Giclees for other family members

Cynthia Daniel · 03-14-2002, 10:00 PM

As we know, an original portrait is a one of a kind thing. I'm curious whether the experienced artists here think that your clients would be interested in modestly priced, high quality giclee reproductions of the portrait for giving to relatives, such as grandparents. And, would this be something you might be interested in offering if you made a little off of it also?

Chris Saper · 03-14-2002, 11:01 PM

I have done this for two clients to date...the giclees have been well received, although the set up cost can be high for the client who only wants one or two. I feel at this point that I would do this for pastel clients, but not for oil...the pastel reproduction are so incredible you really have to touch the surface to see if it will rub off...to date the oil giclees just don't seem to carry the patina, or whatever the subtleties are that make original oils what they are.

I have a couple of matted/framed pastel gicless that I use for display (and don't worry about handling, loss,damage, etc)...they really convey exactly what someone can expect from an original pastel.

Chris

Cynthia Daniel · 03-14-2002, 11:11 PM

If you're talking about a loving grandparent who is dying to have a copy of an oil, do you think they would really quibble over lack of patina?

What did you find were the setup costs? And, what did you pay for the giclees yourself. I assume you marked them up.

My 3rd career (I'm on my 4th) was selling printing and graphics. I was discussing this subject tonight over dinner with the company where I used to work. The owner happens to be an artist himself and so has a quite comprehensive setup. We discussed the idea of me offering this service to my SOG artists. I would require tests to be run to demonstrate they had "the right stuff", of course.

Chris Saper · 03-17-2002, 01:38 AM

If my memory serves me, I think I paid about $150-175 for the set up (basically involves a high quality scanning of a 4x5 transparency --which you need to already have, can run $40 and up---and tweaking the image on Adobe Photoshop) and the actual printing which here runs between 19-23 cents per square inch....

So without prorating, the first 16 x 20 print might run about $285 and every subsequent print, about $67. Of course the big advantage is that you can order them one at a time, without any quantity penalty.

I haven't done this enough to get exorcised about profitablilty, but I have heard "industry quotes" as marking up the cost 3 times. One thing I consider important though in considering whether to do giclee (and here I am speaking more of inventory...figurative, still life landscape, etc) that the artist's originals need in sufficient demand and at a price level to support the giclee as a good value. I have often seen a five- or tenfold difference between giclees and originals (someone like Steve Hanks for example). But if your originals are selling for $600 and your giclees for $300, well I don't think that is enough. Beyond these considerations, moving from the creation and sale of originals to the reproduction market is as different as night and day...presentation being no small obstacle, ie framing and inventory to start with...

Personally I would rather have a miniature original than a big giclee. Fortunately for the print industry, I'm in the minority.

Chris

Cynthia Daniel · 03-17-2002, 03:02 AM

The setup charge you mentioned is similar to what I found. You see, if someone pays $5,000+ for a portrait, it wouldn't seem that $300-400 for a giclee reproduction for a grandparent is prohibitive at all. My thought is that the cost would be over and above the price of the portrait, not included in it.

Mary Reilly · 03-17-2002, 02:35 PM

Another option is a quality photograph. When I painted a judge once, the committee that hired me wanted to present his wife with an image of the painting. We hired a professional photographer and had a photo taken of the painting and a subsequent 11x14 (approx) photo produced on the "canvas finish" paper that photographers promote. We then framed it in a quality frame that was a more narrow version on the oil's frame. Because of the finish on the paper, glass was not needed so it gave a mini-oil illusion. The original painting had been 24x30.

The photographer gave me professional consideration in the pricing, so the resulting photo cost me less then $100 plus the frame. With some mark-up, I was able to make a little additional on the photo. Although it was not officially a "print", it was a quality looking reproduction of the painting and the wife was very happy with it. A solution for relatives that I will consider doing again.

Mary Reilly

Cynthia Daniel · 03-17-2002, 02:41 PM

Thanks Mary. The thing with a giclee is the size of the original portrait can be matched. It's a service I thought about offering SOG artists, so this is the reason for my post. At some point I'll send out an email to everyone to determine interest since there aren't really that many of the SOG artists active in the Forum.

Karin Wells · 03-25-2002, 11:31 PM

I'm interested in hearing more about giclees.

Cynthia Daniel · 03-25-2002, 11:59 PM

Karin,

This will have to wait until the shows are over. I'm investigating giclees for two purposes. One already mentioned and secondly for reproductions (8x10) for marketing purposes.

The printer where I used to work is an artist himself, albeit an abstract artist. Consequently, he understands the nature of all this very well. For portrait sheets used for marketing, we've discussed setting up a system whereby an artist would send in 35mm or 4x5 transparencies. Proofs would then be created and approved by the artist. The settings would be stored permanently so that from that point on, there would be consistency in the reproduction. As I understand, there's no problem with paper changes. I know with photo reproductions, you can work and work to get the right color balance and as soon as they change the paper, the emulsion changes and you have to rebalance all over again.

Anyway, if this gets off the ground (reasonable cost is an issue), we would set up a system whereby the artist could simply fax in an order for more of a particular portrait and have quality, consistent reproductions. There would be an initial setup cost, but I think this could be saved in the long run if the artist is spending a lot of time getting color balance correct on photos.

I spoke with Gordon Wetmore about it and I know he's interested in finding out more.

Karin Wells · 03-26-2002, 09:14 AM

I have some still lifes that I would love to reproduce (giclees) for sale. I've had inquiries from people who want less expensive copies as my originals are expensive.

I don't have much time to concentrate on still life painting nowadays.