Printable wall art has many forms — digitally created artworks, scanned paintings, graphics, digital drawings and illustrations — what unites all these forms of art is that nowadays they are available for download and our online art gallery is no exception.
So if you have downloaded one of our printable artworks, you might be starting to think about the best way to print it.
We hope that this guide will help you to achieve the best results on a moderate budget, so make sure you read all our recommendations and do not hesitate to get in touch if any questions arise :)
Where to print your printable art
1. Print the artwork at home
Definitely the most affordable way to print the artwork is with your own printer. All our printables come in standard A4 sizes that are supported by all standard printers.
Make sure there is enough colours in all your cartridges, print a test page first on a simple sheet of paper and, if you are happy with the outcome, print it on photo paper or a thicker sheet. We recommend to use paper that is at least 160g/m2. Glossy or matt - is purely a matter of taste and your choice.
TIP: for best results set your printer quality to the best and scale the image to fill the entire sheet.
IMPORTANT: most home printers will not completely cover the edges of the paper. Have that in mind when you think about the framing. This may be solved with a mat or a frame that covers the edges, or, you may want to consider printable artworks that have sufficient white background and forget about this :)
Although printing at home is the cheapest and fasted way to bring your digital art file to life, you will be limited in format and the quality as well. Which brings us to the next art printing option — an online printing service.
2. Use online print on demand service
Another way to print an artwork without leaving your home is by uploading the file to an online print on demand service that will print it and even fame it for you. One of the most popular and best platform for this is Printful and these are the reasons why we would recommend to use this service:
- variety of mediums: papers and canvas,
- standard sizes are of the same ratios (2:3 and 1:1) as our printable art — easy to resize if needed,
- large sizes available (max sizes are 24x36 inch and 70x100 cm),
- several framing options — frame with or without mat, black and white frames to choose from,
- the prices don’t bite :),
- orders are executed both in EU and USA.
So if you are patient enough to wait a a week or two, all you have to do is go to Wall Art section on Printful, choose your preferred medium and size, upload the digital artwork, finalise your order and it will be delivered to your door printed, framed and ready to hang.
3. Go to your local print shop
If you are aiming for the top possible quality — take the file with you and head to your local print shop.
This is where you can get all information about different papers, printing techniques, the staff can look at your files, provide recommendations make a test print for you.
Print shops usually are more flexible and sizes and, depending on a printer, may print with archival inks that are resistant to light and ageing. Of course, this is also the most expensive and time consuming option, but it is definitely worth talking to your local printer if you have time.
Things you need to consider before printing your art
1. The colours
When it comes to printing, colours are always very tricky. The reason for this is really simple — we all use different screens and printers, so you should not be surprised that the colours of the printed artwork do not exactly match what you have seen on the screen.
There are a lot of technical nuances, but the most simple explanation for this is that most home printers use 4 CMYK colours - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and K-black. These four colours are mixed during the printing process and that’s how other colours appear.
Professional printers have more colours to mix, so the outcome is more precise, but still, there is no guarantee that the print will come out exactly as seen on the screen.
That is why we always recommend to test print first, especially if you are planning to print a large and expensive print on canvas - you can always ask your printer to print a small fragment of the artwork first, so you can be sure that the final result meets your expectations.
2. File ratios, sizes and formats
Our printable art comes in very common JPEG format, the resolution is also quite high — at least 300 dpi. The largest sizes of our downloadable art are 60x90 cm (or 24x36 inch), but the resolution allows to print it even in larger formats.
TIP: if you want to resize the artwork — make sure you are not changing the ratio, otherwise the composition will be distorted and it will not look good.
Resizing to smaller sizes within same proportions is not a problem, but if you want to resize to significantly larger size — do a test print to make sure the image does not come out too blurry and you are happy with the quality. Do not hesitate to e-mail us if you have questions regarding resizing.
3. Paper or canvas?
All our digital artworks can be printed on both and both mediums have their advantages and disadvantages, we will try to review both quickly.
Printing on paper
It is quite cheap, however, most probably it will require a frame and that is additional cost. Besides, if framed with a glass, the artwork will have reflections, so consider where it will be hanging — it will be in the sunlight constantly, it may not give you the desired aesthetic effect.
Paper is best for printing minimalist, graphic artworks.
Printing on canvas
Is more expensive, but don’t forget that it comes already stretched on a bar, so you may not need an additional frame. Besides, canvas has a nice texture and does not have any reflections.
It is definitely the best option if you need to print a scanned painting, it will look almost like real. Choose canvas print if you are going for large formats - it may be a more cost efficient option.
Still thinking about the best option to decorate your space on a budget? Well there is no better way than styling it with affordable downloadable art. Visit our gallery of printable abstract art and download your favourite artwork now!
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