What is Giclee?

GICLEE (pronounced "Zgee-Klay") is a method of reproduction of art through the process of printing very similar to modern inkjet printers. It has become a very popular method of creating the reproductions of fine art with a limited edition. The term comes from the French verb gicler , which means "spray".

Before the advent of GICLEE printing, it was a standard method of reproducing the art of lithography. Because this process requires the creation of a printing plate, made by scanning and color separation of art, lithography is a relatively expensive process. Most costs are in settings to be affordable Prints, large part is required to amortize costs for larger quantities. Therefore, lithography is usually performed in at least 500-1000 runs. Lithography is also limited to printing on smooth paper. Oil paintings can be reproduced on canvas. Because there is no “board” as in standard printing processes, works of art can be reducedUp or down, limited only by physical restrictions of GICLEE printing machines.

The artists plunged into the print Giclee as a method for making their art available to a wider audience. Where he would spend several thousand dollars on the printing of several hundred copies by traditional methods, he hoped to sell enough to gain investment, artists can now spend several hundred dollars on creating several dozen prints in different sizes. The ability to create different sizes of GICLEE prints and printing on different media allows artists to experiment to find size and most popular with the art public. Since artistic images are stored digitally, they can behave in turn transform the order of prints that sell out, and avoid the cost of printing large quantities at a time.

GICLEE print services can be found in most special art prints.