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Art Pratices by Others by TristanAlexander
OK, I have seen this so many times on here and other sites I just have to say something. Many very good artists, many who I am sure consider themselves professional, fail to leave room on their work for matting and framing! You should ALWAYS leave at least 1/2 inch border around your work that can be covered with the matt/frame without cutting off any of the picture! If you do traditional work you should have been taught this from the start.
NO art should EVER be framed/put under glass without a matt! The matt keeps the glass from sitting on the art and prevents condensation or heat from making the art stick to the glass! If you value your own work, please NEVER frame without a matt if there is glass (of plexiglass) and ALWAYS leave a border to allow matting/framing without covering up part of your work!!
Art Pratices by Others
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My fibre prints never have a border. It's just not practical when doing alt process. Yes, I always mat but the print is dry mounted to a sacrifical matrix first.
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This sounds like a specific exception to what I am saying. But for almost ALL traditional media what I said is the way to do things. If you value the work you do and want to be more professional, leave a border!
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Noted. I never really think about selling my work for framing or anything else, but if I ever do, I shall remember this.
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It is a good practice to get into anyway. then if/when you want to frame a picture for whatever reason it is ready.
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I was actually told not to do this in art school, but to make sure to leave the piece as neutral as possible at the edges, including making sure to leave room that your signature won't be covered by a mat.
We were penalized for not going to the edges, or not wrapping around the edges (Canvases).
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Well some art teachers are idiots! I do my border and sometimes paint to the edge, but my border helps me not put important stuff in that area!
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Absolute minimum I ever do is 1/4 inch on smaller (>8x10) is 1/4 inch; on a Giclee - 2-3 inches (based on nearest common frame size) to allow for trimming behind the mat to allow for stable mounting.
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Sorry, after thought:
A good scan/print provider should be able to provide addition boarder-space without breaking a sweat; once the piece is in 64bit CYMK it's all digital from there on.
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That is kind of assuming that all artists, especially traditional ones, have been "taught" anything. Unfortunately a lot of artists can't go to art classes or were lucky enough to have an artist parent (like me). I didn't take any art classes until college, and the one art class that addressed this (my Art Fundamentals class even) actually told the exact opposite of what CadmiumTea's did: if the art went all the way to the edge or the border was sloppy, not measured properly, or nearly nonexistent the students got penalized for not having clean enough presentation or a piece suitable enough for matting or framing, which I wholeheartedly agree with. It is important to note we were not using canvases, but paper, illustration board and bristol.
I figured it out for myself when I was much younger when I found out one of my pictures couldn't be framed properly because I didn't have enough of a margin. Since my mom was a painter and traditional artist, she taught me how to leave at least a half inch all the way around for matting and framing. Most of my scans are misleading, since I also crop down or almost down to the border on the physical piece. I admit I do find it mildly irritating when I get pieces that don't have enough of a margin on all sides, since I can't trim and custom mat (don't have the space or tools). There are exceptions however, like in anything about art, such as having little or no border for stylistic effect.
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TristanAlexander
You may not see my borders on my scans because I usually crop the art down to the finished area and don't show the border area. Since I have seen the sketch book or full picture on so many here without any border (and even signatures right on the edge, which will be covered if the art is matted/framed) I just have to post this and hope some of you learn.