I finally got around to successfully making a few prints of my art and putting them up in my new etsy shop.
But lemma tell ya ~
Making prints is not the "la la la, oh let's just print out a few little things and pop them up on etsy (or wherever)" kind of deal. Just so you know. At least not for me.
Oh, its not as bad as a lot of things I can think of. Its just not as simple as one would think. Here's what can go wrong:
Forget to select the right custom size for paper when you go to print. Here, instead of my special 6"x 8" inch size, I left it at 8.5 x 11, so my little bear printed like this on the paper ~
One sheet of paper wasted.
Then there are the times the printer decides to spit ink blobs on the paper. Not every time, mind you, just now and then, on certain images, just to be difficult. So you get this:
Another sheet down the drain.
Then there's the combination "need to adjust color" and "didn't print with even margins" example:
With some of my images, the color prints just fine. Others, it goes kind of dull or "bluish" and I really have to bump up the color or brightness in Photoshop.
Then there's my printer. I'm using an Epson C88 for these, which I think is a great little printer. But it tends to print the image starting about a quarter inch down from where its set on the page, leaving more white space on one end or the other. So I have to adjust the file for that before I print, and make I sure I know which end is going to get cut off or shifted down before I hit "print". (more paper wasted)
So its all a little fussy. When they do come out right, they're lovely! Its just the ones that don't make me pretty cranky.
On a more positive note, I'm really happy with the paper I'm using! Its Polar Satin from Red River Paper Co. They make really nice papers, cards, envelopes, everything, for every kind of printing job you can imagine. I highly recommend them. And this particular paper is like buttah. Its - well - satin finish, which isn't gloss or even semi-gloss - its just right. I'm printing mostly colored pencil work on it, and different "looks" of pencil (grainy, burnished, drawings on sanded paper, etc.) and they all look great. I've also done one pen and ink piece, and its perfect. I'm sure it would work well for watercolor or graphite too.
It also has a nice weight to it. The only thing is it doesn't take pencil on the front side
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 11/19/2009
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Red River Paper, Clear Bags, making prints and what can go wrong, Add a tag
By: Paula Pertile,
on 11/16/2008
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Red River Paper, etsy, Four Seasons, Society of Illustrators, Richard Solomon, Add a tag
Peter de Seve speaking at the SOI show (click for video)
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 11/19/2009
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Red River Paper, Clear Bags, making prints and what can go wrong, Add a tag
5 Comments on The joy of prints, last added: 12/3/2009
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 11/16/2008
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Red River Paper, etsy, Four Seasons, Society of Illustrators, Richard Solomon, Add a tag
Peter de Seve speaking at the SOI show (click for video)I feel so out of touch with the NYC illustrator glitterati these days. Here's a clip from the recent SOI show. I recognize a couple of faces, but not as many as I should.
The Society of Illustrators building on East 63rd is so cool. They have a permanent collection, then host events and the yearly show, shown in this video.
(I had no idea that Richard Solomon's building was lost when that crane fell a while back. No idea at all. Its tragic, and such a loss. Loss of life (not him), loss of artwork, loss of a piece of real estate and business 'home'.)
I remember back in school how we used to pour over the Illustrator's Annual and drool over the award winners. We all aspired to that level. Then real life happened to most of us, and we took "regular jobs" or had families or still did illustration but not that kind (I myself started working as an in-house illustrator and designer for a company that did animated retail displays, like the big fancy department store Christmas windows). Very few of us, even the "stars" in school, went on to the big leagues and became SOI award winning illustrators.
I stopped collecting the annuals long ago, and actually sold or gave them all away when I moved from San Francisco a couple of years ago. They were dead weight. Funny how you change your perspective on things. There once was a time when I used to search the used book shops for old ones.
This week I'm working on another "fine art" piece similar to that last one (one of a series of The Four Seasons), then I have some childrens book work lined up. I just put another scarf up in my etsy shop, and have some other knitted pieces I want to take over to a local shop. I received my nice paper for prints from Red River Paper so have to figure those out too.
What I really feel like doing is making a nice home made lasagna.
The Society of Illustrators building on East 63rd is so cool. They have a permanent collection, then host events and the yearly show, shown in this video.
(I had no idea that Richard Solomon's building was lost when that crane fell a while back. No idea at all. Its tragic, and such a loss. Loss of life (not him), loss of artwork, loss of a piece of real estate and business 'home'.)
I remember back in school how we used to pour over the Illustrator's Annual and drool over the award winners. We all aspired to that level. Then real life happened to most of us, and we took "regular jobs" or had families or still did illustration but not that kind (I myself started working as an in-house illustrator and designer for a company that did animated retail displays, like the big fancy department store Christmas windows). Very few of us, even the "stars" in school, went on to the big leagues and became SOI award winning illustrators.
I stopped collecting the annuals long ago, and actually sold or gave them all away when I moved from San Francisco a couple of years ago. They were dead weight. Funny how you change your perspective on things. There once was a time when I used to search the used book shops for old ones.
This week I'm working on another "fine art" piece similar to that last one (one of a series of The Four Seasons), then I have some childrens book work lined up. I just put another scarf up in my etsy shop, and have some other knitted pieces I want to take over to a local shop. I received my nice paper for prints from Red River Paper so have to figure those out too.
What I really feel like doing is making a nice home made lasagna.
2 Comments on SOI opening in NY, last added: 11/17/2008
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Well misery does indeed love company! After reading about your printing woes, I feel much better! :-) New art, yes, a grand idea!!!
Thanks for the post and the links to your various supppliers! Greatly apprieciated!
Hehe, I had to laugh at this Paula, just because you describe your trials with the printing so vividly and it would drive me nuts too! It would be great to just draw and leave all the technical stuff to an 'assistant' wouldn't it?! I think lots of people will be very interested in buying prints of your art (me for one!). Thanks also for the info re. papers, very informative :)
Yep, printing is a barrel of laughs. I usually sit down intending to make one little print and end up wondering where the day went. My favorite trick is printing on the wrong side of the paper.
Speaking of which--I've had a terrible time getting accurate reproduction on anything but Epson papers. Did you have to do a lot of experimenting on your paper? I hate wasting ink. Also, 2200 prints are considered giclee's?? I didn't know that. Where did you learn that?
I wanted to try selling Etsy, but for images I couldn't get past certain clauses in their agreement (you know which ones.)
Paula, you described the "joy of prints" perfectly! And all this time I thought it was just me. Hate wasting paper and ink. I guess the up-side is that learning by trial and error makes for a lasting lesson.