Whatever your art medium, there may come a time when you want to share your work with an audience—preferably a paying one. Producing posters is a great goal, and you can reproduce your work in a large, printed format. More than likely, you’ll want to have a professional printer turn out your prints, but there are benefits to purchasing a wide-format printer and doing it yourself. Either way, it’s good to have a little knowledge about how wide-format prints can make your work look its best. Here are four ways to implement wide-format printing in art.
Keep It Simple
First things first, keep this in mind. When working with a wide-format printer, you have a lot of space to work with. That’s great because it allows you to produce more colorful, detailed, and expressive prints of your work. That said, don’t become drunk with power! Use the space but use it wisely. Your work should be best enjoyed from a distance, so keep images and text nice and clear. You can best do this by avoiding clutter. Too many images in a space will make the print a murky mess, either close up or at a distance. Limit images but also keep in mind that too little detail can get lost in all that negative space.
Wallpaper and Murals
If you’re open to turning your work toward interior decorating purposes, wide-format printing is an excellent opportunity to convert photographs and art into wall-sized murals, wallpaper, and decals. Create an immersive experience for the whole room by paneling an outdoor shot of a field, forest, or sunset. Create an accent wall with a conversation-starting piece, or personalize a space with a family photograph. The ideas are endless!
Printing Artwork for Resale
The nice thing about wide-format printing is that it’s reasonably affordable and can produce as many or as few prints as you wish. Keep this in mind when budgeting for your prints. Limited editions can be priced affordably for buyers without hitting your own pocketbook too hard. Put across the idea of limited editions to create demand, but leave open the possibility of future second and third printings.
Tactile Textiles
Don’t restrain yourself to paper printouts. Wide-format printers are fantastic at printing on various textiles. Render your designs onto fabrics like polyester, cotton, nylon, canvas, silk, mesh, and even vinyl! You can use printed fabrics to create eye-catching clothing, furniture upholstery, and dozens of other applications. Break free of the standard rectangular printout, and see your work in more places and spaces!
Now you know four ways to implement wide-format printing in art. Large-format plotter printers have many uses, like making blueprints, so keep your options open!
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