Art isn’t just about the art anymore
Digital printmaking has ‘leveled the playing field’ as the saying goes. It gives novice and professional printmakers a fantastic opportunity to contribute to the world of visual communications.
With today’s technological advancements in computers and printers at affordable prices, the gloves are off. We’re seeing more and more people adventuring into the world of printmaking. I know because I AM one, I’m an artist and writer and now can gladly say hobbyist printmaker.
I’ve bought a 13”x19” Canon iP8700 and printed a lot of things at home for myself, my wife, and our hobbies! I don’t do this as a commercial printmaker. But I’m sure I could have given a few changes in my workflow and a much larger printer.
I think understanding what I’m getting into is key for any creative looking take on a potentially costly printing technique.
The differences between a fine art printer vs. being a commercial business are immense. They will save a lot of time and frustration, as you might imagine. I like to do my research before I tread into a new business space. And honestly, investing $500 in a printer and supplies didn’t come easy.
Let’s talk about what it looks like in this competitive space. Here’s what it is to be a Fine Art Printmaker vs. a Commercial Printmaker specifically with inkjet printing.
Here are the main similarities and differences between commercial printing vs fine art printing.
Commercial Printing vs Fine Art Printing Definition
Commercial Printing
The two key elements of commercial printing are volume and speed. The ability to output many prints very quickly is the ideal metric for most commercial printer models. The printing process refers to the transfer between the digital and physical space. Specifically, the transferring of artworks, designs, patterns, or colors from a digital file to a physical medium.
The most common example is a canvas artwork one might typically find at Target or Walmart. Those have been mass-printed on a high-volume printer, hundreds at a time.
This type of printing is widely used to produce promotional materials. This can include point-of-sale marketing materials, brochures, flyers, stationery, and packaging. However, it has many other applications as well.
Fine Art Printing
Fine art printing is a printing process that is ideal for artists and galleries alike. You may have heard of it referred to as “giclée printing.” But what is fine art giclee printing? Well, regardless of the name, the process is all about quality.
Fine art printmakers seek to achieve the maximum level of detail, quality, and archival longevity in a print. Really, they are striving to ensure the closest reproduction of the artist’s work as faithfully as possible. Contrast that with commercial printing, where speed and the volume of print output are the goals. Fine art archival printing is seemingly all about steadfastness.
Some galleries will take this a step further. They may embellish the printed image with acrylics or oils to add some painterly touches. Each of these interventions can simulate the look of the original art piece.
High-quality media, archival inks, acid-free framing bars, and materials are all essential. They are required to guarantee the final product comes as close to the original artwork as possible. The printer models used are able to reproduce the images at a higher resolution than a commercial printer. This takes much longer but allows the detail and sharpness to shine through.
Now that we have an appreciation for these two different types of printing methodologies, let’s move on. Specifically, let’s break them down further by analyzing these topics below:
Commercial Printing vs Fine Art Printing Process and Technology
Commercial Printing
I had mentioned my small 13”x19” home printer but it’s definitely limited in what it can do. Most notable is the process to get high-volume printing done, it just can’t do it. Remember that speed and volume of print output are two key elements of commercial printing. At my fastest settings this little printer can only do about three to five 13”x19” sheets in a minute.
Imagine trying to print several hundred orders at that speed. You’d be there all night and a lot of small business printmakers do this!
By contrast, large-format commercial printers are much more accommodating. They are 60” wide (or wider!) and can print many 13”x19” images all at the same time, on the same roll of material. This is where a business running a large format printer makes great sense. They’ll have a higher output and reasonable quality without wasting time.
The commercial printing processes by which large format commercial printers can achieve this speed takes know-how. It is achieved by using one of two methods:
The first is using heat-bonded solvent-based inks in a wave pattern running through heat rollers before and after printing. The solvent dries quickly and helps set the inks into the substrate with a permanent bond.
The second is large format archival inkjet aqueous printers like the Epson P10000 or P20000. These print at the same size and capabilities as solvent large format printers. This is a relatively newer technology when compared to solvent-based options.
All large format printers generally take up a lot of space and cost thousands. It's important to understand what investment you're making when choosing a large format printer that's suitable for your business. The largest printshops can afford to have one of each to accomplish their different goals such as marketing and producing fine art prints.
