Art Copy / Digital Reproduction

If you need printable copies of your original artwork,  you will need a digital file (Duh!). Creating a digital reproduction is as much science as it is art. Accurate digital reproductions require more than grabbing a point-and-shoot or smartphone camera to snap a picture. Rather, creating an accurate reproduction requires proper controlled lighting to minimize specular highlights and maximize the artwork's three-dimensionality and contrast. It also requires using a high-quality, full-frame, state-of-the-art 35mm camera. To ensure the highest quality, the camera must be mounted on a sturdy tripod triggered by remote control to avoid camera shake and produce a crisp image. Additionally, the entire image capture process must be color-managed.

My Art Copy / Digital Reproduction service offers a complete package, from capturing your artwork and making the digital files - to making computer adjustments to the files so they match the original art as closely as possible. When complete, you'll receive a CD containing high-resolution .jpg or .tiff files. My workflow is color-managed from start to finish, including accurate white-balanced image capture on a Canon 5D Mark III calibrated with an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport. All images are captured in 16-bit RAW mode and edited in Lightroom and Photoshop on a 30-bit color-calibrated NEC monitor. The camera's lens is calibrated with a software profile to correct image perspective and lens flaws.

Artists are welcome to join me in front of the monitor to participate in a review and tweaking of their digital art before I create the digital files. Often, artists simply drop off their artwork in the morning and come by that evening to sit with me in front of the monitor to evaluate the original art vs. the digital image. Once editing is done, I burn the images to a CD in two colorspaces: AdobeRGB (for printing) and sRGB (for use in email, websites and social media). I can also provide you a third folder of images watermarked with your copyright for use on Facebook and other social media to help reduce stealing.