10 Simple Things Artists Should Know About Reproductions

Here are some simple points that artists considering reproductions should know.  It can save many questions and much cost if you are aware of these simple facts and educate yourself about the points that specifically apply to you.

1. A good reproduction has to come from a good painting.
2. A good reproduction needs a good quality starting file.  If printing digitally, you need a scan or photo of your artwork that is high quality, high resolution and in focus.
3. A good reproduction needs a good substrate – ie: quality canvas or paper, etc.
4. It is generally not a good idea to make a high quality Fine Art reproduction more than 10% larger than the original painting – no matter how good your file is.
5. There is much skill in colour matching your file to your original and this can take time and money before you even get a good proof that you like.
6. Always proof your prints before producing a run and ensure your printer matches the proof you approve.
7. We still don’t have the technology to match paintings exactly – there will always be differences between the original and a print – and that is a good thing!
8. Quality materials – paper, canvas and ink do cost something.  Be prepared to pay for qualiy.
9. Handle prints with care.  The ink sits on the surface of the paper or canvas and will be much more susceptible to scratching than your original.  Consider protective coatings in some cases.
10. Not everything you paint will make a good reproduction.  Consider that paintings that are popular will also likely be good prints.

Small is Beautiful

One of the great things about one current internet trend for artists is the creation of small works.  Although this is not something every artist can do – for many it has built careers while fuelling opportunities for many people to purchase original art who may have felt that an original by a talented artist was outside their economic reach.

 

You can find artwork for as low as $25.00 per painting on-line, and while the very same criteria applies to buying a work at this price as it does to something 100 times more costly – you can and will find great artwork by previously unknown artists.

 

Why the low cost?  For some it is the desire to paint regularly – even daily and to do so they generate small paintings – 6” by 6” on average.  Along with the prolific creation of these works, artists enjoy the challenge and experience of creating small gems – sometimes as studies for larger works, but often complete and finished fine art pieces in their own right.  A few artists have managed to build a career from beginning with small low priced works and now command gallery showings with much higher prices.  Imagine if you owned one of these small early paintings by a successful artist.

 

Also common is that artists who appreciate each other’s work will trade in order to build a collection of work they like from artists all over the world

 

So get out and explore and enjoy the selection of small paintings available on line.

Artwork courtesy of Patricia Arndt - www.dailytrekinart.blogspot.com

Fine Art Explosion

In many ways it is an exciting time to be an artist. The ability to put your artwork out for anyone to view via the internet is allowing artists who have hitherto been reticent to contact galleries or publishers to expose their work a great opportunity.

Of course many would argue that it also makes it more difficult to sift through lesser quality offerings to find those gems that are both interesting and of high quality.

Some of the great tools addressing that problem are finely tuned search engines, blogs with juried selections, art groups forming on line and more. However, I believe that one of the very best things about this explosion is that simply due to the vast number of images out there - everyone is having their senses tuned to what is good. You simply cannot fail to fine tune your own knowledge by looking at the vast amount of work presented.

Art is still in the eye of the beholder - but our creator has given us all an eye for beauty, form and color and although tastes will vary with people - there is a distilling that takes place in each of us the more we are exposed to fine art.

The "daily painting" groups and those offering small paintings and artist trading cards are allowing many people who would never have purchased original art to delve into that and begin to appreciate that intimate contact that exists when an artist and the collector connect.

How to Choose Mat Colors for your Pictures - Part 4

3. Mat Border Sizes
A last but key element in choosing mats is to determine how wide the mat borders should be around your image. Once again the rule of matting to draw your eye to the focus of the picture can be your guide. Too wide and all you see is mat. Too narrow and the mat will seem cheap or unnecessary.

Some professionals have a comfort level with a simple percentage – i.e. 15 - 20% of the smallest dimension of the image should be the mat border. Using this rule an image that is 24” x 30” would have a minimum mat border of 3.6” and a maximum of 4.8” – probably rounded off to 5”. This would provide enough weight around the image without taking away from the picture.
Others are less exacting and often through experience have found certain border sizes to work well with certain image sizes. For example – they always like a 2.5” border on images that are between 8” x 10” and 9’ x 12” and a 3.5” border on images that are larger than 9” x 12” - say up to around 16” x 20”.

