Pricing question for the digital age, and how to get a quality print made in another country?
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Hi guys,
A friend contacted me who wants to use one of my existing portfolio images to present to a semi-famous benefactor at a non-profit event (long story, but there is a connection to the piece). She has a really good budget! She is in New York (where I used to live) and I am in Turin, Italy. And she wants this print right away.
I have a few (urgent!) questions, starting with the most straightforward:
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How can I make sure my Cintiq is properly calibrated so that what I see is more or less what will come out of a printing service in the US?
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What is a high quality printing service that I could send the file to in the US, even in NYC? And what kind of paper should I use? The piece is about 7.25" x 10.5" at 300 dpi. Meanwhile, I am looking for a printer here, because I want to do a test run. I have only seen xerox-type copies of my work before, and obviously those aren't ideal.
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And lastly, I am frankly confused about how to price this. She seems to have a budget for a limited edition artwork print, not a typical Etsy or Society Six kind of print. I can't even sign it, because I can't be present (though I would be happy to). And she isn't buying rights, only the print. While I would be more than happy to be paid for having spent weeks on this artwork, should I only charge her for the print itself? How does that even work?? I think it's more more important in the long run to be professional than it is to make the maximum amount of money.
Thanks for any advice you can provide! Might any of our resident print and rights gurus, like @Lee-White or @davidhohn, be able to chime in?
Thank you!!!
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@LauraA My thoughts on this
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Cintiq are typically quite well calibrated right out of the box. But there can a shift in brightness/hues over time. I have a guy here in Portland Or who I hire every two years to come out and recalibrate my Cintiq and my printer so that they match. Unfortunately you will never get an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT match unless you are in the building where the print is being made and can make adjustment in real time. That said, I've been doing this for years. Ages ago the difference between printers was huge. These days (especially with professional printers) not so much. I have work printed at a place here in PDX Gango Editions I send them digital files and then pick up the color prints. Always look great! A good general color profile to work in is Adobe RGB 1998. Everyone (at least in US) seem to calibrate to that as a baseline. I create files in my home studio using this profile. Print them at Gango Editions and I'm always happy. BTW, I've also used three other professional print services in PDX over the years using the same profile and process. Always looks good.
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Can't speak to a print service in NYC. I will go ahead and recommend Gango Editions I've had them print my images on large canvases and then ship them to various clients around the country. Gango handles all the shipping. Because they are local to me I went down to look at the prints before they were shipped, but I never had any changes. (and it's fun to see your work printed on 4' x 6' giant canvases!)
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Because it's an existing image I would charge just for the print (your printing and shipping costs plus a reasonable profit margin)
I wouldn't charge her for the time spent creating the image as it is a pre-existing portfolio image. You took a gamble on yourself, and made all the creative decisions personally. I would feel differently if this client called you up and wanted you to create a custom image, but still only wanted a print. In that case you are actively saying "no" to other paying clients, or working on promotional images, so you could make specifically what this client wanted. In that case I would price the project hourly (keeping in mind that all reproduction rights would remain with you) and add in the cost of the print + shipping. As for how pricing a print sale works, the pricing is based on the cost of printing (usually this differs based on size and/or substrate and is dictated by the print service company you use.) along with demand for your work. An 8 x 10 might cost $10 to print, but a popular artist could get $100 per print (a $90 profit). While a less popular artist might only be able to command $15 per print. The less popular artist might be thrilled with a $5 profit -- or they might figure it's not worth the effort and personally feel that a $15 profit make the time and effort worth it. So then an 8 x 10 print would need to sell for $25. This last bit is really about market demand and artist incentive.
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@davidhohn Thank you so much for your reply! I tried getting some local prints made yesterday and my local experience wasn't as encouraging as yours was with Gango. They wanted CMYK .jpegs or PDFs (my files looked fine once converted), but then they came out completely differently depending on the printer they used! They were just printing color laser. But I can't use them anyway because the recipient is in NYC and shipping from here is not going to be practical for oh-so-many reasons!
So I've got someone looking for a printer there, and looking for someone who has enough color sense to check proofs. If that doesn't work, I may just use Gango!
On point 3, I agree with what you said. I don't feel it's a custom image. But it's also true I am taking time this week figure out how they can have a good final product, framing included. So I'll come up with something with just enough profit to make it worth my time to coordinate with them. That makes me feel better!
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@davidhohn, actually I think I'm just going to go with Gango. Do you adjust your files by putting a brightness adjustment at +30? Unfortunately I won't be able to see the result in print, but that seemed to work with my local trial printing yesterday. I know that in most cases, brightening is a must. Thanks!
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@LauraA I suppose that I do. Everything on screen is back lit so it naturally a bit brighter vs a reflective surface. I will brighten "a bit" rather than a standard 30%.
If it's a dark image with subtle value differences I'll punch up the value differences so they look a bit "too much" on screen, knowing they will soften in a physical print. But if the overall image has an even mix of lights and darks with punchy hues I don't mess with the settings much. Maybe just a 5-10% level adjustment. It's the kind of thing that most clients won't notice -- but I do.
@Lee-White I know it's been a bit since you used Gango but did you have a process when working with them?
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@davidhohn I also used Gango for a bit and loved them. I used my same files that I print from on my Epson 880. All those files have had an increase in contrast (using curves) and an increase in Saturation. Both of those probably increased around 10%. This is needed less if printing to glossy surfaces, but I print on their more textured watercolor paper. So you need to punch up the darks and the colors need that extra bit of "pop" with the increased saturation.
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@davidhohn Thanks so much for your help! I called Gango yesterday and they were very helpful with setup and paper recommendations, etc. Since the prints didn't cost so terribly much, I ended up ordering two copies, one normal and one slightly brightened. We'll see how they come out!
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@LauraA Hey that's a cool solution! And yes, I was pleasantly surprised by how affordable they are. I hope your overall experience is positive!
