Giclee vs Lithograph Prints

The most popular options for today's artists are either giclée prints or press based prints, sometimes referred to as lithograph prints.

How to Make the Choice? Consider the following:

1. Printing company’s production time, efficiency, quality and cost.
2. In the case of high upfront cost, some of the other print making methods such as seriographs or screen prints can be included.
3. If you plan to sell the prints at lower prices and know that all the prints will sell out pretty quick, and you are willing to accept the potential less accurate color matching, then the lithograph and some of the other traditional fine art prints might make more sense.
4. If you are just testing their market or want to offer a print perceived as a higher end product, the should probably opt for the giclée.

How to Order your Online Print?

Our order process is very simple.

1. Click the “Start Order” Button and upload the image you need printed.
2. Choose the type of print you want from available options (Giclee or Lithograph)
3. Submit and Check out.
4. Confirm the order
5. That’s it!

We usually complete production of your order in 2-3 business days and ship it based upon the shipping option you choose

FAQ’s For Giclee Prints and Lithographs

1. Giclee Prints vs Lithographs: Pros & Cons
2. How is a Giclee Print Made?
3. Are Giclee Prints Popular and Widely Accepted?
4. How Long Does it Take to Print?
5. Are the Prints Archival?
6. What is a Lithograph?
7. Why are Lithographs Cheaper?
8. Is Lithograph Printing a Faster Process
9. How Do the Prices Compare Between a Giclee Print and Lithograph Print?
10. Watch a Video to Learn More.

Giclee Prints vs Lithographs: Pros & Cons

While there can be some exceptions to the above detaiils, the following generally applies:

How is a Giclee Print Made?

First, a giclee print is made by the same process used when someone prints a photo on an inkjet printer at home. Currently most giclee print services use the same name brands people are familiar with such as Canon, Epson and HP.  These are wide format printers which typically have 8 or more colors which can render a photo-realistic printed image onto a variety of materials from textured art papers to canvas. These media types normally will be on rolls which automatically feed through the printer as the printer lays out ink in a horizontal motion. 

Are Giclee Prints Popular and Widely Accepted?

Giclee printing has been steadily growing in popularity and is now a mainstream option for prints. This is partially due to artists and photographers are able to take advantage of a growing range of paper and canvas types which might not be as easily available in other forms of printing. It has also become widely embraced by the fine art community,even with some successful artists producing them themselves. If the artist is comfortable enough in working with digital images, they can be more involved in the process and do not need to rely as much on the skills of color management expert. Overall what makes giclee printing so popular today is the exceptional print quality and simplification of production which has not been seen in other forms of fine art printing.

How Long Does it Take to Print?

Unfortunately because the process uses inkjet technology, the time to print a single image can take up to a minute or more depending on the size of the print. It is not unusual for a 24x30 inch image printed at the printer’s highest quality setting to take up to 20 minutes. As the technology has improved, the speed of the printers has also increased cutting down on production time of each print.

Are the Prints Archival?

While the actual printing may seem to take a long time, so too will the print. Manufacturers of ink, canvas and papers have invested a lot into making sure giclee prints will stand the test of time. It is not unheard of for these prints to have a rated longevity of 100 to 200 years. However it is important when choosing a giclee printing company that the company not take shortcuts by using off-brand (generic) inks or media (papers or canvas) that is not archival. In recent years this has become a problem since the supply market has been flooded by non-brand inks and lower grade media alternatives from Asia which may be less likely to abide by the standards required by artists and photographers.

What is a Lithograph?

A lithograph print is a much older process. Originally a lithograph was a print that was made using an old print making process originating back in 1798 in which either a smooth stone plate or metal plate with wax that had the image engraved on it was used as the basis to create impressions of an image or text onto paper. Today it still is based on utilizing a series of plates but will many times incorporate the traditional 4 ink colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) to render an image onto paper. The process is more commonly referred to as “offset printing” in which in practice is similar to that used by the magazine and other publishing industries where high volume low cost per print is necessary. Each plate “stamps” the appropriate color onto the surface based upon the right amount of ink necessary so when all 4 colors are applied, you get a color rich image.

Why are Lithographs Cheaper?

Some lithograph printers today have expanded their capacity to include a larger number of colors in order to accommodate the demands of their clients. Unlike the slower giclee printing process a single lithograph can be printed in less than a second however the cost to setup a lithograph print is the same regardless if you are going to print one or many copies. For this reason lithographs will commonly have a fairly steep setup cost but afterwar can be produced at a lower cost per print and have more room for volume discounts. Since the papers are in sheets, more care has to go into making sure each sheet is consistently fed. This might limit what the lithograph company will want to print to. When it comes to actual total cost, the lithograph process makes sense if you are going to have 100s to 1000s of copies made at a time. When it comes to how long the print will last, much is dependent upon the paper and inks used. Most should retain their quality for about 30 years but after that like any printed item, it may start to yellow and fade.

Is Lithograph Printing a Faster Process

Overall you may find that there is not great advantage in advantage over production time. This solely relies on the company producing the print and how streamlined their ordering process is. One advantage some giclee companies is the time consuming process of setup can be less. It has even allowed this to be automated so companies like FinerWorks can easily allow for online ordering with little human intervention. In contrast a lithograph company may need to setup contracts and proof runs. If the lithograph company fails to get it right for the client, they can suffer a loss worth hundred if not thousands of dollars due to setup and supplies used while a giclee manufacturer is not going to be exposed to that sort of risk and may only be out the cost to produce the single print. Both options can provide a proofing print but the artist should contact the company and understand exactly what is expected of them and how the proofing process works.

How Do the Prices Compare Between a Giclee Print and Lithograph Print?

• Canvas Giclee Prininting Prices 
• Fine Art Paper Giclee Printing Prices

A giclee can be produced on demand and there is less fiscal risk for an artist just starting out. Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of giclee printing is how easy it is to order. FinerWorks has taken that one step further by implementing an online ordering process in which anyone, even if you are not a professional photographer or artist can print any image you send from your computer, phone or tablet.

Watch a Video to Learn More