Avatar artist - Artists and Fine Art Photographers Offer Print on Canvas Artwork

There has been a general trend in the past three or four years for successful artists and professional photographers to offer their original art work reproduced as print on canvas images rather than on photo paper. This would have once been unheard of as the quality of print on canvas was poor, and poor quality copies denigrated the fine artist's good name.

Now, fine quality reproductions created using giclee printing techniques can greatly increase an artist or professional photographer's market base by offering print on canvas reproductions at significantly lower prices than charged for an original.

There are several reasons why the print on canvas format has recently become so popular:

• It is not necessary to protect the print on canvas with matting, glass or a frame.
• Inks, museum quality canvas, and protective coatings have made possible reproductions that can last for generations.
• Technical advances in printing inks and equipment make possible print on canvas quality that is very close in color tone and shading to the original art work.
• A large variety of enlargement sizes and shapes for giclee printing are now available.
• Interior decorators have promoted photo and fine art print on canvas artwork to create startling and innovative design effects.
• Various canvas textures can be used to create reproductions that mimic the brush strokes of original artworks.
• Graphic artists have embraced print on canvas techniques, even adding paint to the final print to create a multi media one-of-a-kind work of art.
• Photographers and photo editors have developed techniques to alter digital photos to create images in various easily-recognizable artistic styles (such as Pop Art, graphic, oil painting, Lichtenstein, or Avatar) which have become very popular commercially.
• The cost of ink jet printing on canvas has come down as new technologies have been introduced.
• Internet communications coupled with instant digital image transfer has lowered the costs of creating photo printing, often outsourcing the handwork to the Far East.
• Lower costs for framed and unframed photos printed on canvas bring the final product squarely into the price range of gifts for birthdays, graduations, weddings, and special events.

Artists and photographers don't even have to invest in costly ink jet printing equipment and inks or rent production space to create reproductions themselves since there are many online art galleries offering full services at reasonable prices, especially in quantities.

Giclee printing on canvas has made possible high quality reproductions of the paintings of master artists. When art auction houses such as Soethby's and Christie's report the sale at auction of original modern masterpieces such as the 1987 sale of Vincent Van Gogh's Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers for $39.7 million ($76.6 million in 2010 dollars), it is ironic to note that anyone can order on line a giclee print on canvas replica for under a hundred dollars that would closely match in size, color, and brush stroke texture the original painting.