There is no set rule here. In fact some photographers with strikingly dramatic photos often will mat their gallery images with huge borders that serve to isolate the image from the entire wall and region around it and allow the viewer to focus more clearly.
Experiment with what works best for you – but keep in mind that your goal is to get the viewer to look at the image – not the mat.






Artwork by Lynn Blaikie - Island Art Publishers - Photograph Unknown

Want to practice matting for free? Try the MatoMatic framing tool at www.matshop.com. You can upload your own picture or choose from one of their gallery images and try different mats and mat combinations, frames and even background wall colors while you design your own projects.

How to Choose Mat Colors for your Pictures - Part 3

2. Double Mat Choices
With double mats – you have many more options available to you for your second or inner mat. While the outside mat should adhere to the rules for single mat choices – because you are adding an accent color beneath – you can often allow the outer mat to be a bit stronger since the eye will naturally be drawn to the inner accent color.

The most important thing of course is that the inner accent color should now help continue your eye’s travel on to the focal point of the picture. That is why choosing the inner mat color is most critical with double mats.

One rule of thumb is to step back from the picture and decide on color order. For example: What is the dominant color, what is second, third and fourth. Often a dominant color is not obvious until you notice the overall affect. Ideally you do NOT want to use this dominant color as your accent. Instead now look at the secondary or tertiary colors and see how they relate to the focus of the image. Choose one of those colors as your accent or second mat color. That way your eye will be drawn from the outer mat to the accent to the focal point of the picture.

Artwork by Stefanie Clark -"Wolves" - Courtesy of Island Art Publishers

Want to practice matting for free? Try the MatoMatic framing tool at www.matshop.com. You can upload your own picture or choose from one of their gallery images and try different mats and mat combinations, frames and even background wall colors while you design your own projects.

How to Choose Mat Colors for your Pictures - Part 2

1. Single Mat Choices When choosing a single mat to go around your images you need to realize that people looking at the picture will have their eyes drawn to the most visually stimulating area – usually the area of the picture with the greatest color, contrast or dominant focal point. If you choose a mat that overshadows this area, then you will hurt the presentation of the picture – no matter how well the mat color matches your wall or furnishings. Therefore – if choosing a single mat – use a color that compliments the image, does not fight with the colors in the image – or overshadow them, and allows you to step back from the picture and still see your eye drawn in to the focal point. Great choices for single mats are often simple clean colors such as whites, creams, very light greens, blues and grays.

"Time Passages" image by Calen Darnell - Terra Art Photos

Want to practice matting for free? Try the MatoMatic framing tool at www.matshop.com. You can upload your own picture or choose from one of their gallery images and try different mats and mat combinations, frames and even background wall colors while you design your own projects.

How to Choose Mat Colors for your Pictures - Part 1

There are several simple techniques that professionals in the art and framing industry use to be able to shorten the time it takes to choose the exact right mat color or mat combination for matting and framing pictures. In this series I will present a couple of rules and then apply those rules in three further posts;

1. Single Mats

2. Double Mats

3. Mat Border Sizes

One very important rule to remember is – Mat (and frame) your picture to suit the picture – not the wall, the furnishings or décor. That is not to say that taking those things into consideration is not important – particularly if you are working on complimenting a room or design – but that the first consideration is that your choice will enhance the image. This of course also allows you to easily move a picture from one room or design environment to another – knowing that your framing will always enhance the image.

A second but key rule is that all framing and matting should have one goal – to draw the viewer’s eye to the focus of the image being presented. To that end – choices of mats and frames are made that build on this principle.

Try the MatoMatic framing tool at www.matshop.com. You can upload your own picture or choose from one of their gallery images and try different mats and mat combinations, frames and even background wall colors while you design your own projects.