Articles

How Well Does Dimensional Art Reproduce?

This is a question we commonly get asked. For this article, we’ll use one of Smadar Livne‘s paintings that we reproduced.  She was concerned, as many other artists are, about how well her dimensional 4’x6’ painting would reproduce.  Smadar is a mixed media artist that paints with heavy textures.  This most recent piece has heavy brush stroke texture with the addition of two shadow boxes built into the canvas.  I assured her that the print would have the same three dimensional feeling as the original.  It just would not have boxes attached to the canvas.

To achieve the illusion of the boxes being dimensional the artwork must be lit just right when being captured.  When image capturing it is important to light the original to create shadows that feel natural and organic.

Close-up snapshot of the dimensional boxes on our print

We wanted to share Smadar’s experience  as we get this question/concern a lot from people who aren’t familiar with reproducing their dimensional artwork. Everyone is delightfully surprised when they see their prints.  This is true whether you have heavy texture and dimension or no texture at all.  The prints we create look just like the originals.

If your digital art reproduction studio is doing their job, all prints, even heavily dimensional art, will look almost exactly how the original looks when hung on the wall with natural looking shadows. Accept no excuses from your print studio. If the prints they give you do not match your originals, find a new place to print that can give you what you want and need, when you need it.

Please keep in mind that the pictures used in this illustration are taken with a phone.  The color and tones from picture to picture vary more than the actual print and original painting in real life.