What is an Artist's Proof?
Artist's proofs are a special subset of the regular limited edition and began back when limited editions were all hand-pulled from a one-man litho press. The artist's proofs were the first prints pulled off a fresh "stone" (the plate which was drawn or etched by the artist to create the prints). The stone wore down as the number of prints was increased, so that the APs were the sharpest and most colorful of the lot. Thus they sold for more.
Today, in the world of modern offset lithography, all the prints in an edition are nearly identical. Artist's proofs maintain their collect ability and value because A) They are a small subset of the edition, and B) they usually come directly from the artist. In these days of mass marketing, getting something directly or even indirectly from the artist is rare. Publishers usually turn over the artists proofs to the artist for his or her own use, and retain all the other prints in the edition.
Traditionally, artist's proofs number 10% or less of the total edition, so if there is an edition of 500, usually there will be only 50 artist's proofs. Artist's proofs are signed "A/P" or "Artist's Proof" and may or may not be numbered with the serial number of that portion of the edition.
Artist's proofs are generally considered a status symbol in the world of art collecting. And their resale value is proportionally higher than the regular limited editions.
What is a Giclee?
The French word "giclée" (pronounced zee-clay) is a noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt". Images are generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.
Giclee prints are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and reasonable cost. The prohibitive up-front cost of mass production for an edition is eliminated. Archived files will not deteriorate in quality as negatives and film inherently do. Another tremendous advantage of giclee printing is that digital images can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for a specific client.
Giclee prints are created typically using professional 8-Color to 12-Color ink-jet printers. Among the manufacturers of these printers are vanguards such as Epson, MacDermid Colorspan, & Hewlett-Packard. These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets.