Printing on canvas is a great way to have the look and feel of an actual painting without breaking the bank. It’s also perfect for those who don’t have any art experience or are intimidated by traditional mediums like oils, acrylics, watercolors, etc. Canvas prints are a popular way to display your favorite pictures and make them accessible for all. But how do you get the image printed on canvas? Do you know how to print on canvas?
Printing on canvas is a great way to make your photos come alive and really bring out the detail. There are many ways that you can do this, but today we will show you the easiest way to get started.
In this article, we will go over the steps on how to print on canvas and present it as a gift for someone special. This guide will walk you through every step of the process, so you can create high-quality photos on materials that are far more durable than common printer paper.
Step-by-Step Guide on how to Print on Canvas
1. Choose the type of printable canvas
You need to decide what kind of canvas you want to work with before you can start printing on canvas.
These days, there are a wide variety of options for printing canvas available on the market, so no matter what you want, you’ll have plenty of options. (You can also find a variety of options online even just by browsing around.)
These days, users are particularly fond of two types of printable canvas.
The first one is gloss canvas. Those who choose gloss canvas will have images that have a shiny, wet appearance that stays fresh for a long time. Furthermore, the glossy finish makes the colors really stand out as they become more vivid and pronounced.
The matte canvas option is also very popular. Matte-finished objects, such as those on cars or other objects, look more subdued and refined with muted hues and subdued shine.
Additionally, you can select a special UV canvas that does an excellent job of protecting your photos and artwork against UV rays.
You should consider this option if you intend to display your works of art outdoors or in a room where UV rays will be present all the time.
2. Select the piece of digital art you want to print
Whether it is an image you drew with Photoshop for example or an image that you saved on your computer, it can be whatever works for you.
There are a lot of opportunities to spend some time experimenting with which images would work well with which kinds of canvas.
If you have a lot of money, you can buy different types of canvas and experiment with painting them. For example, if you are painting the ocean, paint it with lots of water on the canvas. Then use a glossy type of canvas to make the wetness more noticeable.
On the other hand, some other images and colors may be better suited to a canvas that has dimmed colors, such as the matte variation we talked about in the passages above.
3. Consider finding the art online
In case you aren’t that big on creating art in the first place, but rather fancy the idea of being able to paint other people’s (free) art using a printer and a special canvas you bought online or in a nearby store – you always have an option of simply downloading the sort of art you want from an online source.
There are plenty of websites offering free images and wallpapers that you can use if you are looking for free images, but we cannot advise you to steal artwork that is for sale.
In addition, there are various digital art stores, such as Etsy, where you can shop for items.
By doing so, you can reproduce an original work of art completely legally and have a piece of art hanging in your living room that no one else has.
Make sure to check the resolution of the image you’re buying before you buy a piece of digitalized art.
Additionally, in order to make sure the colors work well on the canvas, you might want to check the color contrast. (With the popularity of printing artworks increasing nowadays, you can even ask the artist himself what canvas type he recommends for the print job at hand).
4. Choose the size of the print
The resolution of the image and the size of the print are two things you don’t want to mess up when you’re printing on canvas.
Canvas sheets are significantly more expensive than regular printing paper, so it makes little sense to learn the ropes of how to print a digital piece of art before you have the money to burn.
To prepare the various parameters for a print if you’ve never done it before, you can always start by printing a few test pages on regular paper.
As long as you’re happy with the results, you can proceed to using the canvas that you’ve prepared.
If you want to frame the canvas and hang it on the wall, you can print it out with a blank border.
If you want to maintain visual clarity, set the border at 1 1/2” from all sides in order to avoid obscuring the image itself. (Of course, the exact amount of space you need to leave blank for this purpose depends on the dimensions of the frame.)
5. Load the canvas in your printer manually
It’s important to print printable canvas through the rear feed of your printer, as opposed to using your normal paper tray.
This option is better for a few reasons.
First of all, by feeding the canvas into the printer this way, you have the option to print the entire page without any borders that are created by the printer itself when you use the regular paper feed tray.
You don’t need to worry about this if you’re printing an image on canvas to use it in a frame. However, if you wish your entire canvas to be covered by your image, the rear paper feed is your best option.
Additionally, since there is no significant bending or folding during the printing process, printing canvas (which is more substantial than regular paper) will be easier on the printer.
6. Tape loader paper strips onto the canvas
It is necessary to stick a small piece of paper onto the bottom of the canvas in order to feed it into the printer.
The reason behind this is that the paper can be easily fed into the printer so that the printer can then ‘take in’ the rest of the canvas together with the small strip of paper.
A 1-inch leader strip works best. (Or, about 2.5 centimeters wide.)
You will have to align the paper with the canvas perfectly when you do this. Prints will not be accurate if the paper and canvas are not aligned, since the paper will be loaded at an angle.
7. Set the opposite dimensions
In the program where you are printing the image, you’ll need to adjust the dimensions accordingly after adding the extra strip of paper.
You will not be able to center the image properly, which can have as a result a canvas printed that is not centered correctly.
In order to increase the height of your image, you need to add an extra inch to the dimensions of your current canvas. (Don’t forget that if you’ve added a larger leader strip than one inch, you’ll have to adjust for that new strip based on its size.)
8. Set up the rear manual feed on your computer
It is important for you to set the feed of your printer to rear before you are able to print a canvas with your printer.
Now, the thing with most printers is, the default feed setting is the front feed. A front feed is used to feed paper into the printer when the paper is placed in the front.
If you’re doing a large print with multiple documents in the same row, you can just dump a bunch of paper in the paper tray instead of manually feeding it in – so it’s faster.
With the rear feed, on the other hand, you can only feed one paper or a piece of canvas at a time. The slower speed of this type of feed makes it rarely used, so before you can feed your canvas this way, you must set this option in your Printer Settings.
9. Feed the canvas correctly into the printer
When it comes to feeding the canvas with the leader strip attached to it into the printer, the deal is fairly straightforward.
Assuming you’ve already opened the rear entry point to the printer, so to speak, make sure to load the canvas so that the side with the leader strip goes first.
It’s a good idea to feed the canvas in slowly because it needs to be inserted perfectly straight to avoid paper (or, in this case – canvas) jams.
Of course, if the printer you’re using has a rear feed that is positioned slightly at an angle, you need to follow this angle, so that the canvas smoothly enters the printer.
10. Finish printing the artwork
Once you have decided what the artwork is and how it should look when it prints, set your printer settings. You can also set the feeder to go back and forth so that you do not have to turn the paper. Once these are done, you can print them.
If the artwork is fed incorrectly, after hitting Print, the printer will slowly take in the canvas (together with the leader paper) and the printing process will be afoot, so to speak.
When you see the printed canvas come out of the printer at the other end and the printing process is almost complete, it’s important not to touch it.
Due to the fact that canvas takes longer to dry than regular paper, it is important to prevent smudges.
You can either frame the canvas or otherwise handle it after it has dried completely.
Final Verdict
So now that you know how to print on canvas, you’re ready for your next big project. The canvas is a great option for those who want to hang their art on the wall and be able to store it easily when not in use. This article has provided you with all of the information that you need about how to print on canvas so that you can create a beautiful piece of art at home or give someone an original gift idea!