With the advent of superb digital capture and print, artwork reproduction provides artists with a new means of reaching customers with artwork. Whether you’re a painter, illustrator, working in collage or mixed media, or any other visual art form that can be represented in print, Royce Howland Print Studio can work with you. We provide high resolution, professional archive quality digital captures of your original artworks, as well as beautiful printed reproductions that are worthy of collection. Our tools and methods are all carefully chosen and expertly applied to ensure the highest quality results.
Digital Capture
For new projects, we will work closely with you to determine your creative goals for digitally capturing your original artworks. We then apply a digital capture approach that meets or exceeds your needs. Our work is trusted by professional working artists, as well as public and commercial galleries, and art archives. Artwork, lights, colour, camera, action!
Artwork. We start by assessing the original artworks to be captured — media and materials, surface textures, size, and more factors are taken into consideration. We can easily work with most 2-dimensional artworks from just a few inches across, up to 8 feet (96″) across. (For larger works, more complex approaches are necessary, but they can be accommodated with customized workflows.) Whether oil, acrylic, pastel, watercolour, charcoal, or graphite… whether paper, canvas, board, or textile… whether matte, glossy, varnished, resin-coated, flat or impasto… we can work with just about anything. Optionally, we can remove works from frames or from behind glass, and may also clean the surface if required. We also work with partner services who can perform physical repairs if required.
Lights. Working under cool-running LED studio lighting, your artwork is positioned for a balanced exposure of its full range of tone, colour and texture. At least 2 lighting elements are used to light the artwork from the left and right, and any potentially troublesome extraneous lights are eliminated. Polarizing filters are used on the lights and on the camera to strip away surface glare or reflections that might mask the true colour and contrast of the original media. Even the angle of the artwork and lighting elements are considered, to properly highlight (or minimize) the surface features of artwork that is very textured or dimensional.
Colour. In the world of digital, colour is represented by numbers. But the numbers can mean different things — every camera, monitor and printer has its own specific palette of colour. To navigate the chain of technologies while preserving the true fidelity of your original artwork’s hue, saturation and lightness, each digital capture session uses custom colour calibration techniques. This way, the colour of your artwork is accurately interpreted from the beginning to end of the process. If highly accurate colour matching is important to you, ask us about FADGI 3-star and 4-star colour accuracy reports.
Camera. Our photographic system is based on professional grade digital medium format cameras. Currently, we use cameras and lenses from the Fuji GFX series. The GFX 100S camera produces raw digital files of either 100 or 400 megapixels of resolution. (The final pixels-per-inch resolution will depend on the size of the original piece being captured.) To get the most out of the camera, it is precisely aligned with the artwork and locked down tight on a heavy tripod. The resulting images have incredible detail, rich tonality and a level of colour accuracy that is enhanced by our expert workflow.
Action. From beginning to end, our digital capture process works towards a single goal: the highest fidelity capture of your original artwork. Each step is methodical, the attention to detail is meticulous, and the results will match or better your expectations. What you get from every capture is a high resolution digital file that has been put through our comprehensive colour correction workflow. The first stage of the workflow (screen matched) is a colour accurate file intended for online use and screen viewing. The second stage of the workflow (proof print matched) is intended for the highest quality prints.
Reproduction Prints
Whether your artworks have been digitally captured by us, or by another service, RHPS has deep experience in creating reproduction prints that will match your needs as closely as possible, limited only by the media themselves. Beyond the level of detail of our standard printing service, we take into consideration additional factors such as:
- Print medium: How closely (or not) do we need to match the character of the artworks’ original media? Are we looking to present a close analogue of an original canvas or art paper? Are we simply choosing a good, functional print surface irrespective of the original media? Or are we choosing a distinctive print surface that makes the reproductions stand apart from the original?
- Print size: Size does matter. The original artworks may work for the viewer in specific ways, because of their size. Do the print reproductions need to be of a similar size in order to achieve a similar aesthetic impression? Or do the prints need to be made smaller (e.g. for price point reasons), or perhaps even larger than the originals?
- Print editions: Are the print reproductions being produced as part of a limited edition series, or an open-ended print run? Are multiple sizes being supported within the edition, possibly involving different production considerations for each size? Will the entire edition be printed at once, or on-demand over time? If the latter, how important is it to be able to closely match later prints with ones printed earlier, given the likelihood of changes in paper, ink, printers, software and more? Do we need to prepare matching printed proofs (such a print is sometimes called a bon à tirer)? Is a detailed journal of print production notes needed? Is an inventory of specific print materials required for a given span of time, to guarantee availability for future production?
- Authentication: As the reproductions are printed, how important is it for each print to be individually approved? Are the prints being signed, accompanied by matching certificates, embossed with custom stamps, or otherwise validated as authentic works of the artist?
- Materials description: Do we need to provide a breakdown of all materials used? If so, are specific brand-names required, or just qualitative descriptions? Is there a need to accompany the prints with any type of care and handling instructions for the eventual purchasers?
