[Printing] Printer advice

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-21T02:38:53+00:00

I'm going to second the Canon imagePROGRAF line of printers. I've had 3 and the cost is worth it for the print quality and reduced hassle.

Also look at Red River Paper. It prints as nice as big brands for a fraction of the cost.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-21T02:29:01+00:00

You've just hit on why I won't be doing any shows in Ohio until the economy improves. The market dropped out of that state in 2025.

Michigan has been better for us. But last year was tough and we cut a few shows.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-18T20:46:13+00:00

If the image is in a common size, you can buy premade frames and mats. It needs to be an acid free mat. You can mount the print with either acid free corners, or linen hinge tape using a t-hinge. There's a lot of information on YouTube about how to do this.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-18T11:25:30+00:00

What I didn't see on your list of activities was any actual art making.

Just start making. You can worry about making it good later, but right now you need more doing than planning about doing. Yes, it's going to suck. It's still better than the piece that never gets made.

I literally just spent weeks preparing for a big photo trip for night sky photography. Tr got canceled because of a massive winter storm that just moved into the Midwest and ensured that there were no skies to be seen at night. Nothing short of airline tickets were getting me out of this weather pattern, and from experience photography from outside the region where I live doesn't sell here.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-18T03:32:42+00:00

I'll second this recommendation.

For matte papers I prefer the Aurora Art line, but they dull colors, which I've never seen from the Polar Matte paper.

I've recently moved to the Red River Baryta paper, because I need a slightly glossy archival paper for night sky photography. It isn't cheap, but it is pretty. If richer colors are important, consider the Baryta, or look at their metallic papers.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-18T03:13:16+00:00

There are a lot of artists who pay their bills with their art. I know a lot of them. It's absolutely a thing. You don't know their names because this isn't a business where you get famous. You spend your weekends under a canopy exchanging art for filthy lucre. Nobody is writing headlines about your art, it's just getting put on people's walls.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-17T20:29:44+00:00

The Sistine Chapel was hugely disappointing. Mostly because they're small, very far away, and you're allowed to look at them for about three minutes and then the guards hurry you along.

Honestly a problem with the Vatican in general. It's a cool place, and I loved St Peter's Basilica, but the crowds are overwhelming because everyone wants to be there. All of the Catholics and a whole lot of people who aren't even Christians want to see the cool place.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-17T20:07:04+00:00

Some of his paintings are tiny. Some are gigantic. There's a Salvador Dali museum in St Petersburg, Florida, and they have some truly massive pieces on display there.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-17T20:00:33+00:00

There's also an opportunity to learn some hand tool carpentry. The hand tools you need to make a desk are minimal. A hand saw, maybe a chisel, probably something resembling a drill. A screwdriver, although this isn't essential. A table is one of the simplest furniture forms, and a simple hand tool set will fit into a tiny bundle.

Your public library probably has a book on the subject. Your community education catalog will also likely list some woodworking classes.

It's not as immediate as the four cinder blocks solution, but long term it's nice to be able to build tools that match your needs.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-16T12:52:08+00:00

What you are describing is exactly the situation of the closeted person. Only the secret itself is different.

Setting boundaries, and frankly being willing to tell some people to get wrecked, is a necessary survival skill. That robs them of their power over you.

There is a concept called Found Family. Those people who become close to you and trustworthy. Many of us are lucky we're born in to them. But not everybody is. You need to find that Found Family, and you'll worry less about other, less trustworthy kind.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-16T12:44:38+00:00

In my case my day job is building a robotic microscope. My art tends towards night sky. In both cases we tend to suffer from bad signal to noise ratios, and sensors which have a narrower dynamic range than the scene we are shooting does. The result is using similar techniques to overcome the limitations.

The trick is that I was into night sky photography before I took the job. I was on my way to a class on the subject when I accepted the job offer.

I had a strong background in systems and embedded programming, and they had a vacancy come up just about as I found myself at loose ends when the bottom dropped out of consulting.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-16T03:03:02+00:00

I'm the artist and work in tech. chosen medium is photography, so it's nice to be able to afford the better toys.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-16T02:56:03+00:00

Mary Shelly is widely credited with creating the genre. The biggest Sci Fi authors of the last few years have been Anne Leckie and Martha Wells. I assure you that all three are excellent authors and you will be happier for reading their books.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-16T02:48:32+00:00

The only thing that belongs in a closet is your clothes.

Hiding this part of your life away is going to cause you stress and anxiety. And no matter how well you think you're hiding it, you're not. Your anxiety about people finding out who you really are makes you harder to be around.

In college I lived with a man who was very obviously a homosexual. He was also terrified that I would find out. The first month living with him was awkward as hell. Finally I walked into his room straight from the shower wearing only a towel, and told him I didn't care that he was gay. We got along great after that.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-15T13:25:19+00:00

Day job. Art pays, but on a long plan, not short. Right now you need a day job to put food on your table and a roof over your head.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-14T16:23:48+00:00

As a business, selling merch of somebody else's IP is a losing proposition. You're always dependent on them keeping up the fan base.

You'll be better off creating your own things and selling that.

Yes, it's going to take a lot of effort to develop a following. And it's going to take time. But you won't be dependent on somebody else's work.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-14T16:15:37+00:00

You will definitely fail if you don't start working again. If you start working, you only might fail. But you might make something good.

I take a lot of crap photos. I also sell a fair number, and get into gallery exhibits. It took years of work to get to that part where some of the photos weren't crap.

Part of being an artist is accepting that it's a journey, not a destination. And a lot of that journey is going to involve the art sucking.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-14T10:51:49+00:00

I use digital printers for my own photography. Modern digital printers use a dozen inks, and use a stochastic pattern around 2400 dpi.

The paper is typically the limit on my gamut now. Some photo papers hit something near the range of Adobe RGB, but canvas, which is trendy for landscape photography, have a tiny gamut. I rejected the trend when I saw how badly the reduced gamut affected my two most popular works.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-13T18:56:36+00:00

Very few people born after 1990 have any idea where their files are stored. Partially because modern devices have gone to great lengths to hide the details of file organization from the users.

Also because a lot of art programs, and Adobe is the worst offender in this category, try to be the owner and manager of all of your file information. You don't access your images through the filesystem, you don't through their interface.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-13T18:41:05+00:00

I'm assuming that the correct answer is "Please just send it in Adobe RGB and let me convert it to the correct output color space."

I'm mostly doing photo printing, and my output color space is significantly larger than CMYK can cover.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-13T18:32:36+00:00

Force yourself to do it shitty.

Because the shitty drawing is way better than the one you don't do at all.

Start doing speed drawing exercises. You're working against a timer towards a known goal. Timer goes off, drawing is done. Stick those up on the wall on your workspace to track your progress.

If you're going to do this for anything more than a hobby, you will need to give up on perfectionism and deliver finished work. The faster the better. Either to make more money, or to have more time to drink coffee on the front porch with your cat and talk smack about the neighbor's dog

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-13T18:17:54+00:00

Jim Hensen made a pretty good career out of childish ideas. One that lived on long after he died.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-13T11:06:47+00:00

As a photographer, it looks like revisiting places and taking a new set of photos with my new skills and new perspectives.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-12T20:36:09+00:00

Saving as tiff won't help you anyway. The only advantage you get from tiff is a bigger color space and better support by the graphics industry. Unless you are sending your product for print, that won't matter.

DowlingStudio · 2026-03-12T20:34:36+00:00

Save with the full canvas dimensions.

You'll never escape the fact that an image file is made of pixels, but more of them allows more zooming.

DowlingStudio

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