Art Cards

• Scanning/Capture of Images
  Options:
  A. Scanning:  Watercolours and matte art works are best scanned for exceptional detail and colour precision.
  B. Capture: 
 Glossy and varnished paintings are best shot with a digital camera as the lighting can be polarized to reduce reflection.
  C. Provided digital file: You can provide your own digital files. Images should be provided at 100% at 300-400 dpi in RGB (tiff is best). Best to include a colour/greyscale reference in your image to adjust for colour cast and reduce calibration time.
• Design & Layout
  We design each new card series to reflect your style of art and personal taste. Gallery style card designs include images, bio, copyright, website, and contact information. We also offer low cost template card designs with just the basic info. Once the new cards are designed we send out PDF proofs for you to make any changes/corrections. This is also the time to select your paper preference. See our design page for samples of our design work.
• Printers Proofs
  Once the designs and text copy are proofed, we calibrate your card images to your original art or to your eye. Full size colour proofs are generated for you to approve (by mail or in person). These proofs are filed along with your archived digital files to make sure that all repeat orders are the same colours (our specialty).
• Impositions
  Each card art card is printed on our standardized press sheet (19″ x 13″), and, depending on the size of the cards, the images are repeated (i.e., 2up, 3up, etc.) to maximize the use of the paper.
• Printing
  Cards are processed and ripped through our state of the art EFI Splash colour server for excellent critical colour reproduction and repeatability on our digital press. We pay close attention to image quality and colour consistency for every order. Not only can we get the colour right, we can reproduce it time and time again.
• Cutting, Scoring & Bundling
  We cut your cards to size on our precision hydraulic cutter. 
Each card has its centre fold scored in a professional scoring machine (prepared for folding), and cards are bundled in packs of 50, 75, or 100.
• Presentation Accessories
  Need matching envelopes and bags?
  
Envelopes:  
We stock standard size envelopes for all art card sizes.
  Poly art bags:  
Resealable clear art bags keep your cards and envelopes clean and provide professional presentation. We offer art card boxes, for sets of cards and envelopes too!

Art Card Pricing (based on quantity ordered per image)

We carry a large selection of envelopes and clearbags for you to package your cards and art prints; fill out our online order form above, for more pricing!

If you are a photographer and you would like to get greeting cards or small digital press prints of your photographs be aware that there are some differences in the way your images will print on photo paper versus card stock. Photo paper (either printed with an inkjet or with a photo lab process) allows for finer detail and more accurate tonal gradation vs the digital press. When printing on card stock there are some technical limitations – large areas with mid-tone colours (like blue sky) can create visual “noise” or banding in the final image.

Depending on your images, you may not have any problems at all, but we are fussy about getting our clients a good result so we will always personally examine your images before printing and advise you of any issues.  If we don’t see any problems in the digital files, we’ll go to the next step of creating a hard copy proof for your approval before we go ahead with the print run. If you’re in doubt about how your photographs would look as art cards, contact us and we’ll let you know what we see.