a number of other photo-copy chains.

Above my desk I have two framed images that I rendered out in Animation:Master and printed with my HP printer, they turned out so very nice, really impressed with the printer's photo quality. It only cost about $189.99 at Best Buy, I believe.

balistic · Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2001 1:34 pm

The problem with anything you're going to do at Kinko's, or with most consumer printers, is that you aren't going to get more than ten or fifteen years of lightfastness. I use inkjets all the time for artist's proofs and the like, but if I'm ever /selling/ a piece to anyone, I like to give them something that will last at least a hundred years.

A giclee (pronounced 'gee-clay') print on acid-free paper will last at least a couple generations when properly mounted behind glass. If you're serious about having your work last (a quality often overlooked in the digital realm), its the only way to go.

Think of a Kinko's print or something off your inkjet as being worth about as much as a decent poster.

sweetpea · Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2001 2:15 pm

thanks for all the responses.

it's helped out a lot.

ballistic, could you tell me about this 'giclee' process more? would it cost an arm and a leg to get it printed?

balistic · Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2001 2:54 pm

The link I gave has an "about" page that lists some background on Giclee as well as a price list. Coleman charges $30 for 8x10, $40 for 11x14 . . . on up to 35x47 for $175. Watercolor or canvas gets a bit more pricey.

They also have a Roland printer that uses a different kind of ink . . . those are priced by surface area at $20 sq/ft.

Hope that helps!

balistic · Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2001 12:04 am

Here's a local place (for you and I) that does gallery-quality Giclee prints:
http://www.colemanart.com/

I've haven't used them yet, but plan to. They waive the prepress fee if you're going from a digital source file.

The Brat · Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2001 12:21 am

I've made a few prints at Kinko's, myself... not on photo paper, mind, so I don't know about that. It didn't cost much at all, and it was easy. I sat on a computer myself, opened and fiddled with my file for a moment, then asked them if I could make prints of it -- not sure how it might work where you are, but at "my" store you basically just put the file into their print queue, and then they can set it to print off however many copies you want, on whatever paper you like, and soforth. (They should let you print just one copy first as a test to see if it looks good and stuff, of course.)
I also got the stuff laminated, and the whole thing cost just under $20 (CAN). That included computer time, printing, and lamination for 40 bookmarks -- 8 marks on each of five 8.5" x 11" sheets of cardstock.

All in all, they look really good, considering they're only on cardstock and not some fancy-schmancy paper.

[ November 12, 2001: Message edited by: The Brat ]