Wildlife art is nothing new – since humans first learnt to draw, animals have been a ready source of artistic inspiration. In southern Africa, rock paintings on datable stones and deposits have been found that are thousands of years old.

What is new is the accessibility and affordability of top-class wildlife art prints.

While modern man’s relationship with wild animals is very different to that of our hunter-gatherer ancestors for whom animals were a source of food and clothing, our interest in wildlife remains undimmed. In fact, as a burgeoning population uses ever more resources, encroaching on the remaining wildlife habitats, there is at the same time a growing realization of how critical it is to protect our planet’s endangered animals.

This conservation awareness is particularly evident among wildlife artists. They, after all, need to understand their subjects so are more attuned to issues like climate change and the impact this is having on nature and the ecology.

Artists are also conscious that a growing interest in conservation and wildlife means a larger audience for their work. A larger audience means more diverse tastes, which is good for the artists. Although fashion and taste have never remained static, a smaller pool of buyers did mean less scope for artistic expression. If the “in thing” was ultra-realistic paintings of waterfowl, then that’s what a wildlife artist had to produce to survive.

Nowdays, with more people interested in and exposed to wildlife art, there’s more room for diversity. From photo-realistic drawings to abstract paintings, the variety of wildlife art available is simply astounding.

The biggest advantage for the wildlife enthusiast is that so much that’s on offer is now affordable, thanks to advances in digital technology and modern printing methods.

Naturally everyone would love to own originals, but for those of us who can’t afford them, we’re fortunate that the quality of art reproductions has improved in leaps and bounds, making superb wildlife art prints available at low prices. Prints also come in a variety of sizes and print surfaces, from textured paper to cotton canvas, giving the buyer an even wider choice.

Wildlife prints by renowned artists like John Banovich, Robert Bateman and Ruane Manning can now be acquired and enjoyed by ordinary people.

And it’s not only artwork that’s more accessible to the man in the street. Wildlife photographs by many of the world’s leading photographers can also be purchased at reasonable prices. Photographs are digitally printed on archival photographic paper, producing vivid, pure colors and exceptional detail.

These photographic wildlife prints are readily available by big names like Art Wolfe, Steve Bloom, Beverly Joubert, and Michel and Christine Denis-Hout.

The net result is that both art lovers and wildlife enthusiasts have never had a greater selection of wildlife prints from which to choose, at prices most of us can afford.

There is an old saying in the art community that goes something like this: “Buy only what you like and pay only what the enjoyment of owning the work is worth to you”.

People who follow this rule when buying art prints have the satisfaction of building a collection that can provide many years of enjoyment.

Because tastes in art vary widely, “what you like” isn’t necessarily what your neighbor – or the art critics – like. Generally, we buy artwork because the subject evokes pleasant memories or experiences. The setting, atmosphere, and mood also add to enjoyment of the artwork.

So, unless you’re collecting art as an investment, buy what you like and enjoy the result. And here you can’t go too far wrong with art prints.

Today, art prints offer a huge range of choices and are also the most affordable. Note that we’re using “art prints” to mean art reproductions and not original prints.

Okay, so what’s the difference?

An art reproduction is where a high resolution scan is made of the original painting and then copies made using a variety of printing methods including off-set printing, giclee, or high quality inkjets. The reproduction can also be printed at different sizes and on different surfaces such as textured paper or canvas.

An original print on the other hand is not a copy of an existing work. Instead, from the outset the artist envisages a picture that can be created a number of times from an image drawn initially on a printing surface such as a metal plate, wood, linoleum, or stone (called a matrix).

This matrix is then used to print the image, usually by hand, on sheets of paper. So each print is in effect an “original”. Examples include etchings, lithographs, serigraphs (silk-screen), woodcuts and linocuts.

Because each print is usually hand-made by the artist, the number produced is typically quite small. Traditionally each print is then signed by the artist in pencil and given a number to indicate the size of the edition. This is the origin of “limited edition” prints.

The end result is that a genuine or original print will cost a lot more than an art reproduction. Below is an example of an etching by Eric Hesketh-Hubbard, an English artist born in 1892, titled “The Wheelwright”. It is signed by the artist in the margin and is number 32 of 50. (Courtesy Anne Hedley Fine Art).

Although modern artworks are also sometimes produced as limited edition prints, the size of the editions is much bigger, often numbering in the hundreds, as the prints can be machine produced.

In most cases though art reproductions are “open edition” – in other words, there’s no limit on the number that can be printed and more can always be made to meet demand.

The advantage for the buyer with open edition prints is that prices can be kept low, while the artwork is also available in a variety of sizes and on a choice of surfaces. Add to that the many framing options and there’s no reason why you can’t decorate your home or office with tastefully framed prints that reflect your personal style, that will give years of enjoyment and – importantly – will not drain your finances.

Go directly to the Jack Vettriano Gallery to browse a superb selection of Jack Vettriano Prints

Artist Jack Vettriano (birth name Jack Hoggan) was born in Fife, Scotland in 1951. It was only after a girlfriend gave him a set of watercolor paints for this 21st birthday that he started teaching himself to paint. In 1989, at the age of 38, he submitted two paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy’s annual exhibition. Both were accepted and sold immediately.

In 2004 The Singing Butler (below), Jack Vettriano’s best known painting, was sold at Sotheby’s for close to £750,000. In the same year he was awarded an OBE for Services to the Visual Arts.

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Fortunately, reproductions of his paintings, particularly Jack Vettriano Prints and Jack Vettriano Posters, have made his artwork available to those for whom originals or limited-edition prints are just too costly.

Because of innovative technology and advances in digital printing, it’s now feasible to print low numbers of art reproductions at affordable prices. And, while prices have dropped for small print runs, the caliber of fine art prints has improved. Advanced inkjet printers using a broad array of inks can produce vivid, pure colors, exceptional detail and subtle hues previously only achievable with the most expensive of machinery.

This means the normal person now has access to Vettriano fine art prints reproduced from original Jack Vettriano artwork. Reproductions are made on archival quality materials and often include canvas prints, providing an even more authentic appearance.

Incidentally, a Giclée print (pronounced “zhee-clay”) is a type of inkjet print derived from the French term meaning to spray or squirt. Giclee prints can be produced on a variety of paper surfaces, including various textures such as matte photo paper, watercolor paper, cotton canvas, or artist textured vinyl.

Giclée prints, which can be over a meter wide, have no visible dot pattern and the final product has all the tonalities and hues of the original artwork. That means a Jack Vettriano Giclée will be virtually identical to the original.

When selecting a Vettriano print, one has various framing options available (see below) that allow one to infuse the artwork with personal taste, ensuring a degree of originality.

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Choosing a frame that complements not only the print but also the interior design space will add immensely to one’s appreciation of the artwork. Unless you’re very daring, it’s safest to keep it simple – modern frames with contemporary art, and so forth.

Using established interior design concepts allied with tasteful selection of the artist’s framed prints, it’s now quite feasible to decorate your home or office walls to look like a personalized Jack Vettriano gallery – without breaking your budget. After all, how many of us can afford just over a million dollars for an original? (The Singing Butler original went for around $1,070,000 at current exchange rates).

To visit Jack Vettriano’s official website, go to http://www.jackvettriano.com/index.php or to browse a selection of fine art reproductions, go to Jack Vettriano Prints.