Canvas Printing

Canvas is the most popular of all art media. At Modern Images UK, fine art reproductions, contemporary art, abstract art, original paintings, digital photos and images, family photographs, favourite illustrations, children's paintings and drawings can all be transformed into wonderful canvas prints.

The Fine Art of Giclee - Creating a Virtual Masterpiece
Printing on fine art materials such as canvas and watercolour papers is often referred to as Giclee. The French term "Giclée" (pronounced zhee-clay) means to spray or squirt, which is how an inkjet printer works. However, the sophisticated equipment used in the Modern Images studio is not the same as a standard desktop inkjet printer!

Canvas prints created using the giclee printing process provide better colour accuracy than other means of reproduction to satisfy the uncompromising print quality that is sought after by the worlds leading artists and photographers. Special light-fast inks are used, which will stay 'true' for up to 75 years. Prints are created using professional 8 or 12 colour ink-jet printers made by specialist manufactures. These printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets, as well as high quality artwork for home display. Even artists can have a hard time telling the original from the copy when printed at a high resolution. Using rolls of canvas, our printers can produce prints up to 150cm in width and 150cm in length.

Canvas printing offer artists and photographers so many advantages and possibilities. If you’re an artist, you’ll certainly be putting a lot of time and effort into a painting and it's wonderful to experience the joy of selling your work. But when it’s sold, you have to start all over again! High definition digital canvas printing allows artists to sell images over and over again, at a lower price, and share art works with many people. Digitally reproducing images also means that your originals will not deteriorate in quality as films and negatives do.

Giclee printing has also become popular with photographers who are applying their pictures to stretched canvas and other digital art products to give images a whole new quality. Photographers find the soft, painterly quality of giclee printed photographs on canvas very appealing. Subtle colours and details in photos can be reproduced without losing them in the process as often happens with traditional photographic glossy prints. And, of course, digital images can be reproduced to any size and onto other forms of media.

Significant advances in giclee inks have resulted in prints with broader, more saturated colour ranges and longevity. The best manufacturer of giclee inks can claim light fastness that lasts in excess of 75 years. Our pigment based inks use eight individual colours, including black (photo or matte), light black, cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, and yellow. A common misconception is that all inkjet inks are archival inks. Pigment-based inks last a lot longer than dye-based. Even special UV stable dye inks used for fine art may fade as quickly as 13 years. Under the right conditions new dye-based inks on the market may last as long as 60 years, but there is significant loss of colour range and they only provide longevity on certain print medias. There are reputable companies offering art reproduction using inks that will fade in as little as a year, and it's no surprise to learn that some of these printers don’t inform their customers about these drawbacks.

Select from our free galleries of Digital Art and Photography or click for more information about ordering canvas photo printing from your own photographs or artwork.

If you are ready to upload a photograph or image from your computer now, please click here to choose a shape and size and order your canvas print.

If you prefer to send hard copy for canvas printing - i.e. a printed photograph or other picture by post - please click here.

Still have questions? We're here to help. Call 0870 609 1364 - or e-mail: enquiries@modern-imagesuk.com