Learning Center - Tips, Tricks, Tutorials, Books etc.

Help & Tutorials

White Papers, Technical Articles & Videos

Following are some videos, white papers and reading recomendations for those who want to understand more about the bits and bytes of art reproduction. There are also some great tips and resources for photographers and artists who do some of their own image editing and graphic production.

Videos

Fine Art Scanning

A fine art print begins with a great art scan, and we have invested in the highest-grade equipment available for art scanning. While many studios start with a flatbed scan or film, we use the cutting-edge Better Light scanning back camera system, and the specialized lighting for art scanning for the digital capture of your artwork. Many artists use us for art scanning even if they don't plan to use the scans for prints, as the digital art capture ensures the highest quality digital archive of the artwork. Once your art is sold and out of your possession, you no longer have the opportunity to obtain a high quality scan of it.

How to Photograph Your Own Artwork

This is a basic video tutorial on how to photograph your own artwork. It covers the basic tips you'll need in order to capture photos of your artwork for both web and print for those who need to photograph their own artwork.

Embellishing Giclée Prints

This video shows a brief overview of how to embellish your giclee prints. The video includes a brief explanation of gold leafing, silver leafing, deckled edges, textured canvas and signing prints.

Canvas Stretching

This tutorial is intended to show artists and photographers how to stretch their own canvas. Many clients who purchase prints for resale are able to save a lot of money by stretching the canvas themselves. it's actually quite easy. All you need are a few simple tools - an exacto knife, a staple gun with about 5/16" staples, canvas stretching pliers and a small hammer. Watch this video and you'll be stretching your own canvas in no time at all.

Understanding Pixels

Understanding Pixels, File Resolution and Print Quality. While some artists can manage to get good photo captures of their artwork with pro-consumer digital cameras, sometimes even under the best conditions there still aren't enough pixels for a great art print:

Canvas UV Coating with an HVLP sprayer

All of our canvas is sprayed with a UV coating. We use Breathing Color's Timeless, which comes in gloss, satin, and matte. Here is a quick overview of our canvas spray booth and the technique we use:

Preparing Black & White Images for Print

Black and White drawings, pencil drawings, charcoal, and other such mediums that leave white spaces on the paper or canvas exposed present special problems for fine art reproduction. You would think black and white drawings would be easier than color, but that's not the case at all. In fact, sometimes they're more difficult than color. The problem is that wherever the artist intended for there to be white, you need to make sure there is an absolute absence of color in your digital file:

Preparing Images for Gallery Wrapped Canvas Prints

This is how we clone out an image for what's called a gallery wrapped canvas print. This is where the image is mirrored outward 2 inches and then cleaned up using the clone stamp in order to prepare for printing of a gallery wrapped canvas.