- Other production considerations: Do the print reproductions need to be packaged for shipment? Or packaged for long-term secure storage? Are they to be cut to specific borders, or left with additional borders to provide for flexibility in later mounting or framing? Are the printed being mounted or framed right away, or left as loose prints for some time?
All of these considerations, and any others that are germane, can be addressed to assure your satisfaction with the print reproductions of your original artworks.
Digital Capture Pricing — Standard Cases
This section provides pricing for digitally capturing standard original works where the necessary process is routine. This applies to originals such as normal oil, acrylic or watercolour paintings, graphite or charcoal illustrations, photographic prints, maps and other documents. Sizes can range from small to moderately large.
For more complex original works that need special approaches, see the next section.
| Recommended Artwork Size | File Size | File Resolution (long side) | Capture of 1 Original | Capture of 2 – 5 Originals | Capture of 6 – 10 Originals | Capture of 11+ Originals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen matched file — original long side up to 24″ (excellent print results), up to 36″ (good print results) | Small | up to ~7,500 pixels | $75.00 | $65.00 | $55.00 | Call |
| Screen matched file — original long side up to 36″ (excellent print results), up to 48″ (good print results) | Medium | up to ~11,000 pixels | $150.00 | $130.00 | $110.00 | Call |
| Screen matched file — original long side up to 72″ (excellent print results), up to 96″ (good print results) | Large | up to ~22,000 pixels | $225.00 | $195.00 | $165.00 | Call |
| Proof print matched file — additional cost for proof print colour matching any above size to original artwork | $100 | $90 | $75 | $75 |
Notes:
- Screen matched vs. proof print matched file: Basic pricing includes the delivery a colour-corrected file where we have matched the image on our screens to the original piece. For a proof print matched file, we make multiple test prints and do additional colour correction and other editing to match the test prints to the original. All medium and large file size captures can include a single reference test strip print at no additional cost.
- Digital files: Digital files can be delivered in a variety of formats, as specified. If no specifications are provided, the default delivery is a single file per artwork at the full captured resolution, formatted as 16-bit TIFF in the Adobe RGB (1998) colour space.
Digital Capture Pricing — Special Cases
This section provides pricing for capturing original works when one or more types of special process is required. Special situations could be due to the size or detail of the original, the nature of media, or how it needs to be lit or photographed.
| Recommended Artwork Size | File Size | File Resolution (long side) | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screen matched file — original long side more than 96″, or smaller work needing higher resolution than the large file size; multiple photographs digitally stitched together | Extra Large | Over 22,000 pixels (long side) | Call |
| Surcharge — highly saturated / fluorescent media | + 33% of capture fee | ||
| Surcharge — metallic / highly reflective media (metallic paints, gold or other metal leaf, resin coating, heavy varnish, etc.) | + 33% of capture fee | ||
| Surcharge — heavily textured or 3 dimensional surfaces with high relief lighting | + 33% of capture fee | ||
| Special content editing | $100 / hr | ||
| Special physical handling (cleaning, disassembly) | Call |
Notes:
- Extra large originals: The largest original work that we can typically capture in a single photograph is about 48 x 72″. Originals that are larger, or ones that are smaller but contain very fine details that require higher resolution, are photographed in multiple segment (each at most 48 x 72″). The segments are then digitally stitched together.
- Surcharges: Certain characteristics of the original media can require additional work to effectively capture and/or print due to the nature of the original media. We have separated these surcharges into 3 basic types. Any or all of the types may apply to a single original work; each surcharge is added to the total cost as required.
- Highly saturated / fluorescent media: Certain pigments that are extremely vivid or which actively fluoresce under different lighting conditions may not be directly viewable on monitors, and also may not be printable. These media are described as having “out of gamut” colours. If required, we will do custom editing of the digital capture file to compensate for out of gamut colours, with the goal of making the image or print look pleasing and as true to the original as possible, even if accuracy is reduced as a result.
- Metallic / reflective media: Some materials such as gold or other metal leaf, metallic paints, and glittery media are react in unexpected ways under our controlled capture lighting. These original may require multiple photographs that are digitally blended to capture both the normal paint pigments and the reflective parts with good accuracy.
- Heavily textured surfaces: Any surfaces that are very layered, such as impasto paint, or thickly layered collage, or adhered mixed media elements mean the original surface is not flat. If it is desired to the show the 3 dimensional relief of the surface in the digital image, this requires special lighting, and potentially also multiple photographs and blending.
- Special content editing: Advanced retouching is available at the rate of $100/hr for additional needs. This may include a level of digital restoration of damage to the original artwork, or some other type of editing of the contents of the image.
- Special physical handling: Some originals may require flattening, disassembly, cleaning, repair, or other measures prior to capture. Any fees or material costs required for such work will be quoted prior to any work being done.
- FADGI colour accuracy reports: If verification of colour accuracy is important, we can produce FADGI reports for a project. Our colour accuracy workflow can produce FADGI 3-star and 4-star results.
