Print Types

Artist Proof (A/P)

What is an Artist or Printers Proof?

When a photographer/ art-director/artist releases a new image as a limited edition print, test prints are made, often in different sizes or on different types of paper before an edition is created. These pre-edition prints are known as Artist Proofs (AP) or in some cases, Printer’s Proofs (PP). Sometimes an AP is deliberated i.e. for a charity auction.

How many AP’s are made?

An AP is approximately 10% of an edition i.e. if an edition is 50 there is likely to be 5 artist proofs and so on. If an edition is created by a company on behalf of an artist the company will usually give the artist a few AP’s as part of their royalty payment. The artist can then give them to friends or sell them themselves, usually in some customised way to distinguish them from the edition.

More commonly, once the edition is sold out, these numbered or un-numbered Artist Proofs are sold for an end-of-edition price. Being customised or rare they are highly collectable depending on the reputation of the photographer.

Jill Furmanovsky, the founder of Rockarchive, has gone back to her renowned archive to make just 3 Artist Proofs available of each image exclusively for Rockarchive Chelsea. It is a rare chance to own a work in progress before an edition is created. This should ensure buyers have a good investment no matter what.

In the pre-digital era, photographers used to supply prints, usually 10”x8” prints known as ‘glossies’ to newspapers. Record companies also produced them by the 100’s to give to fans and the press. These prints surface from time to time, sometimes signed by the artists, in auction sales, but they are not artist proofs or editions. In the digital era prints are no longer required for reproduction purposes and most digital images will never be seen as prints unless they are specially made for a friend, an exhibition or produced as an edition.

AV Series

Graphic designer and all round good egg Storm Thorgerson has produced a new series of fine art prints to be published by Rockarchive as high quality giclee prints lovingly printed by Stuart Nicholls.

AV40 or ALTERNATE VERSIONS 40 comprises alternate versions of original album cover art...alternate meaning different from the actual published or 'proper' cover. Such alternate versions could be made at the same time as the proper one, often exploring the same idea but presented differently, sometimes referred to as out-takes.

Alternate versions include test shoots (Cranberries), same shoot but different conditions (Division Bell flags) or different location (Interstellar), or different composition (Black Holes and Revelations).

In some instances alternate versions are rejected finished pieces from previously accepted idea/roughs (the Mars Volta) or similar designs utilized for posters or adverts, not covers.

The degree of difference varies - Smell The Coffee for example is from a test shoot not on a yellow beach as in proper cover but on green grass; yet it is still a large number of red balls bouncing towards a man in bed.

Momentary Lapse of Reason is still a huge array of Victorian beds on a beach but now wet and partially under water as the tide came in quicker than anticipated and not on dry sand like the proper version. The artist regards these as clearly different, Body Map is an idea completed with care and in detail only to be thrown out by Mars Volta who had initially commissioned it, as is the huge jigsaw piece.

One's view of the amount of difference between proper and alternate versions, is determined by personal opinion and by the nature of the images in question. Though the artist, that's me that is, may consider alternate versions different and interesting enough to warrant publication, there are others - aficionados, dealers, gallery owners, publishers, - who may hold an opposite view and consider them not different enough. They may consequently feel that alternate versions are sometimes too like the proper version thus reducing the value of the proper version retrospectively, in turn confusing or even misleading
their clientele.

In deference to this view the edition size of AV40 is severely limited - i.e. there will be only 40 of each image published in AV40 series though we do not know at this time how many separate images are involved.

The series will be launched with 9 titles.

Interstellar/Body Map/Division Bell Flags/Smell the Coffee/Black Holes and Revelations/Wet Back Catalogue/Momentary Lapse of Reason/Huge Jigsaw/Melt Poster.

Storm Thorgerson

C-Type Prints

Darkroom/wet prints made from colour negatives or transparencies. Before digital technology, these were the prints we all received from the pharmacies from our holiday films. They were also produced in larger sizes for exhibitions. C-type prints are now archival and are still preferred by some photographers and collectors to digital art prints.

Contemporary Collection 300

Contemporary Collection images are exclusive to Rockarchive.

Each fine art print is 12” (30.4 cm) square and printed on archival photographic paper in editions of 300. Prints are numbered, captioned and embossed with the authentic Rockarchive logo, and packaged in stylish, embossed white ‘album sleeves’ - with sleeve notes on the back. An illustration of the image along with its unique number, can be seen on the outside of the sleeve making these prints very attractive indeed as gifts.

*To see what a Contemporary Collection image looks like click here.

Edition 100

Edition 100 was created to give fans and collectors a chance to own pictures of their favorite bands, or images associated with them, at fair prices.

Most Edition 100 images are exclusive to rockarchive.

New images are offered at an introductory price, allowing entry-level collectors to begin accumulating what will become a valuable collection.

As the editioned prints sell out prices rise.

Edition 100 prints are made on 308gm fine art matt archival papers using archival inks.

Prints are available in various sizes from A3 (297mm x 420mm) (11.7” x 16.5”) up to custom AO (841mm x 1189mm) (33.1” x 46.8”).

Prints are embossed with the distinctive Rockarchive logo, numbered from 1-100 and signed by the photographer or authenticated by their estate. Certificates and care instructions are also included.

