A Giclée is a high-resolution reproduction done on a special format printer.  Because Giclées are produced from digital scans, they can save the integrity of the artwork that standard printing often loses.  

A Print is a reproduction of an image utilizing an inkjet process called lithography.  Lithography is the standard function of most home printers, which create images consisting of tiny dots of four different colors—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.  The process creates various hues and shades by printing different size dots of these four colors.  With traditional lithography printing, generations of negatives and printing plates often sap artwork of its detail.

Giclées use inkjet technology but they employ six colors, including light cyan and light magenta.  The process uses lightfast (fade resistant), pigmented inks and finer, more numerous, replaceable printheads resulting in a wider range of color, or “gamut”.  The ink is sprayed onto the medium, actually mixing the color to create truer shades and hues.

Giclées are superior to lithography in nearly every way.  The colors are more brilliant, last longer, and are so high-resolution that they are virtually ‘continuous tone’, rather than tiny dots.  The gamut of color for Giclées is far beyond that of lithography, and even the miniscule details are crisper.  Giclées can be printed on any number of media, from canvas to watercolor paper to vinyl, to transparent acetates.

Giclées are coveted by collectors for their fidelity and quality, and desired by galleries and artists alike because they so accurately reproduce the original art.