Giving Up on Prints, Reproductions, Whatever You Call Them...

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Webster on December 16, 2010 at 12:08pm

I hear you Dawn.  I have been struggling with this for a while now.  The cost of producing a high-quality giclee/print/etc. from my work far exceeds the cost of actually producing the original  works  So the answer for me has been to not do them, despite a show director last summer telling me to make giclees of my images on silk and - get ready for it - lower prices.  Totally clueless about my work and process.  How I'm handling the reproductions:

1.  Scan my work and correct the files myself (I have a decent understanding of Photoshop)

 

2.  Take them to a local pro photo lab for quick and easy Fuji Frontier prints

 

3.  Mount the prints to foamcore and over mat them with Crescent paper mat

 

4.  Bag and sell them in a bin at bargain-basement prices.  I will not frame them even if asked.  Each one is clearly labeled as a reproduction.

 

5.  I sell high-quality postcards and greeting cards of my work (when allowed)

 

Do these sell?  Yep.  As do my originals.  People who undertand my work and process have no problem spending the money on an original, but because my process isn't understood by a lot of non-photographers, the guy-on-the-street buys just for the imagery and is more likely to purchase a reproduction.  The reproductions also allow me to sell an image that I won't take on the road for some reason. 

The way I came to the decision to go this route was based on cost to me, pricing for my customers, and what I felt that I could live with.  You will need to do the same.  If what you're doing now makes you feel icky inside, don't do it.  If it's not what you love doing and you can't farm it out pitch it and feel no shame.  And if you're OK with it but your prints aren't selling, do you know why not?  Can you make adjustments that will help them sell?  This is your business - remember?  You get some say in what you do and how you do it.  You just have to make it work or find a way to fill in the gaps.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Blalock on December 21, 2010 at 4:49pm

Good for you!

The 2D artist's who sell mostly  "giclee/print/etc" stuff seem to be the ones who are suffering the most these days. Reproductions are cheap plentiful and common.  I want to make and sell "art". Sales have never been better and I always feel good knowing I've given the customer something of value rather than a poster or a greeting card.

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Permalink Reply by Dawn Waters Baker on December 21, 2010 at 3:19pm

Thanks for the reply.  I loved the part about, "...this is your business, remember?"  Heck yeah.  Much appreciated words! 

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Permalink Reply by Meredith D on March 3, 2011 at 4:35pm

I used to sell more originals before the economy went downhill, so I don't really think that is the case. Originals are only a market for people who have a lot to spend, and most people don't right now. So prints are well worth my time, rather than waiting ages for an original to sell nowadays. A painting takes 20 hours and a making a print definitely does not.

 

Licensing my art for products gives me income (and really neat products) without the expense of creating them.

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Permalink Reply by MICHAEL ALAN STIPEK on March 3, 2011 at 7:10pm

Larry Berman and I participated in one of the three threads on canvas prints, etc. running concurrently:  "Canvas Prints a Bad Thing."  Maybe they should all be combined?!

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Permalink Reply by Terry Corcoran on March 4, 2011 at 9:13am

Maybe going to go read the other threads, and Maybe "big sigh" we can reserve the term "print" for photographs and original prints. Be/show you are, informed and educated. Everyting else is a Reproduction. Unless you make copy of a photo print then that copy is a Reproduction. 

 

A show director who counsels someont to make Giclees on silk.... sounds like an example of duping the public. Another knife into the printmaker.

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Permalink Reply by MICHAEL ALAN STIPEK on March 4, 2011 at 1:34pm

I usually don't get confused by challenging syntax, but please explain "Be/show you are..." and "Everyting else is a Reproduction..."  And what, in fact, is everything else?  Just wanting to know...

 

Why can't someone do an image on silk?  They've been doing it in India and China for several thousand years!  Why can't the printmaker also do images on silk?  I've seen images put onto any and all kinds of substrates, including old wooden fences, T-shirts, bare bodies, car bodies, metal plates, and so on - the list is endless.

