Giclee Prints: What Are They and Why Should I Care?

Giclee prints are like buying an original work of art. They are printed on fine art, archival paper using  high resolution dyes. These printers aren’t your typical printer. Giclee printers are huge and are not  like a printer with just magenta, cyan and yellow dyes. Basically you can buy or sell work as if it’s the original with all the varied colors.

To authenticate their work, Artists choose a print release number and sometimes vary the size available. Each print is personally signed by the artist to further authenticate the work. With these things included in your prints or the prints you buy from artists, it means the work can appreciate in value even if you don’t have the original piece!

A poster can be mass produced. A giclee print with a print release signed by the artist can’t. Every year I choose a print release number for my paintings. For example 2026, all my paintings have a 500 print release. Which promises collectors there will only be 500 copies of these high quality prints signed by me releasing the work into the world. It authenticate everything.

You will see a number in the bottom left corner of each print that will say, #/500. So if it says 35/500, that means you have the thirty-fifth print in a print release of 500. If there isn’t a number on the bottom left and it is just the date, then that means you have the original painting.

But even if you don’t sell your work and want to gift the same painting more than once, giclee prints are beautiful.

Sometimes they are just as amazing as the original paintings. They look so sleek and make it easy to frame.

You can’t get them anywhere. I rotate two companies since I always have paintings to release. One is a company out of Germany and the other is in the United States. They are worth it. So when you say I am selling prints or handing them out, the giclee prints are what I am talking about.

Hope that helps!