Art Prints

Prints are not only a good way of quickly making back whatever money you’ve paid the artist ( and usually a fair bit besides), but if you are an organization such as a Wing or Squadron there is no better way to put yourselves “on the map” everywhere than with a good quality art print from your selected painting. Aside from being useful for decorating base rooms and offices, they are also ideal for gifts, awards, presentations, etc and are specially collectible when signed by aircrew.

There are now basically 2 alternative approaches to producing prints from the finished painting. The first route is the traditional offset lithographs: we engage a good printing company and put up the money for a run of at least a few hundred copies(normally 250 – 1000). This is the most cost-effective way, giving very low cost per copy, but we need to front up the cost for the whole run, usually about £1500.00. The other route is the newer giclee process: suitable for small numbers( anything from single copies upwards). Giclee printers essentially print to order, allowing discounts for block orders, and therein lies its flexibility. But the process is labour intensive, each order having to be individually processed, and therefore much costlier per copy(presently £99.00 each). If you foresee needing anything over about a dozen copies and you are concerned about your costs, giclee may not be the choice for you.

Lithographs: Going to Press.
I have organized more than 170 litho print runs(see Gallery) so far and the number of repeat customers proves the popularity of this approach.

Once the painting is complete and you decide to proceed with prints, the following procedure comes in:

(1) I will send you a final image of the finished painting for you to check out every detail.

(2) Think of the “graphics”—the title for the print, and any text( no more than approx 150 words) and logos (wing/ squadron patches, scanned to 300dpi) you want on the print. Make sure I have everything.

(3) I will supply the name and address of a printing company of my choice. Write/fax/email an ordering letter to the printer ASAP, requesting x number of prints to be produced under the direction of the artist, specifying high quality 350gsm acid-neutral, chlorine-free art paper and light-fast (" permanent") inks. The company needs this order before they start any work. Make sure to provide your own address and contact numbers in that letter. Confirm a price for the job….I would have already negotiated an approximate price so you can be assured of a competitive figure. Expect the cost from the printer to be under £1,000 for 500 to 1,000 copies….which of course means £1 or £2 per copy( at present the costs for 250, 500 and 1,000 copies are £755, £811, £932 respectively). Agree on the method of payment with the company, and request payment information, e.g. bank account details.

(4) Once the painting is approved, it will go to a photolab for a high-quality transparency to be taken. This costs approx £55, and will be useful for future publication in magazines, books, cards, etc. Recently we have been moving towards digital photo files, which serve the same purpose as transparencies, and the photography costs about £85.

(5) The transparency or the CD with the digital photo, together with the painting and the graphics, will go to the scanner for colour corrections and layout planning under my direction. A proof of the print can be emailed to you for final checking and approval. The approved image will go to make the printing plates. I will then schedule a day for the thing to go to press and on the day that the prints are run I will be there with the original painting for the final adjustments and checks to the process. I find that this can be critical.

Sample Layout

(6) My own “hassle”costs (for organizing and monitoring the process from beginning to end), the reproduction fee, and signing and numbering up to 250 copies is presently £500. Additional signing ( for me the worst part of the job!) is £75 per 250.
There is usually an excess or overrun during the printing….I will retain 50 copies of these as “artist’s proofs”.

(7) Please allow at least 2-3 weeks for the production of the prints. You may arrange for your own collection of the goods. But delivery will of course require additional time and cost, and I will organize it for you as best I can. Air freight overseas, with packing and delivery, will need to involve an exporting company who will bill you for their cost. If you have an account with a courier company(e.g. Federal Express) that could make things easier. For the military, there is the possibility of arranging delivery via airbases here in the UK.

Giclees: Doing it piecemeal.
This is a newer and very successful way of making good art prints. It offers the added choice of having your print on canvas instead of art paper, made to the size of the original painting itself.

The process is straight forward, taking in steps (1), (2) and (4) above. At step (5) I will do the image corrections, layout preparations and final proofing myself together with the giclee printer. The only guy you have to pay here is myself, as I will take charge of the entire process. Individual giclees currently cost £99 per copy, while block orders allow for discounts: 10% off for 5 or more copies, 20% for 10 or more, 30% for 25 or more, etc. Special canvas giclees are currently approx. £150 per copy.

Any other questions, just contact me.

Ronald