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Permalink Reply by Dawn Waters Baker on March 4, 2011 at 1:48pm

Meredith, I am glad you are having success with your reproductions.  I have not seen as many walk out of my booth even though they are less pricey.  I think the consumer usually wants a big piece to showcase and they are looking for something they really like so maybe mine just isn't their cup of tea.

 

I would like to just reply to your last line, "Licensing my art for products gives me income (and really neat products) without the expense of creating them."  In a way I feel like WHAT???  On one hand I am glad you kept your expenses down but then I say "what" because I don't know how you find doing the originals any more expensive than making Giclee's or however the process is for you...I have found that canvas, paint is really a better deal than the multiple giclee's, mats, backing, bag or frame.

 

Terry, I appreciate your definition clarification.  I have thought of them along those lines too but as you can see on the other forums there are so many different opinions on what is a print, reproduction, etc.  Who's to say your definition is the right one?  That's why I wrote all the names out like I did.  I didn't want to argue what they were called I wanted to talk about doing them or not doing them.

 

And yes, Mike.  These could all be bundled in one collective mass of fun reading and more sighing.

 

The difference with this one is I'm trying to get at doing them or not doing them (like I already said).

 

Thanks for all the input everyone.

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Permalink Reply by MICHAEL ALAN STIPEK on March 4, 2011 at 1:55pm

I guess the best thing to do, now that we've all read a few thousand words on the subject, is to check out any good quality art shows in your area, or if you're doing a show, take a little time and explore the various 2D booths.  Then decide what would work best for you.  If you are an honest and ethical artist and love to explain your processes so that the public is well informed, you will do fine and earn the respect of your artist neighbors.  And compare costs of doing whatever process you decide on vis-a-vis other possible processes.  

A word of caution:  don't have too many processes in your booth, because it confuses the public and some shows might not like that not all of the processes were explained in the 100 pinche' characters we are allowed on ZAPP.

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Permalink Reply by Meredith D on March 4, 2011 at 2:22pm

I think I probably have a different market than you. My customers are younger or families with kids, and don't have a lot of money. I paint rather small with lots of detail so the originals are out of the range of a lot of them. A small sheet of watercolor paper and watercolor tubes that have lasted me for 10 years is not really as expensive compared to my time to come up with a new idea, sketch, transfer to nice paper, clean up the drawing and paint for many hours. Some artists paint faster than others, or do fast variations of the same themes for shows (not saying you do, but I know artists who do).

 

I assume you paint much larger so your canvas and paint would cost a lot more than me than me buying and entire stack of watercolor paper. I know other types of paint run out a lot faster.

 

When a company purchases a license for my art/illustrations they cover all the costs of making the product and send me royalties. If I like the product enough I can buy them wholesale to stock myself for online or non-art fair sales. Otherwise with anything I make myself I try to do in batches small enough that I can sell them, or print as needed. I cut my own mats and that does take a lot of time. Sure I'd rather just paint more, but if I have to choose between underpricing the originals or selling reproductions I'd choose the later. At this point, I haven't found it worth it to spend the money on framing originals for outdoor shows where they can so easily damaged.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by MICHAEL ALAN STIPEK on March 4, 2011 at 6:17pm

I'm a photographer; I shoot on medium-format film and print on Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper.  My photos are either dry mounted on Rising archival rag mat board or laminated on 3/8" thick MDF archival board, then laminated again with a satin water-repellant surface, depending on size.  No cheap stuff here.

My training is in painting and drawing; I worked/printed in a professional photo lab for 25 years, the last 22 while doing shows.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Higdon on June 27, 2011 at 4:50pm

I do oil paintings on canvas and although I don't know how canvas giclees run, I have found doing them on nice paper to be quite inexpensive and therefore, totally worth doing.  Copy shots are about $50.  Then I can get a 16x20 with a 2 inch border for less than $20 and a 24x36 with a 3 inch border for around $50.  I drop the 16x20 in a clear bag with a backing board for pennies, and I roll up the larger ones in tubes I get in bulk for about $2 or $3 each.

 

So maybe you need to shop around printers more or maybe it's just regional?  But at my costs, I am still championing high quality art that all budgets can afford...

 

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