I’m selling my art as original drawing, fine art reproductions as well as in digital format. On this page I will share a few hints and tips about printing your own artwork.
My prints of Leiden Lines drawings
To ensure high quality, I’m scanning my drawings myself. Those scans are being checked (with GIMP or Photoshop) before they’re ready for printing. The fine art prints are being printed by professionals in a print shop.
About the original drawings
For the original drawings I’ve have been using 3-6B pencils and sturdy 180 gr “C” à grain® paper of the Canson factory. Canson guarantees acid free, natural and sustainable white paper. The size of the paper is (approx.) 11″ x 16″ (A3 – 32 x 41 cm).
About fine art prints
Fine art prints are printed by a professional printer on “ProMail” or “Business” 250 gr paper with a fine texture. Prints up to A3 (11″ x 16″) are printed on a special HR laser printer (without rastering) from Canon. The larger A2+ prints (16″ x 24″ and above) are printed with an Océ TDS 860 (Canon).
About posters from CEWE fotoservice
Other – larger – sizes photo posters can be printed as a custom option and will be ordered with for example CEWE. Photo posters from CEWE fotoservice are printed on premium paper, mat (240g/m²) from Canon. CEWE has a delivery time of 6 working days.
Print your own Leiden Lines art
Of course you can make your own home brew prints of my drawings; A4-sized prints can easily be printed on an inkjet or laserjet home printer. The product will usually look quite satisfying too!
If you should desire larger or better prints, there’s two things to keep in mind:
- Fine quality paper
- Large size printer
Paper
Quality paper will usually be thicker. The thickness of paper is usually indicated through its weight. 80 gr paper is ordinary paper for letters, 120 gr is more luxurious printing paper. Everything above that, will give the impression of real ‘drawing paper’. Please keep in mind that some printers will have problems printing on thick paper. Above 200 gr things tend to get critical.
Apart from the weight, paper can shiny, mat or really rough. Shiny paper will do beautiful for photographs; drawings usually need a mat paper to look best. Rough or smooth paper is a matter of taste too, of course. Usually aquarel paintings will use rough paper; drawing paper would usually be a bit smoother.
Printer
Basically there’s two kinds of printers: inkjet and laser printers. Both kinds come in color and black-and-white variants. Usually inkjet printers will only come as color printer. Inkjet as well as laserjet printers can deliver good results, when printing – black and white – pencil drawings. It is not necessary for pencil drawings to print in color; so also a simple black-and-white laserjet will give nice results.
Printing colored artwork is usually done with an inkjet printer. Simple printers will use three or four colors (inks), including black for printing. Professional printers will use more colors and pigment based inks. This will result in brighter, more realistic and durable prints.