1 Thumbnail Proofs

A thumbnail proof is a small, reduced-size print of your artwork, produced on the exact paper you intend to use for the final. It uses the same printer, pigment inks and ICC profile — just smaller — so you can judge overall colour, tone and paper feel.

• Confirm brightness/contrast and mood
• Compare two papers side-by-side in the hand
• Avoid wasting full sheets when undecided

2 Proof-Strips

Proof-strips allow micro-decisions. We take a cropped section of your artwork and print several versions side-by-side, each with slightly different colour / contrast / vibrancy settings. You choose the strip you prefer, and we apply those settings to the entire image before final printing.

Artist-selected area: please nominate the region where colour nuance matters most (e.g., reflective/metallic paints, delicate skin tones, highlight transitions). Sampling the critical area gives the most reliable result.

• Ideal for reflective or metallic pigments, or heavy impasto
• Useful for saturated reds, violets, blues and greens
• Fastest way to lock down the final aesthetic safely

3 Technical Note (colour-managed workflows)

If you work in Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB and keep edits within gamut, thumbnail proofs and proof-strips provide a real-world confirmation of how colour maps onto your chosen paper and our UltraChrome 10-colour pigment set. Paper surface influences saturation and dMax, so a quick proof on the target stock is the most honest check before full production.

4 Related Topics

• Paper Guide
• Printer & Inks
• Preparing Files
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