Have you ever wondered if you can photo copy a drawing on colored paper? If so, you’re not alone.
Kerry Hubick wanted to know, too, and her question is the inspiration for today’s post.
Can you photo copy an art picture that has been done on Canson Mi Tientes colored paper? I think the color [of the paper] is called Hemp.
Thank you for the question, Kerry. It’s a great question.
A Little Background on Art Reproductions
Art reproductions used to be limited to artists who could afford professional photography and printing or who could sign on with professional publishers. In those days, art publishers like The Greenwich Workshop were the go-to sources for high quality art reproductions.
Then along came ink jet printers and archival inks and papers. Suddenly artists no longer needed an art publisher to produce art reproductions.
The next logical step was affordable, high-quality printers that allowed artists to produce their own reproductions in the studio.
Of course, with all those advances come a lot of questions. Questions about what paper to print on, the size of the reproduction, the number of reproductions printed, and so on.
Can You Photo Copy a Drawing on Colored Paper?
I want to answer the question from two perspectives. Printing drawings drawn on colored paper, and printing on colored paper.
Photo Copying Drawings Drawn on Colored Paper
Yes. You can photocopy a drawing on colored paper. Any drawing on any type of paper (or other support) can be reproduced. The results may vary, but reproduction is most certainly possible.
The color of the paper will be printed with the artwork, so the reproductions should look like the original art.
For the best results, check with a printing company that routinely does high-quality printing. I’ve had reproductions made of line drawings and oil paintings at a local blue print company. They’re able to do high-quality, low-cost images directly from the art work or from high-resolution digital images.
I’ve also had line drawings copied full size (24×36) to send to portrait clients for approval. The same company has also printed 8×10 color reproductions of paintings from a high-resolution digital image.
In every case, I’ve been happy with the reproduction and with the cost, which has been very low.
The reason I suggest a local company first is accessibility and promptness. It’s much more convenient to be able to visit a brick-and-mortar business, hand over the artwork or image on CD, and wait while they do the printing. With the line drawing, we saved a lot of time by waiting to approve the final reproduction.
But that’s not the only option.
If you have high-resolution digital images of the artwork, you can also upload the image to an on-line company. Companies like Fine Art America provide not only printing, but order fulfillment.
You can open a Fine Art America account for free and list up to 30 images. Those images will then be available for purchase world-wide. They offer a wide variety of supports from basic paper to canvas to metal and acrylic. You can also market reproductions in a number of sizes.
Any other on-line printing company may also be a good resource. If you’ve had business cards, or post cards printed on-line, check that supplier to see if they do larger jobs. If they do, the advantage is lower cost. The disadvantage is that you may very well need to place a minimum order.
With any online option, you also have to pay for shipping, but if there isn’t a local printer capable of doing the work, an online company may be your best solution.
Should You Print on Colored Paper or White?
So what about printing on colored paper?
Again, the answer is, Yes, you can print any artwork on a paper that’s a different color than the original paper.
But the color of the paper you print on affect the way the reproductions look. Printer inks aren’t usually opaque, so it will be very difficult to get a reproduction to match the original if you used white paper for the original and print on a different color of paper.
The advantage to that is that you could do a series of images printed on different papers and possibly appeal to different types of collectors.
Would I recommend printing fine art reproductions on colored paper? No. It’s better in most cases to print your artwork on white paper, no matter what color of paper it was drawn on.
