Guide to Printing Fine Art
Printing Process
When printing digital artwork, you have a few options to choose from. My top recommendation is Giclée, which is essentially archival quality inkjet printing.
So what's the difference between a home inkjet printer and a Giclée printer? Giclée printers use 12 ink colors and an extremely fine spray technique that is unmatched in color depth and clarity. When you combine this with an archival paper, you have a print that is made to last.
Why not just use photo paper and a professional photo printer? With photo paper (even from a professional printer), the clarity just doesn't match that of a Giclée print. Plus, even a matte photo has some texture and sheen that feels different from a fine art print.
To put it simply, Giclée printing is the closest thing I've ever seen to an original sketch.
Paper
When choosing papers, I recommend an archival quality fine art paper. Depending on the printer you use, you may have a single option or you may have multiple colors, textures, and weights to choose from.
Print Size
The size of the print will generally be determined by the space, frame size, and any matting you plan on using. While some printers allow a resolution lower than 300 DPI for large format prints, I recommend sticking with the 300 DPI minimum for sketch printing.
Each digital print includes details about the maximum print size, ratio and orientation, and if you need help with rations and print dimensions, check out this guide to print sizing and ratios.
One important factor to keep in mind is the size and medium of the original artwork. As you scale up a sketch, the lines of the sketch will also get thicker. If the scan includes any paper texture (like the fibers in some toned tan papers), that texture will also increase in size as you scale up.
Recommended Printers
There are many options available for fine art printing, and you may have local printers in your area. Here are some well known printers to check out: