In the second part of my blog series on canvas printing, I want to cover the printing process and paper choices used. I work on a Mac and I've been an Epson user for over a decade. I currently use the 24", 7600 model that is about six years old to print on canvas. It has been a very solid printer and other than routine maintenance, it has had zero problems. Epson has been making great printers capable of printing on canvas for a long time, but its ultimately personal choice. See also Canon and HP.

Paper Choice: Its important to choose the right paper for your finished product. When I first started, I printed on the Epson Canvas paper. This is a great paper, 100% cotton. Unfortunately, it would not work with the water-based, polymer coating that I was going to use to protect my prints. I switched to the Epson Premium Canvas Matte paper. This paper is water resistant and will accept the finishing polymer.

There are plenty of other canvas manufacturers out there that produce quality papers. Just be aware of how you want to finish your canvas prints before choosing.

Once you have chosen a printer, the next step is getting your work to look the same from screen to printed piece. This is no easy task. I recommend starting by printing directly from Photoshop. It's soft-proofing system is very accurate and can be a huge time saver. I allow Photoshop to do the color management over the printer. (see the pull-down menu marked "Color Handling")

Printer Profiles: When you allow Photoshop to manage the color, you want to select the appropriate printer profile to match the print media. Since I use the Epson Premium Canvas Matte paper, you see that I've selected that media profile for the 7600 & 9600 ultrachrome models. The profile is available on Epson's website here. They also have instructions for installing the profiles.

In addition to Epson's profiles, I have also experimented with the profiles created by Bill Atkinson. They are also available on Epson's site. For my work, I discovered the blacks were too over powering in the printed results when using his profiles.

If you choose to use another paper manufacturer, they will generally make profile and setting suggestions on their website or in the paperwork that accompanies their product.   

Rendering Intent: Here, I will select perceptual with no black point compensation. I found these options give me the best results. This is where you want to pay close attention to your soft proof window and observe the subtle changes each selection makes. Experiment with some printed samples to see what you like best. For example, when I print to my Epson 3800, I prefer to use Relative Colorimetric with the black point compensation selected. These options give a better range of blues for this model.

Printer Settings: Below is the sample preset I use for my process. The media type selected is the radiant watercolor paper setting. This may seem odd since I'm printing on canvas paper, but it is the choice recommended by Epson. I also select 1440 dpi from the advanced settings menu. Since my work is digital, I find 1440 is necessary for sufficient coverage. If I am printing up reproductions of my original color pencil drawings, often 720 dpi is sufficient. Please note each individual printer will have different options, so if you are not using an Epson 7600, you might not see this window exactly.

Results: When using this process, not only have I found the printed results to match what I see on the screen, but the printed results actually look better. This is because the printer has a wider color gamut than the monitor, so it captures even more nuances in the painting. 

In the next part, I will discuss the application of sprays and polymers to protect your finished piece.