How to print art works

[MikeOz]

Hi there!

I need do to prints from my watercolor paintings, which I already scanned. I need to print them in bulk so I am looking for an inexpensive way with average quality (but not bad).

I printed a few copies 1) on a laser printer 2) as photos at winkflash on a matte photo paper.

The quality of photo prints turned out to be worse then I expected. First of all I don't like how the photo paper looks and feels. Second, photo prints got a bit darker in some places, some patterns (e.g. the sky) looks different in the photo, some colors changed, e.g. orange color became slightly darker.

On the other hand I like how my prints on a laser printer look like.. If to frame them and place under the glass, it looks like the original painting (at least for non-professional). The only thing is that I used office paper which is too thin...So should I focus on a laser printer?

Any other ideas how to print it? Inkjet printer? VistaPrint?

Thank you

 

[dabob]

Inkjet printers offer a wider range of "photographic substrates" and depending on the inkjet you get the gamut can be much larger . . . but if the laser is good enough just run thicker paper through it . . .

 

[gordo]

My wife does watercolor paintings and gets excellent results on a basic Epson inkjet printer using lightweight watercolor paper. You can't tell which is the original and which is the reproduction. Make sure you're working in sRGB and that your monitor is at least minimally calibrated.

Best, gordo