According to wiki “ Giclée is based on the French word gicleur, the French technical term for a jet or a nozzle, and the associated verb gicler (to squirt out). When you hear the term “Giclee on canvas” and wonder what does Giclee on canvas mean then this means what is described above, a Giclee ink printed on a Giclee printer on canvas. A giclee print actually looks like a textured print. So when Giclee prints are made, they will actually be raised on the canvas rather than being flush, giving it a look of paint to the untrained eye. The pigment (the colored powder) is suspended in water and is thicker than dye based inks. What is a Giclee Print?Ī Giclee printing is a bit like a big inkjet printer but instead of using normal ink which is more like a dye, it uses a pigment based ink that closely resembles actual paint. Giclee prints used to be called IRIS prints or IRIS proofs after the original IRIS printer that preceded inkjet printers. Dye based ink does not stick well to canvas and it is not thick like Giclee pigment based ink so it will look less like a painting. Art prints are usually printed on paper or card based surfaces using a dye based ink. Giclee Definition: Giclee printing is a method of printing art on canvas or archival paper using pigment based inks on a commercial inkjet printer. In this post we cover everything Giclee print vs art Print in detail. Have you ever come across the term Giclee print and not have a clue what it actually is? I know I did until I started to make them and boy was I surprised.