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please recommends, color laser printer for printing sellable art?

MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
edited April 2014 in The Commons

i was thinking of trying to sell prints at the craft fairs this spring.

has anyone tried to sell home printed renders? in those cardboard frames you can find from the craft stores?

would have to make back the cost of the printer and toner.

i went to Staples, the printers there seemed to have banding or big dots. but maybe cuz it's printing in draft mode.

at home i have the kodak 4x6 printer that uses the film cardtridge, the print goes back and forth through the printer for the film layers. can't find the same printer in 8x10.

thanks.

maybe i should get a thermal printer?

Post edited by Mistara on

Comments

  • daveleitzdaveleitz Posts: 459
    edited December 1969

    I've heard that the UPS store makes good prints from digital files. You could also try out Wal-Mart and Walgreens. Unless you really want a new printer, it might be better to test the market before making a big investment. That being said, I often use an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 at work which is capable of very nice pigment based inkjet prints. The downside is that ink is expensive. The upside is that you can find a wide range of papers from many manufacturers that give superb results. Of course, there's no guarantee that you'll earn back the hundreds of dollars that a quality setup will cost you.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,778
    edited December 1969

    As far as I know most art prints use inkjets, ideally pigment based. Lasers are fast and produce robust prints but they have, at least until recently, given relatively poor colours.

  • prixatprixat Posts: 1,588
    edited December 1969

    We have an HP 1525 colour laserjet at work. A4, networked and wireless.

    We're quite fastidious about colour accuracy but even without a RIP, using only windows 'basic' colour-management, the colours were quite good.

    It was high enough resolution but a bit 'thin', though that may have been down to the choice of paper. The quality was actually good enough to make up dummy artwork for clients and saved some embarrassment when an ancient epson 3000 failed and the new 4900 had not yet arrived. You can't really compare this to the glossy output of a film printer or the waxy solidity of a dye-sub or the rich deep colours of epson inks on epson paper.

    If your artwork fits the small size then a modern colour laser is less mess, less fuss and faster than an inkjet.
    You can only really test it by putting one of your own pictures through it.

  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 9,053
    edited April 2014

    The top of the line Canon printers produce absolutely breathtaking results. At CES a few years back they had a row of prints set up in such a way that they looked like monitors and it wasn't until you got right on top of them that you could see that they weren't actually light sources. Of course, those printers are also really pricey and the cost of the top line papers and archival inks have to be factored in as well, but if someone's going to be buying a print for anything more than pocket change, you have to be sure that it's not going to fade to a cyan ghost just from hanging on the wall.

    Honestly, unless you're anticipating a really heavy business, you're probably better off setting up an account from an online gallery (like DevArt) and having them handle all the printing and shipping. That way they get to deal with the headaches of shipping, insurance, billing and maintaining bigger printers that cost more than most of us find practical, plus you get free advertising via people cruising the site.

    Post edited by Cybersox on
  • TaozTaoz Posts: 9,940
    edited December 1969

    I bet that we'll soon see ultra-thin touchscreen monitors to hang on the wall for which you can download copy-protected packages with pictures (a la Kindle). If they haven't made it already.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited December 1969

    i'm finding a couple of local places (Huntington has an independent bookstore) 'that will feature "local" artists will hang stuff on their walls.

    i don't need to explain i'm a render artist, do i?

    i mean, it looks like digital art, so i'm planning on explaining i'm a digital artist. or better to say cg artist?


    mannnn, i luv those light gels :)

  • WillowRavenWillowRaven Posts: 3,787
    edited December 1969

    Epson WorkForce WF-7520 Wireless All-in-One Wide-Format Color Inkjet Printer, Scanner, Copier, Fax (C11CB58201) and use Inkpress LM111450 Linen Matte 11X14 50 200 GSM Textured Watercolor Paper 10 Mil Bright White paper for my art prints. I also refer to my work as 'digital' prints' or 'digital paintings'.

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