The technologies that enable this are threefold: Nesting, RIP Printing, and Image Manipulation software. The best software will include all three features in one, but there are thousands of software suites that might focus just on image manipulation. This includes Adobe's Photoshop or LightRoom products. But there is software that only factor print nesting, such as ImageNest.
While this article won't go into the specific details of each piece of software, knowledge is key. It's important for a printmaker to educate themselves on the various features they might be looking for. Moreover, it’s critical to determine what they hope to accomplish in their prints.
Generally speaking, you want to have as much color management control and image nesting capability. This will maximize your print time and color quality without re-adjusting settings each time.
'Nesting' refers to the process of software that calculates how multiple images are mapped on-screen. This means they can be printed on a single piece of material with the maximum amount of coverage and the least amount of waste.
The software will allow the printmaker to flip, rotate, and size the images as needed. Once their settings are just right, the printed output will meet their desired results. This level of control varies by software. But the general idea is that the printmaker will be able to produce great prints the same exact way, every time.
Fine Art Printing
“Giclée” is just a fancy French word for “ink spraying or squirting of archival inks.” Unlike the solvent high-speed commercial printers, these printers use water-based inkjet nozzles. The definition means that the printer sprays tiny dots of water-based archival pigmented inks onto a substrate.
The substrate will then require some sort of protective coating, lamination, or framing. Any of these will help avoid ink smears or environmental damage.
The process for fine art printing is a lot more varied than commercial printing. Printmakers such as myself can achieve some level of “fine art” even with smaller format printers. And we can achieve such results with a variety of substrates like fine art paper, canvas, or even metal!
Today’s technology for water-based inkjet printing has gotten advanced enough and affordable enough to become truly accessible. A printmaker can spend less than a thousand dollars and get a great result from the printer.
It’s becoming increasingly popular for fine art printmakers to embellish their prints with acrylic or oil-based paints. This will further enhance the image and express the look and feel of the original art piece. But the step is entirely optional!
Commercial Printing vs Fine Art Printing Materials and Substrates
Commercial Printing
For the purposes of our article, let’s keep things relatively simple. We’re focusing solely on materials that can be printed on a solvent-based ink printer or a water-based ink printer. There is a broad range of materials used for commercial printing. This can include:
- Paper types,
- Canvas, and
- Synthetic materials such as latex and vinyl for weather-resistant applications like banners and signage.
Adhesive materials are widely used for labels and products like stickers, packaging, and product marketing.
Heavyweight cardstock fiber papers are used for business cards. Meanwhile, lightweight cotton rag papers can be used for brochures, flyers, and signage. The possibilities are truly endless with the wide range of options in today’s commercial printing market.
Fine Art Printing
As with commercial printing, today’s fine art printmakers have immense flexibility in the materials they can use. Even vinyl that can be printed on a small format inkjet printer. Artists hoping to make durable and weather-resistant stickers for easily sellable merchandise can now do so with ease. A quick search online will show you the millions of artists taking advantage of this method.
As the title of the article states: art isn’t just about the art anymore. The possible options for small business owners have helped maximize their voice and skillset.
They also help extend their art beyond the originals they’re used to selling. Archival canvases and papers that are made to last at least 100 years are common choices for artists. This is especially true when an artist seeks to reproduce the look of their paintings.
For fine art archival printing, it all comes down to the materials.
Commercial Printing vs Fine Art Printing Quality and Color Reproduction
This topic requires a look into understanding DPI and PPI and their differences. Thankfully we have an entire article discussing this. Additionally, for the purposes of this printmaking article, we’re discussing color reproduction in regard to ICC profiles. And we’ll be considering both the CMYK and RGB color spaces.
Both commercial and fine art printing require thoughtful execution of printing software. This will make the best use of these color spaces.
Though ICC profiles are considered optional for fine art printing, they maximize the color accuracy of a print reproduction. Print resolutions vary greatly from one printer to another. But we’ll discuss the broad concept of inkjet printing to give our readers a better idea.
Let’s take a look at how commercial and fine art printing differ in these methods.
