Brush strokes disappear when printed

[smiling dog]

Hey Guys, I rarely post on here, so please forgive if I post in the wrong forum or do not attach properly. Any suggestions on how to retain more of the texture? I use CS5 for retouch and Painter X for art effects. I love to do digital oils and print to canvas. Problem is the brush strokes are very evident on the monitor, but after printing to canvas the brush effect is weakened - they still look good, but just not as good. I print from Epson 9880 on Epson Premium Canvas Satin. Any suggestions on how to retain more of the texture? I print from Q-Image and posted in their forum and received several replies regarding printer settings, but no real fix. So I thought I would try here too. I apply clear acrylic texture to the cured and varnished print, but still a little disappointed in the final result.

Tried to attach file, but too large. You can go to Karen Sperling's Blog link below and see some of my examples - although the images there don't show alot of detail anyway. Mainly the cat is the one that was disappointing. Somerset Velvet prints are fine, it's just the canvas that I am unhappy with.

http://artistrymag.com/blog1/?p=85

All suggestions appreciated - thanks.

Rhonda

[pavel123]

Typically images look softer printed on inkjet compared to screen. An image would have to be oversharpen for print.

[smiling dog]

Yes, of course, I would agree with you on that, just wondered if there was some trick to printing the canvas. The fine art paper does not diminish the detail - only the canvas. Seems the canvas surface texture has a tendancy to override the digital texture.

[Karen Sperling]

Hi, Rhonda!
I rarely post here, either-I got a notice that you posted a link to my blog here.
In answer to your question, a general rule of thumb is, if you can see the brush strokes when you have the image zoomed out so that it all fits in the window, then you'll probably be able to see the brush strokes when you print out. It's kind of the effect of seeing a painting in a gallery or a museum--the closer you are standing to the painting, the more detail you see. When you're zoomed way up on an image, it's like standing right next to the painting in the gallery, so you see the brush strokes better.
If you don't see brush strokes when you're zoomed out, go ahead and paint some in that you can see at that magnification. Chances are you'll see them when you print out.
Hope that helps!
Karen
http://artistrymag.com/

[smiling dog]

Hi Karen! Looks like you are everywhere ......... I have done just that, using a few impasto brushes and some surface texture. Some look a little "bright" on the screen, but I have done before and it does help some with the canvas.

I just finished a "self portrait" that I will send to you in a day or two.

[Karen Sperling]

Cool, Rhonda, glad it worked-look forward to seeing your portrait!
Karen