How I Started Making Art Prints, From Basics to Giclée
Where It All Started: Collecting Prints and Making My First Ones
Making art prints is a whole business by itself, even though it is only a small part of what we do as artists. Once you enter this world, the questions pile up quickly. Should I print everything myself, order them, outsource them, or ship them from home? This is the story of why I make my aesthetic prints the way I do now, and how different it is from the beginning.
I always enjoyed buying prints at small fairs. Japan weekends, conventions, anime, manga events…you name it. I often bought prints from artists I did not know at all, simply because I loved their work and wanted to bring a piece of it home. That was what first made me want to create my own prints.
I began with what I could use: small prints on regular or glossy paper. I got them printed at my university's printing service.
They were affordable and convenient, but I did not understand back then that they were just laser copies. They were not art prints, not archival, and not long-lasting, but they were a starting point. They worked well for my Patreon rewards and as gifts for people who bought my early originals.
When I graduated and no longer had access to those printers, I looked for print shops in my city. They all offered the same thing: low-quality laser posters. That became my first real print inventory, and I sold a lot more of them than I ever expected. But eventually, I hit a fortunate problem.
When Low Quality Pushes You to Improve
As sales grew, I visited the print shop every week, and something was always slightly off. Some prints were too saturated, others washed out, and a few were completely overexposed. The owners blamed humidity and temperature; inconceivable. I realized I needed to understand printing more deeply, because I could not sell artwork that changed from week to week.
I researched at home and eventually discovered the world of giclée printing. It felt like a revelation. Archival papers, pigment inks, color profiles, longevity, and museum-grade quality.
After a lot of consideration, I invested in a fine art printer and real archival paper for the studio. The first print shocked me. It looked like a painting. Suddenly, I went from selling cheap laser prints to creating actual fine art prints, and I never looked back.
From that moment, I printed everything myself. My followers reacted immediately. Some collectors thought the art prints were originals because of the texture and color depth. People were happy, and I felt proud of the quality I could offer directly from home.
When Success Becomes a Problem
When you fix one challenge, another appears. Printing at a professional level takes time. Eight minutes per art print, plus drying, trimming, packing, and restocking materials.
I constantly fought with suppliers because they ran out of the paper I needed, which meant I also ran out of stock. I printed everything on demand, which made the workload unpredictable and stressful.
That was when I tried outsourcing. Several printing companies contacted me, and I tested one whose results matched my home prints almost perfectly. They used archival paper and pigment inks, following giclee printing standards.
Their marketing team convinced me to try limited-edition drops with curated selections and fixed sizes. It simplified logistics, and the scarcity strategy worked well. And what was important for me: I only needed to focus on prints once a month instead of every week.
But I did not expect to feel disconnected from the process. If I was not printing or packing the orders, I was not writing thank-you notes or adding small doodles and stickers. I missed the personal touch.
The silence
Without planning it, I paused everything. At first, I was just postponing drops while travelling. But months passed by, and I stopped printing at home and also outsourcing, and people immediately noticed the silence. That time gave me room to think about why I was no longer prioritizing making art prints. It made me rethink what I really wanted to offer.
The Comeback: Returning to Make Art Prints at Home
Now I am returning to printing with a more balanced approach. Thanks to Patreon, commissions, and courses, I can reinvest in better materials and a larger professional printer. My new setup allows me to make bigger fine art prints, with better depth and surface texture than before. The quality still follows the gold standard of giclée printing, but now I have more control over it.
I am combining what I learned from outsourcing with what I missed from printing at home. I now offer open editions for my most popular pieces, which keeps the art accessible. At the same time, I curate monthly drops with four new prints inspired by the season or whatever I am painting at the moment. It brings the excitement of collecting, while avoiding the stressful four-day limited windows that create overwhelming FOMO.
Printing at home lets me add little details I love. I can personally sign them and add thank-you notes or stickers. It feels good to know each package is made by me. And I know the collector feels the same.
I am also streamlining the process by keeping some prints in stock instead of printing only after each sale, and I am designing a new thank-you note and Certificate of Authenticity "system" that helps me work faster while still offering a small surprise (not making spoilers here!).
I strongly believe art should not be limited to those with large budgets. I understand why limited editions work and why scarcity can be useful, but accessibility still matters to me. Depending on someone’s budget, they can get free stickers at fairs, Patreon goodies for a few dollars, affordable aesthetic art prints, or original paintings. I want the younger version of myself, who proudly hung low-quality anime prints on her bedroom walls, to always have a place in my audience.
What's next?
If you are interested in buying my art prints, I invite you to take a look at this webpage, where you will find both the best sellers and the limited-time editions. By now, you will know they are the best quality in the market, as well as made with all the love in the world.
And if making prints is what interests you, I have a course about TraDigital Painting where I cover all about printing (how, where, prices...) with a guide PDF in AlaiGanuza Academia.