Commercial Printing
Managing colors accurately is critical in ensuring a perfect print reproduction for commercial print companies. It will also ensure that this managed color can be repeated every time the same art piece is reproduced.
Remember when we mentioned “RIP Printing” earlier in the article? Commercial printing utilizes this special RIP printing software to enable control. But control over what? Largely over colors all the way down to ink percentages by color.
RIP printing software can vary greatly by company or intended purpose. But the common themes among all of them can be summarized as such:
- Color channel control - Usually done in CMYK with four-color process printers. The software allows the printmaker to truly dial in each color for the most accurate print possible. This is where ICC profiles matter most. When a printmaker has created a custom color space to ensure symmetrical accuracy, ICC offers control.
- Print nesting - A benefit of using RIP technology is the ability to calculate the maximum print space on any specific media such as archival canvas with multiple copies of one image or a variety of different images. The RIP software calculates the size of each image. It will then flip it horizontally or vertically on the media based on the size of the media. For example, it will calculate how many 13”x19” prints will fit side by side on a 60” wide canvas roll. The best RIP software will do this automatically, the worst won’t do this at all.
- Print queue management - Large commercial operations can’t afford slowdowns in the process. Forcing a printmaker to just sit at a computer and hit “print” all day isn’t a smart model. Therefore RIP software is used to set up and execute multiple print jobs on the same media.
Fine Art Printing
Where commercial printing focuses on fast and accurate reproduction of colors across myriad images, the results aren’t perfect. One can argue that fine art printmakers more greatly focus on absolute color accuracy and texture of the print. Their goal is to get as close as possible to the look and feel of the original work of art.
Through the use of archival pigment inks and archival media, a fine art print will provide excellent color rendering. But it will also resist fading and color shifts for many years. Breathing Color is proud to partner with The Fine Art Trade Guild. Together, we administer an archival benchmark test called “The Blue Wool Test.” This test supports our claim of 100+ years of archival value in our fine art papers.
Fine art printmakers will typically offer artwork in limited editions. Artwork is often numbered by print, signed, and stamped with a certificate of authenticity. This further enhances the value of each of the prints and makes them appealing to fine art collectors.
Some fine art printmakers will go a step further and embellish their fine art prints with acrylic or oil-based paints. This step will enhance the look and feel of the digital print and make it look more like the original.
This has become a trend in the fine art printing industry. More and more artists today seem to enjoy the ability and flexibility of enhancing each print in different ways. This variability makes them more of an original collector’s item themselves.
Commercial Printing vs Fine Art Printing Usage and Purpose
In a lot of ways, the line between commercial and fine art printing can be blurred. Technology and software continue to improve by the day and likewise, so does printing. The reality is that a commercial printmaker can most likely print fine art as well as vice versa. But the determining factors have more to do with the intended usage and market of any specific business.
I’ve seen commercial printmakers switch to exclusive fine art printing with minor changes. I’ve also seen small business owners invest in a massive 60” commercial quality printer. Their previous focus on small fine art prints was of little consideration. It really depends on the choices the business owner wants to make.
Let’s take a generalized look at the difference between printing fine art prints and large-scale operations:
Commercial Printing
As mentioned before, commercial printing services answer many practical needs for business, retail, or marketing. Large format printers can be used to produce a range of marketing materials at great speed and good quality. Marketing such as brochures, flyers, banners, and point-of-sale signage. Packaging, stationery, business cards, letterhead, and even printing magazines of all kinds fall under the large format printing definition.
Have you ever tried to print a magazine on a small home printer that doesn’t print on both sides? Or without software that can smartly assemble the pages in a booklet sequence for stapling or binding? It’s nearly impossible to be productive as it can take hours to complete just a handful of those magazines. I know because I’ve tried on that same Canon IP8700 13” wide printer.
It prints beautifully for single prints or a handful of prints. However, when you need complex functions, the quality can take a dip. Everything from duplex printing, stapling, binding, or book finishing can push the demands further. All of these finishes can be done on specialized commercial printers designed just for that without a quality hit.
Fine Art Printing
Here is where fine art printing really stands apart from types of commercial printing. The intended usage and purpose are completely focused on the creation and sale of art. Short runs, limited prints, custom printing, and more are all on the table.
