What Are Giclee Prints?

Given the fact that we produce custom canvas prints, art paper prints and photo prints, we are sometimes asked the question by customers if these are giclee prints. Most of the time I want to answer yes because I feel every print we produce is a piece of art, but a giclee print refers specifically to an artist’s digital reproduction on a high resolution inkjet printer with archival inks.

The French word “giclée” (pronounced Gee’clay) means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The term refers to an inkjet printing method to reproduce an artist’s original artwork on canvas, fine art papers and photo papers. A giclee print is produced using only the highest resolution scanners, printers and archival inks.

The first step of the process is to create a high resolution scan of the artist’s orginal work. The second step is the proofing process which involves color correcting the file in Photoshop to match the original as close as possible. Finally, once the artist is satisfied with the color, the file is digitally archived and reproductions can be made on a on demand basis.

The great thing about giclee prints is that artists do not have to sell their original and their archived image can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media (canvas, fine art papers, photo papers), giving the artists the ability to customize prints for a specific client.

The above canvas prints were a recent giclee project we produced for a Los Angeles graffiti artist.

Here at Studio Light Room we use the finest printers and products by Epson and Hahnemuhle who are leaders in the fine art and photographic markets.