What is Giclée Printing

Giclée Printing

What is a Giclée Print?

Giclée is a printing technique which involves spraying microscopic pigments onto high-quality paper to reproduce artwork for print or display. As giclée printing uses pigment-based ink, rather than dyes, it creates vivid, fade-resistant colours.

With the latest printing technology, a huge colour gamut is available enabling very accurate reproduction of the original artwork.

When used in conjunction with high-grade paper, giclée printing achieves archival quality, creating prints that last well over 100 years, with the correct care and storage. This makes giclée a popular choice for the reproduction of a whole range of fine art, photography and digital or computer-generated art.

Artists, dealers and museums alike rely on giclée to produce prints for sale or display and as a way of recording delicate and rare pieces.

How to achieve the perfect
giclée print

Giclée prints are only as good as the original image file.

The first important step is to create a high-quality image of the original artwork. The image should have a resolution of no less than 300dpi (dots per inch). Most decent digital cameras will achieve this, but the higher the resolution the better the print quality.

Secondly, you need a high standard of paper. Archival-quality paper is specially selected to display a wide and accurate range of colours, while also withstanding the test of time. Giclée prints should continue to look their best long after they have been created. At Indigo Giclée, we offer a range of paper stocks. From a selection of matt, textured paper for a perfect watercolour reproduction to a variety of gloss papers for traditional, dark-room style photographs, there’s a paper for every use and budget.

Finally, you must use the very best printing and ink technology. Pigment-based inks are essential to extending the life of the print and a professional printer will be able to achieve a huge colour range. We print all of our giclée projects on the top-of-the-range Epson SureColour for extremely accurate colour reproduction. The digital programming is fine-tuned to the paper type to achieve the truest representation of colour. From the original to the print, the eye sees a true reflection of your original art in every brushstroke, shade and texture.

With a large printing team and specialist fine art consultants, we offer a personalised service. Every print is hand-inspected for accuracy and quality before dispatch.

If required, we can supply a certificate of authenticity for each print signed by one of our master printers.