How to make giclée prints from fine art paintings

Giclée prints of fine art by contemporary artist Dennis Ryan titled 3 Faucets, Breathe, Ticker, 1 2 3, and Irrational.
Photo courtesy of Studio Light Room® in Huntington Beach, California.

First off... what is a giclée print?

FYI, this definition is purposefully keep short and to the point. For a more lengthy description of this printing process see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giclée

Giclée is a relatively new process of reproducing fine art by archival, high quality inkjet printers. The process was discovered in the early 1990s and is pronounced "zhee-clay", but you'll find most printers pronounce it "g-clay".

Basically this process is a way to make prints of your fine art via inkjet inks on canvas or fine quality paper. The reproduction can be to size, smaller or even bigger than the original. Typically, prints are reproduced to size unless specially requested otherwise.

Are these prints good quality? How long do they last?

This process by definition is archival. That includes all inks, paper, canvas and non-yellowing varnish that protects the print over time. Depending on the painter or artist, and the process by which their art is made, or the mixing of their mediums, these prints can actually outlast the originals; just ask a buyer of an original Jackson Pollock. Giclée prints can be guaranteed to last — with no fading — for 20 to 30 years!

Liz enters the meeting room, in front of the Giclée print of the painting titled 3 Faucets, and shows Kristen to her room. Kristen thinks it is a "sick joke" that all 6 patients will be sharing one bathroom. The print was made from Ryan's original phobia & anxiety conceptual painting titled 3 Faucets.

Are there giclée prints available for Dennis Ryan's contemporary fine art?

Normally no. Dennis typically doesn't make prints of his conceptual fine art. This art is not intended for collection by the masses. There was however a recent big opportunity in California (actually on Vh1/MTV) called The OCD Project where time constraints required Ryan to FTP digital scans of the artwork to a printer, because he could not send the originals. So yes, a rare few prints are available. The artwork from The OCD Project are in a very limited print run quantity of 25 each though, and 3 of the 5 that were on the actual walls of the house were aquired by some of the production team already. These paintings were professionally scanned by an excellent, local photographer that is familiar with this, next best thing to the original, printing process. Which paintings were on the show? You can tell which where scanned and printed to giclée prints by the thumbnail images below.

Limited run giclée prints were made for Vh1's The OCD Project in California.
Click on an image for more information.

Process of getting a fine art print once purchased from an artist?

Typically, from the moment you pay for a print to the time it arrives, securely and professionally packed, on your door step is approximately 2 weeks. This depends of course on if the artist keeps an inventory of prints, or they print them on demand. If no inventory... the scanned artwork (kept in digital file format) is printed with specific instructions on sizing and matching to a proof; then the printer prints this to exact specifications; and then stretches the print to original size on canvas; then the printer professionally packs, insures and ships the piece.

Side-note: words like "inventory" and "printing" belong to the commercial side of art as a business. Fine art is 180 degrees away from commercialism for this artist. It is not industrial — it is a precious commodity. But if you must print copies of your work as a fine artist, then giclée seems to be the lesser of all the evils.

Remember: This is not a poster you buy at Walmart, Amazon.com or your local Signarama.

1. These prints are archival fine art.
2. These prints have brilliant color replication to the originals.
3. These prints are stretched to original size on real, high quality canvas.
4. These prints are as close as you can possibly come to owning the originals.

Dennis Ryan artwork facts: conceptual art — paintings, prints & drawings

• Currently is working on an integration of faith (or lack there of) into his mental struggle concepts.
• Paintings live mostly in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania).
• This art is receiving exponentially increasing interest — on a global scale — from private collectors, galleries, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health societies, students and psychological disorder suffers alike.
• Check global search rankings — type these phrases into your favorite search engine and see:
1. "Dennis Ryan"
2. "paintings about psychological disorders"
3. "OCD art"
4. "conceptual fine artist"
5. "up and coming fine artist"
6. etc., etc., etc.
• Page 1 rankings are bringing this conceptual art huge amounts of attention on an international scale. Tens of thousands of viewers annually are being introduced to fine art that deals with anxiety, OCD, phobias and psychological disorders.