How do I make copies of my acrylic paintings?
November 23, 2014 8:14 PM Subscribe
A few friends have asked about buying these two paintings. They're are a bit precious to me because, not counting a still life of balls and cones They made me do, they're my first two paintings.
I thought maybe I could print these on canvas and give copies. How?
I just started painting so I don't know anything and googling is just confusing me. Talk to me like I know nothing.
So my questions are:
1. Do I just use one of the online services? I'm in Australia if anyone has a rec.
2. What do I look for to ensure a quality print? I know nothing about the wood in the frames or grades of canvas or whatever.
3. How do I make my image to upload to these printing places? These are both on A3 watercolour paper. Do I take a photo? Do I scan? Can I just scan on my canon pixma...in two halves. I have graphic design friends who could join the two halves together for me properly I suppose, or is that ridic? Or am I supposed to find someone with some kind of professional big scanner? What's that going to cost me?
4. And should I stick to A3? If someone wanted a bigger one, would it look terrible when it's printed? I've done about half a dozen paintings now so I feel more confident and am painting bigger and directly on canvas, I do sometimes wish these were bigger and on canvas too.
Thanks everyone.
So my questions are:
1. Do I just use one of the online services? I'm in Australia if anyone has a rec.
2. What do I look for to ensure a quality print? I know nothing about the wood in the frames or grades of canvas or whatever.
3. How do I make my image to upload to these printing places? These are both on A3 watercolour paper. Do I take a photo? Do I scan? Can I just scan on my canon pixma...in two halves. I have graphic design friends who could join the two halves together for me properly I suppose, or is that ridic? Or am I supposed to find someone with some kind of professional big scanner? What's that going to cost me?
4. And should I stick to A3? If someone wanted a bigger one, would it look terrible when it's printed? I've done about half a dozen paintings now so I feel more confident and am painting bigger and directly on canvas, I do sometimes wish these were bigger and on canvas too.
Thanks everyone.
Best answer: Hi!
I can't say for certain about the quality of any of the following, however:
You could almost certainly get it scanned at Officeworks at a3 and not have to restitch it -which is a wee bit tricky.
However, my fine arts phd daughter recommends photography with good lightning.
I think after that, photoshop for colour correction, but beware! I have two monitors on my desk at work, and when I drag pictures from one to the other, the colour changes radically.
You could get them printed on canvas (Officeworks or an online mob) but you could also consider having it printed to paper and taking it to a professional framer to include a nice mask and glassed frame.
Or once printed to paper, sign and number it and let your purchasers arrange framing.
Would it look terrible at a larger size - depends mostly I think on the resolution of your reproduction method (that is, avoid scanning and go for [professional] photography. In fact, I have a friend who is selling her art prints that way.
So best results: professional photography, hi-res digital image, printed onto surface of your choice.
posted by b33j at 7:09 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
I can't say for certain about the quality of any of the following, however:
You could almost certainly get it scanned at Officeworks at a3 and not have to restitch it -which is a wee bit tricky.
However, my fine arts phd daughter recommends photography with good lightning.
I think after that, photoshop for colour correction, but beware! I have two monitors on my desk at work, and when I drag pictures from one to the other, the colour changes radically.
You could get them printed on canvas (Officeworks or an online mob) but you could also consider having it printed to paper and taking it to a professional framer to include a nice mask and glassed frame.
Or once printed to paper, sign and number it and let your purchasers arrange framing.
Would it look terrible at a larger size - depends mostly I think on the resolution of your reproduction method (that is, avoid scanning and go for [professional] photography. In fact, I have a friend who is selling her art prints that way.
So best results: professional photography, hi-res digital image, printed onto surface of your choice.
posted by b33j at 7:09 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
And it astounds me that you have such a capacity for understanding and representing light, shadows and perspective, and reducing your palette after just balls and cones. How did you progress so quickly? (because if you have an instructor, they might be able to assist with your question).
Btw, I'm in Australia (qld).
posted by b33j at 7:14 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
Btw, I'm in Australia (qld).
posted by b33j at 7:14 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for the advice and thank you b33j for the very nice words. I have to give credit to Edward Hopper, these are both based on two of his paintings and were about me learning how to mix colours and make light with paint.
I don't have an instructor, I went to one of those housewifey evening painting classes. Drew cones & foam balls... and a bunch of bananas. Not my kind of thing so I'm learning by looking at what favourite artists did.
Okay, I don't have a professional photographer so I'm going to try and take a great photo myself with highest resolution available and do a test print and see how it goes.
t
posted by stellathon at 5:39 PM on November 24, 2014
I don't have an instructor, I went to one of those housewifey evening painting classes. Drew cones & foam balls... and a bunch of bananas. Not my kind of thing so I'm learning by looking at what favourite artists did.
Okay, I don't have a professional photographer so I'm going to try and take a great photo myself with highest resolution available and do a test print and see how it goes.
t
posted by stellathon at 5:39 PM on November 24, 2014
Best answer: I have made prints of some of my paintings, here's what I did:
took digital pictures with a high-quality camera - if you don't have a tripod, sit the camera down on something and use the timer so you can step away from the camera, let it take a long exposure if needed, and you won't be touching the camera to accidentally jiggle it.
I found I needed to take a few pictures with the lights moved around - acrylic paint can be a bit glossy, and will pick up highlights if you're not careful. moving the lights around meant that I had the highlights in different places, and could then combine the pictures in photoshop, just using the good bits from each image.
I got them printed at a high-end printshop. They did print on canvas, but I did my prints on archival-quality photographic paper. Archival quality is important so that they prints don't fade if exposed to sunlight.
the best prints I made were the ones that were that same size as the original painting. That seemed to capture it's feel the best, unsurprisingly. I then took a silver pen and signed and numbered the prints.
Nice work!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 7:45 PM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]
took digital pictures with a high-quality camera - if you don't have a tripod, sit the camera down on something and use the timer so you can step away from the camera, let it take a long exposure if needed, and you won't be touching the camera to accidentally jiggle it.
I found I needed to take a few pictures with the lights moved around - acrylic paint can be a bit glossy, and will pick up highlights if you're not careful. moving the lights around meant that I had the highlights in different places, and could then combine the pictures in photoshop, just using the good bits from each image.
I got them printed at a high-end printshop. They did print on canvas, but I did my prints on archival-quality photographic paper. Archival quality is important so that they prints don't fade if exposed to sunlight.
the best prints I made were the ones that were that same size as the original painting. That seemed to capture it's feel the best, unsurprisingly. I then took a silver pen and signed and numbered the prints.
Nice work!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 7:45 PM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]
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