Digital Print: The New Age Art

Introduction to Digital Print Art  

Digital print is a general term for any printing process that incorporates a digital technology into the creation of an image or its printing. Until the mid- 1990’s, most digital images that were created by artists were done on a computer and were then transferred photo mechanically to traditional printing plates. However, since then technology has advanced manifold and artists have taken up high resolution digital printing processes that are supported by computer controlled printers. 

In other words, Digital printing is a method of printing a digital based image onto a variety of mediums. It refers to large format and/or high volume printing that comes from a digital source and is printed using a laser or inkjet printer.  

Digital Print art versus Traditional Printing:  

In general, offset printing is considered as being of upper quality; but, digital printing has created advances in regard to quality too. offset printing presses enable you to print larger sheets and one can print several items faster than digital printing presses. If one leaves aside these comparatively minor differences, the particular completed digital art painting done by either offset printing or digital printing are bizarrely similar. The main difference lies in the budget of the project at hand.  

Since offset printing uses plates, each print job must be created into a plate, and the press needs to be created one by one for every specific job. This methodology costs money and adds a direct fee to your print job regardless of quantity. Since digital printing doesn't use plates, no setup fees are concerned thus you pay a flat value per piece. 

From an overall view, digital printing can seem like an expensive activity as compared to traditional offset printing; however the simplification of the printing process has major advantages and thus allows on-demand printing and short turnaround time. Another advantage is that it serves the demands of customization unmatched by the traditional methods, using inkjet and laser printers mostly. Images are sent to these printers using digital files such as those from graphic software's like Photoshop and Illustrator. 

Advantages of Digital Print:

Furthermore, these printers work by depositing respective pigments onto a wide variety of substrates such as paper, fabrics, ceramics, glass, metal, marble etc. These prints are created with computers using highly saturated, pigment based inks on paper, canvas or vinyl. These prints are usually create with the help of large scale inkjet printers that release a fine mist of tiny ink droplets onto the desired surface in order to reproduce the image in a toned manner.  

A digital print art is only considered as an original print or work of art if it was intended as a unique piece of art, and is not a copy or reproduction of an existent artwork on a different medium. In fact it is since the advent of the camera that there has been a change in the very fabric of art making’s possibilities on such a large scale and as digital art. Digital art truly encapsulates an artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as a part of its creation process. As the digital age began to take over the world between the 1950’s and 1970’s it was only a matter of time before artists jumped on to the progressive technologies available to expand their own creative potential. Although digital in itself is not recognized as a distinct movement in itself, however as technology continued to grow, digital art witnesses a rapid bloom in the contemporary art scene, and gave us a myriad of ever changing art pieces, thus making it a reliable alternative to old-fashioned means of art making for a post millennial society.