Edition 20/20

20/20 is a series of prints which are more obscure and more personal, not necessarily frontline images but ones which are highly valued by Storm Thorgerson. The series compromises 20 different images for a variety of bands including Pink Floyd, The Cranberries, The Mars Volta, Ethnix, Catherine Wheel, Phish, and Muse amongst others. The edition size is limited to only 20 of each image, hence
20/20.

Each print is signed, numbered and embossed with a custom designed 20/20 symbol. Each print purchased will come with descriptive notes and technical details.

NB Collectors purchasing 5 or more images at the same time will also receive a specially made limited edition 20/20 box.

Edition 30

Edition 30 is exclusive to Rockarchive

The full edition of this image is only 30 prints and 3 artist proofs.

Following on from her founding edition for rockarchive, 30/30/30, Jill has chosen more

classic images from her archive, to make into true editions of 30.

Prints are usually made at 20"x16" on silver gelatin fibre paper for black & white images, and archival C-types paper for colour images. However, custom sizes and prints on other media are also possible. Each print will form part of the edition and be numbered out of 30. Email print@rockarchive.com for custom queries.

Prices increase as the edition runs out.

Edition 30/30/30

Edition 30/30/30 is Jill Furmanovsky’s founding edition for Rockarchive and is Exclusive to Rockarchive.

It was conceived in 1998 to celebrate her 30 Years as a rock photographer. The edition consists of 30 images made from the original negatives* on museum quality silver gelatin fibre paper, in an edition of 30.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Rockarchive Jill has added 10 digital fine art prints to Edition 30/30/30. This enables customers to order extra large prints from this classic collection. Prints are numbered 1-10.

No further prints will be made to purchase of these classic images.

Notes to collectors:

* Pink Floyd's The Wall is a C-type print due to difficulties in printing this image in the darkroom,

*Jeff Buckley is a fibre lith print on Seagull paper because it looks great that way.

*Roger Daltrey of The Who is made from a 5x4 copy negative as the original was lost.

Fine-art digital prints, aka Giclee, Iris or Art inkjet prints

The most common way of producing collectable prints in the digital age, is by scanning the original negative, or balancing a digital file from a digital camera, and out-putting the image, usually retouched, on various media types using archival inks. The advantage is that very fine quality coated papers can be used to make delicate, beautiful prints. Rockarchive's Edition 100 is made in this way in various sizes without any loss of quality.

Lamda or Lightjet

This mode of printing contains elements of both traditional darkroom printing and digital technology. The original negative is scanned, or a digital image adjusted, and the resulting image is outputted onto photographic paper by means of laser light. The prints have the same archival value as traditional photographic RC prints or C-type prints on plastic based papers, with the advantage to some collectors of being called 'photographic prints'.

Lenticular

Lenticular printing is a multi-step process consisting of creating an image from at least two existing images, and combining it with a special lens. This process can be used to create various frames of animation (for a motion effect), or simply to show a set of alternate images which may appear to transform into each other. The combined lenticular print will show two or more different images simply by changing the angle from which the print is viewed.

Other Print types

There are an array of differing print methods now available using both traditional and contemporary techniques. Any new print types entering Rockarchive will be detailed in this section as they become available.

Silk screen

A screen is made of a piece of porous, finely woven fabric (originally silk, but typically made of polyester since the 1940s) stretched over a frame of aluminum or wood. Areas of the screen are blocked off with a non-permeable material to form a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear.

The screen is placed atop a substrate such as papyrus or fabric. Ink is placed on top of the screen, and a fill bar (also known as a flood bar) is used to fill the mesh openings with ink. The operator begins with the fill bar at the rear of the screen and behind a reservoir of ink. The operator lifts the screen to prevent contact with the substrate and then using a slight amount of downward force pulls the fill bar to the front of the screen. This effectively fills the mesh openings with ink and moves the ink reservoir to the front of the screen. The operator then uses a squeegee (rubber blade) to move the mesh down to the substrate and pushes the squeegee to the rear of the screen. The ink that is in the mesh opening is transferred by capillary action to the substrate in a controlled and prescribed amount, i.e. the wet ink deposit is equal to the thickness of the stencil. As the squeegee moves toward the rear of the screen the tension of the mesh pulls the mesh up away from the substrate leaving the ink upon the substrate surface.

Silver Gelatin fibre prints

Prints made from an original black & white negative in the darkroom using chemicals and fibre papers are known as silver gelatin fibre prints. These are the most valuable to collectors, particularly as this now historic method of print making, combined with the fragility of old negatives, mean the prints will be rare. One of the characteristics to these prints is that they do not always dry completely flat and may look a little ‘wavy’ when framed due to the process in which they are made. They are also particularly sensitive to dampness in the air and need to be treated with extra care. Jill Furmanovsky’s founding collection for Rockarchive, ‘30/30/30’ is made in this way.

Silver Gelatin RC prints

A silver gelatine RC print refers to an image made on resin-coated paper. These prints are also made from negatives in the darkroom using chemicals, but on plastic-based papers which are easier than fibre papers to work with. They also have the added benefit of drying flat. However, RC prints can be less 'rich' in terms of tone and texture than traditional fibre prints.