Disney Giclee Question

[Goldknight]

I was shopping online for some production art and came across a section titled Giclee. I've always wanted to ask this. What is it? Yes I've googled it and checked out Wikipedia, but I want to hear from collectors. From what I understand they are prints. Printed on paper or canvas. So how come they're so pricey? If it's on canvas, is it thick? I also see some Disney series have giclee from not only Disney, but other artists. Again, why? How can other artists charge such obscene prices? Why collect what is in essence a Xerox copy? I just feel I'm missing something here.

[GuyvarIII]

It is hard to know what you are buying when you buy a giclee, because many people refer to any type of output from any inkjet printer as a giclee print.

However, in regards to many art prints, giclees are usually printed with longer lasting archival inks, on large form, high caliber printers that can print finer details, and are on top quality, archival paper or canvas. In regards to originality, depending on how much of the artwork and/or final cleanup is done on the computer, you can have instances where there is no original painted artwork, where multiple images are only combined in the giclee, where older and damaged artwork is restored for a giclee edition, or where the giclee work is just different from a painted piece.

Also, some artworks sold as giclees are actually printed using multiple printing techniques, where certain colors that can’t be printed in the CYMK color palette, or even metallic inks, are silk screened on top of the giclee print. Many giclees also feature silkscreened UV filtering varnishes over the image for added protection and visual effect. Depending on how fancy the print job is, how many prints are printed at a time, the number of prints in the final edition, and the type of paper or canvas the edition is printed on, the artwork print production costs can be in the hundreds per giclee print.

After the artwork is printed, there are also costs associated with selling and displaying the work. Framing costs can be very expensive. Most art giclees on paper are framed with archival facings, like museum glass or Plexiglas. Canvas giclees are usually framed in cheaper frames without facings, so their framing costs are usually less expensive.

Most collectors are purchasing from galleries that advertise and market the art, rather than directly from the artist. Galleries can take 50% of the artwork’s final sale price, so the prints have to be priced accordingly for this cost as well.

Finally, if artists are not working directly for the studio, but are using Disney characters in their work, I’m sure they have to pay Disney for that usage, and that is also factored into the sale price.

[Goldknight]

So which is better? Canvas or paper? Disney direct or different artist?

[Jadeduo]

I think it very much depends on the artist... Of course this is true for all art collections, some artists do these in limited runs and actually apply some paint themselves and sign these prints/giclees. I believe Alex Ross who does AMAZING DC Marvel art sells giclees directly from his site, he would hand number and sign them.

I'm not sure myself either how the licensing works for Disney, and buying directly vs. From the artist doesn't't seem to affect cost. I was doing some research on a lovely Disney giclee I wanted a while back and eventually decided against it, I would suggest doing some research on some Disneyana sites they might have more info on the Disney end.

Good luck!
JD

[star-phoenix]

I was told that Giclee was high quality print. The first time I saw that term was on an auction advertized by S/R Labs and they told me it was high quality print.

As far as the artist vs Disney issued . . . it depends on what you are referring to really and what you are looking for. I personally try to avoid Gliclee backgrounds for original production art if I can. I would rather have my conservationist rebuild the original background for me that is identical to the film. Granted it is WAY more costly. But, when it comes to production art, people would pay way more for an original piece with an original reproduced background by a reputable conservationist rather than for a print.

If you are referring to Limited Edition Prints, then they tend to hold value more if it was issued or produced by the actual company (ie Disney)

[GuyvarIII]

I’m sorry. I thought your post was more of a general question as to why giclees are often so expensive.

I also didn’t mean to imply that you could purchase a giclee for less, directly from an artist. Prices usually are fairly consistent, as artists have to build their reputations with galleries that showcase their art, and therefore, it would be undercutting those same galleries that represent them if artists sell their work directly at a discount. I was just pointing out that, when pricing artwork, the artist has to take the gallery’s cut of the sales price into account.

As for paper vs canvas, in my opinion, most of the time giclees are better on paper because the surface is smoother. Printing on the more textured canvas surface can obscure a lot of the finer details. However, if you’re buying a more impressionistic piece of artwork it might not matter. Also, if the giclee is a straight reproduction from a painting on canvas, you’ll probably want to get it on canvas, because the printed image may retain the photographed or scanned texture from the original canvas artwork, and printed canvas texture on flat paper looks odd.

Still, the main thought I was trying to cover in my first post was that, to really judge the worth of a giclee print, you (or someone whose opinion you trust) have to see that print in person. You can’t know what it's going to look like from a small picture on a website or a printed flyer, as lower resolution images can be used in both instances and look fine. In fact, because of how computer monitors display colors, images used on websites are shown in an entirely different color palette, RGB instead of CYMK. And, the term “giclee” is almost useless, since it is used so broadly as to cover everything from a professionally crafted piece to a blurry home printout.

[Goldknight]

Y'all have been very informative. Let me use an example; Frozen.

http://www.acmearchivesdirect.com/categ ... rozen.html

At this website which sells various artists, the giclee ranged from $165-$345. Now those same pieces are listed on other sites for $695 flat fee; paper or canvas doesn't matter.
The prices on this website are for unframed pieces. The same pieces are $695 unframed everywhere else. So I find that interesting.

So I assume these artists were all approved by Disney? If framed, aren't you limited where you can display the piece? I would think that like sunlight and heat would be a hug no no.