Information about both the prints and the pictures they are produced from:

Giclee Prints

Currently, I produce all the Giclee prints that I offer for sale on my Epson 2100 printer. I use Lyson professional Fotonic Archival Inks on Lyson 300gsm Heavyweight Smooth Fine Art paper which has a matte finish. This paper is made from 100% cotton rag and is both acid a bleach free to ensure a longer lasting print. Acids in standard ink jet papers can cause pictures to degrade and fade over time. The inks used also affect the life of the print and its quality. Some inks and papers used on ink jet printers can have a very short life before fade occurs. Lyson professional materials are designed to last. The Fotonic inks that I use are dye based for greater colour vibrancy on the Epson 2100. Lyson quote a print life of 25-30 years before there is any noticeable fade to the colour of Fotonic inks and that the print will last much longer than this. See the notes below for taking care of your prints.

Indigo Prints

The Indigo prints are short run plate-less digital prints that have a half tone screen like a standard lithographic print. These were produced in a short run of 50 of each size in each design on a heavyweight card stock.

Print Sizes

I produce the prints and mounts to be standard frame sizes to make framing the prints easier to do. The 30cm x 40cm print is much the same as the A3 print just slightly shorter to fit into that frame format. It is really down to personal choice and frame availability which to use. This option is only given for those pictures where this is suitable, as does mean that a small amount of detail is lost from the top and bottom of the picture.

Mounted Prints

The mounted prints (also called matted prints in the US) are made by myself from Daler-Rowney Studland mountboard. This is a 1.5mm thick white core board that is Neutral PH. As with having acid free paper for printing on neutral PH mountboard helps to preserve the print over time. If there were acids in the board, it could leach into the paper and cause the image to degrade over time. Similarly, the greyboard that backs the mounted prints is also neutral PH.

Care of the Prints

All prints and art work benefit from care to give them a longer life. The general rule of thumb for a print to make them last, is to keep them under glass and out of direct sunlight. A full frame is better than a clip frame, especially one that is sealed on the back with sealing tape or similar as atmospherics and humidity can also play apart in picture conservation. What this really means is that if you want the print to last don't hang it in the bathroom or by a steamy cooking area. The Lyson dye based inks produce a print that is like a watercolour painting so avoiding getting moisture on the surface is also important. Full blown conservation grade mounting of a print with non reflective UV filtering glass looks really good. And costs many, many times more than the print does so just stick to the basics. Under glass, out of the sun.

Signed Artist Prints

I have been asked what the difference between a Signed Artist Print and a Limited Edition Print is. Well, to all intents and purposes the absence of a number in the lower corner of the print. That is all. The quality of the print is just the same. I was advised, by a member of the Fine Art Trade Guild, that as I wanted to produce the prints in a number of sizes and formats that they would not be proper Limited Edition Prints by the trade guild standards which are pretty exacting. Producing the these prints the way I do, allows me to give the customer greater choice. None of them are mass produced items and each one is signed and packed by me. Limited editions can run to may hundreds of prints. It is generally considered that above 1,000 is bad form. As I produce the Giclees individually myself, it is unlikely that the numbers of these prints will exceed this. So the signed prints still have the rarity of a Limited Edition Print.

Producing the Art

Most of the painting is done with Corel Painter using a Wacom Intuos pressure sensitive tablet with a small amount of colour adjustment in Photoshop. With some of the pictures I have used multiple layers produced in Photoshop before progressing to painting to isolate different parts of the picture. As my technique develops, I prefer to work with a single layer and find this method more satisfying. It depends on the nature of the picture. They all start with a pencil drawing. Or more accurately several pencil drawings as I refine the composition. The first drawing may be scribbled out on a rough piece of paper to get an idea of how I want it to look. This will progress from an A4 drawing through to a final A3 drawing. Again, this will vary from picture to picture. For some, the picture was drawn in detail on Arches hot press watercolour paper and most aspects of lighting, shading and detailing are worked out before I paint. For others the drawing is done slightly more freely on A3 layout paper and aspects are refined while painting. Whichever method is used, the next stage is to scan the drawings and use them as a template for painting.

For the Pictures Succubus Moon and Succubus Storm, I added a third middle stage. For these, after scanning in the detailed drawing, I printed out the image onto an A3 sheet of heavy watercolour paper. I then painted over them with a white acrylic gesso primer. This provided a base for a detailed acrylic tonal underpainting. Once that painting stage was finished, I scanned the painting, imported to photoshop and created multiple layers for different areas of the painting. Then I could work on the image in a combination of Painter and Photoshop. By working with the acrylic underpainting, it allows detail and texture from that painting to show through into the final painting especially on the gargoyles heads. The downside is that I estimate they took between four and six weeks each to produce. The other paintings were quicker taking two to four weeks each. It is difficult to know exactly how long it takes to produce a single painting, as I prefer to work on a number of them at the same time. Swapping between pictures as I work on them.

Those pictures with a solid black line content are worked in a slightly different way. The pencil drawing on layout paper is transferred to Arches 90lb hot press watercolour paper by using a light board and drawing it out again in pencil. The light board is basically a drawing board with a translucent drawing surface which I can shine a light through from below and see the layout drawing while drawing on the watercolour paper. This allows a final refinement of the detail in the image. I use the same process when producing my general celtic knotwork images. Once I am satisfied with everything, I ink in the image with a combination of steel dip pen and technical pens depending on the type of line that I want to produce. With these pictures, there may also be some work with Illustrator and assembling of different components of the picture from separate drawn items.

Payment

The shopping cart takes both Paypal and credit cards as a means of payment. If you are in the UK and would prefer to pay by check contact me by e-mail on chris@chrisdown.co.uk to arrange payment. I will not ship the prints until the cheque clears. For overseas cheques in foreign currency the bank charges to cash them are too high to make it worthwhile.

Postage Costs

Up to £9.99 purchase P&P is £1.00 (please note until I set up for selling cards this bit is irrelevant as it is below the cheapest print) From £10 to £74.99 postage is £2.50. Above £75.00 it is £5.00. this will be added at the shopping cart stage. At the moment to save me the grief of more complicated calculations in the shopping cart, I have decided that I will see how it goes with keeping international postage costs the same as UK (Note customer is responsible for any customs or duties that may apply. I'm not feeling that generous). If this proves uneconomical, I shall review the situation.

Delivery of Prints

Prints will be posted as soon as possible after money sent is cleared. Once again, I have to emphasise that it is just me here doing the work so if I happen to be away for a couple of days then there will be a delay in postage. Also, as there is quite a variety of possibilities for the prints, I may have to print and produce to order which again could create a slight delay. Once an item is put in the post, I will send an e-mail to notify of its impending arrival.

Enquiries

If you have any questions about the prints. Would like a print in a different format than those offered. Would like a print of one of the other images on the web site that are not currently available in the shop. Or just want to order a print personally rather than go through the shopping cart. Then feel free to contact me on chris@chrisdown.co.uk to ask me. Obviously for special orders the costs of printing may well be more than for a 'standard print.' I do spend a while, when setting up the prints initially, to get the colour how I am happy with it. Once it is set up, the repeat prints are all the same. A one off may take a couple of hours to get where I am happy with them and this can be reflected in the cost. Ask me to find out.

Problems Ordering

If you should have any problems ordering a print, please let me know on chris@chrisdown.co.uk as it would be useful for me to know if there any faults in the system for me to see to. And of course, allow you to get the print you want.