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Understanding how to manage your art in digital file forms for printing or showing online

In all the many years that we have been working with artists to convert their work into printed products, we have learned much about what makes an image work well and what doesn't. We have learned a lot about layouts and the suitability of digital images for different product forms and product sizes too.

We have also found that sharing this information with artists can be very rewarding and can really help them to get the best out of their work when thinking of printed product creations.

It's an area which is not generally well understood. Using the right papers, correct brushes, working in the right light, using the best paints and so on are all things artists know very well. Representing a piece in a digital file format though, whether for showing on the web or social media or in a printed form – that's something that happens by magic isn't it?

These days though, showing your work online or in other digital forms is becoming ever more important.

Even more of a challenge is how to make the versions of your work look the same across all the ways it might be viewed, or, perhaps unintuitively, how to adapt it to work better in different formats – such as being brighter on a greetings card than it might be on a giclée print.

Many artists have had work printed by different people at different times and have wondered why the results can themselves be very different. Many artists have had great results with an image printed as a greetings card but have had poor results using the same image for a larger art print or a calendar perhaps.

Why is this sometimes the case? What kinds of products can I create from images of my paintings and how do I get the best out of doing this? If you're asking these questions or just interested to know then we may be able to help you.

At TheArtfulPrinter.co.uk we have developed a talk/presentation designed to cover all this ground for visual artists out there in the UK and we are keen to hear from art groups who might want to factor us into their regular get-togethers.

If you are part of a reasonably sized art group or society and would like us to come and talk to you about these things then please Get in touch. Where we can, we will do this at no charge to you. Work with us to explore what's possible – we would love to hear from you.

Our presenter for this is Ian Lacey FRSA, Director of the LoveFromTheArtist program for UK visual artists.