Tweaking Every Little Detail

To produce the fine-art giclee prints of artist Dan Cooper's acrylic originals, Brilliant Art Prints”?Cooper's marketing arm–works closely with Black Cat Studio.

In creating the prints, Black Cat uses an Agfa T2500 scanner (just replaced with a Microtek ScanMaker i900), an Epson Stylus Pro 9500 printer, Hahnemuhle 100% rag German Etching paper (310 grams per square meter), Epson's archival pigmented ink set, and “lots of coffee.”

“Dan is very exacting and demands”?very nicely”?the best we can do, the closest match to the original possible,” says Bob Bennett, Black Cat's digital imaging associate. “We tweak every little detail, and I end up with Photoshop files that have 10 or more adjustment layers with masks.”
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Editions usually number from 100 to 250 (plus an additional 10% of artist's proofs). Each print is numbered and signed by the artist. Prices on Cooper fine-art prints range from $42 for a 6 x 8-in. print to $495 for a 24 x 44-in. print (all prices include shipping in the US). Brilliant Art typically increases its prices as an edition sells out; when 50% of an edition sells out, the print price increases by 20%, and when 90% of an edition is sold the price increases by an additional 50%. Brilliant Art also offers 4-1/4 x 5-1/2-in. notecards as well as framing advice for all of Cooper's work.

Based in San Rafael, CA, Black Cat Studio provides a variety of photographic and scanning services, as well as output. In addition to giclee printing, Black Cat offers fine-arts photography; scanning, CD writing, and image processing; photo prints, short-run digital output, and wide-format output; product photography and publicity portraits; and website work and hosting. Beyond the aforementioned hardware, the shop also has Epson Stylus Pro 7600 and 10600 printers, a Fuji Pictrography 3000 digital color printer, and an HP Designjet 3000CP (54-in.) printer, which it uses primarily for poster output.

“When I started 20 years ago in this field,” says Jay Daniel, Black Cat's owner and photographer, “I was strictly a photographer, operating cameras to record my (clients') visions. Now with the advent of computers and digital imaging technology, I have so many more tools and techniques to use, to accomplish my goals.” (Brilliant Art Prints: www.brilliantartprints.com; Black Cat Studio www.blackcatstudio.com).