Producing Canvas Art Prints
A very recent technology allows for artists' original paintings
to be replicated on canvas. Prior to this an artist who painted
an original work on canvas would have to have a reproduction
made on paper. Unlike a paper reproduction, one printed on
canvas can be displayed without glass and matting, and also
looks like an original.
There are two main ways that person can produce canvas prints.
They are by canvas transferring and printing directly on the
canvas. Both can produce high-quality results, and can be made
to look as close to the original as possible.
When it comes to reproducing an artist's original canvas art
prints, it is obvious that the reproduction should look as much
like the original as possible. By using several techniques, it
makes it easy to produce canvas art prints that look just as
good as the original.
Transferring to make canvas art prints is the most common of the
two techniques. It begins with a standard, offset paper print
that is made in the traditional way from the original. The print
is then coated with a series of special chemicals that are
designed to allow the paper and the ink to separate from each
other. That means when the paper is removed, the ink remains.
The canvass is then prepped with adhesive, and the film is
carefully laid on it. Pressure is applied to bond the film to
the canvas, which is then set aside to dry. The result is a
beautiful canvas art print that looks very much like the
original.
Printing directly on the canvas to produce canvas art prints is
the second most commonly used method.
Other methods used consist of direct offset printing, where a
piece of canvas is run through an offset press; Repligraphy,
where a hot-melt color dye printing system is used to create an
oil-based film that adheres to the canvas; and Artagraphs, which
features a mold of both the artist's original brushstrokes and
textures.
How can you tell if a piece of art is the original or a canvas
art print reproduction? Although it may seem hard, there are
clues that someone can use to tell what is real and what is a
copy.
The first is to look for limited edition print numbers, which
are normally found at the bottom of the work in xx/yy format.
When producing canvas art prints, a reproduction often leaves
this out.
Canvas art prints are usually completely flat or have small
applications of hand-applied paint that is referred to as
highlight. If the canvas art print is flat to the touch, then
it's probably a reproduction. Originals mostly include areas of
texture.
Highlights can be obvious to see. A hightlight can be simply a
small dab of paint, which is quite different from an artist's
actual brushstroke.
Other options include using a high-powered microscope to look
for standard dot patterns and/or calling a gallery to see if
they have someone who can identify your canvas art print as an
original or a reproduction.