And more and more artists are using this print quality for their works. It’s now common to see digital print reproductions in art exhibitions, galleries, museums, or conventions alongside original works.
The quality of digital printmaking has enabled artists to up their offerings considerably. Consider how they can offer incredibly detailed digital prints in the same spaces as originals. And this further enables their reach as a small business owner.
Imagine trying to create one hundred original pieces of art for a single trade show. Now imagine having to do that again and again and again.
It’s not as sustainable as offering numbered exclusive digital prints of those first hundred originals. Add in a variety of collector’s editions and the process becomes almost untenable.
Commercial Printing vs Fine Art Printing Price and Turnaround Time
This is another topic that is widely open to personal interpretation. Price for printing fine art prints varies on so many factors that aren’t really related. The print media, technology, or completion time all play second fiddle to more subjective measures of value.
Some big-name artists can make their entire year’s living on one trade show. Meanwhile, others must maintain full-time jobs as they enjoy their craft with the extra time they have. Commercial printing is less subjective but still has to follow best business practices. Let’s take a look.
Commercial Printing
“Business is business,” as the saying goes. The same is true for commercial printmakers. For these businesses, pricing is based on several necessary factors every business must consider. Namely: time, labor, quantity, and quality of materials.
The complexity of the print project and the specific printing methods and framing used can further increase costs for each print. And at the end of the day, what is commercial printing but a scaled business model?
Imagine a gigantic 6’ panorama or a heavily embellished frame made with rare materials. Every detail beyond standard print jobs means a potential higher cost.
To stay competitive, a lot of businesses in the commercial printing industry have options:
- They can choose less expensive materials,
- They can offer to print in bulk for a quantity discount, or
- They can reduce their print offerings such as not offering a varnishing/finishing process on their canvas prints.
Turnaround time is expected to be relatively fast when working with a commercial printer. This is because customers expect volume and speed of printing as their core strengths. In general, a larger printshop with multiple specialized printers can turn around a print job much faster than a small printshop with just one. Specialized materials, higher-resolution images, and the volume of customers all play a part in this productivity.
Ultimately, it’s up to each print shop to determine what they promise to their customers. But with the sheer volume of online print shops available, it behooves each business to operate quickly and efficiently. If they fail to do so, they risk losing the project to the next website that might be a bit cheaper and faster. Such is life in the commercial printing industry.
Fine Art Printing
Fine art printing can be more expensive than commercial printing. The subject matter is considered of higher value from the outset: printing art vs. printing marketing or brochures or signage. Therefore, it’s not as straightforward in cost.
Like commercial printmaking: time, labor, quantity, and quality of materials should all play a role in pricing fine art. The added benefit of printing fine art is the value of factors such as:
- The artist’s name,
- The number of limited editions available, and
- The exclusivity of availability of each print.
As an example, an artist offering specific prints at an event means the piece is inherently limited and exclusive. Adding a household name on top of a limited commodity and the fine art’s value can inherently increase.
Turnaround time is also typically assumed to be longer than a commercial printmaker. A higher level of care, attention to detail, and additional features can add time to the fine art print project. For example, embellishment of the digital print can be a service offered. However, this process then requires a studio artist’s time and careful execution of the embellishing process.
Conclusion on Commercial Printing vs Fine Art Printing
Choosing the appropriate printing method based on the purpose and objectives of your project is crucial. Both commercial and fine art printing have their unique set of benefits and limitations. Moreover, both commercial art vs fine art have their pros and cons.
Commercial printing offers affordability, a wide range of materials, and speedy production times. These factors make it suitable for business and marketing needs. In contrast, fine art printing delivers superior quality and longevity, making it the preferred choice for artists and galleries.
Regardless of the process selected, the key lies in understanding your specific requirements. Moreover, it’s all about aligning those requirements with the best-suited printing solution.
Finally, discover the power of vibrant, lasting, and professional-quality printing with Breathing Color. Our top-tier fine art and photo papers, canvases, and print varnishes are peerless. We are designed to meet the needs of artists, photographers, and printing professionals. And we are equipped to turn commercial photography vs fine art photography into covetous printed pieces.
Uncover a world of detail and color today! Discover printing products from Breathing Color.
