The starting point is always a physical work: ballpoint pen, ink and paint on paper, made by the artist's hand. There is no stage of generating the image in software. Everything you see in the print - the tremor of a line, uneven coverage, the trace of pressure - existed on paper first.
That distinction matters, because the market for 'printable art' today is full of files that never had a material form. We work the other way round: only the reproduction is digital, not the work. This is why we say plainly that we sell prints, not originals - the original is one of a kind and stays in the studio.
The original first, the file second
Scanning is a craft of its own. We scan the Forma works at a resolution that allows enlargement up to 100 cm on the longer edge without losing detail. Lighting and colour profile are critical: paper has its own tone, and ballpoint can produce reflections a scanner does not see the way the eye does.
After scanning comes calibration: we compare a proof against the original in daylight and correct brightness, contrast and colour temperature so that the print matches the work, not a prettier version of it. That is usually two or three proofs per piece. Only the approved profile goes into production.
Scanning, calibration and pigment printing
We print with giclée technique using pigment inks, on fine art paper or canvas. Unlike dye inks, pigment does not fade in a few years - under normal interior lighting we are talking about decades of colour stability. It is the same standard museums use to reproduce their collections.
After printing, every piece goes back to the artist. Szymon Ługowski signs it by hand - on the front margin or on the back, depending on what you choose when ordering. That signature is physical, applied after printing, so it is not part of the file or the reproduction. We do not impose rigid edition numbering; where a work belongs to a limited edition, we state it on that artwork's page.
What exactly you are buying
In short: you are buying a fine art reproduction of a hand-made work, pigment-printed and hand-signed by the artist - not the original and not digitally generated graphics. If what you want is a unique piece painted by hand from scratch, we also take commissions; details are on the Commission page.
A scan does not create the image. It only carries it onto another material - the rest happened earlier, on paper.