An artist's proof is a print set aside from a numbered edition for the artist, marked AP rather than a fraction. The paper, ink, and printing are identical to the rest of the run. By studio tradition these are the artist's own copies, recorded alongside the edition they came from.
Where the tradition comes from
The proof began as a working tool. Before an edition was printed, the artist pulled trial impressions to check the plate, the inking, and the colour, and settled on a final state. The earliest correct impression became the proof: the standard the rest of the edition had to match. The French épreuve d'artiste gives the AP mark its name, and the convention carried across etching, lithography, and screen printing into the digital fine art print. In a contemporary edition the proof is an impression identical to the numbered run, set aside for the artist. I keep some and offer others to collectors.
How an artist's proof differs from a numbered print
The mark is plain. Where a numbered print reads 18/40, fixing its place in a capped edition, a proof reads AP, sometimes with its own small count such as AP 2/5 when several exist. The proof carries the artist's signature the same as the numbered prints; the signature and the AP notation together identify it as an authorised proof. The two are made to the same standard, on the same paper, with the same inks. The difference is the role each plays inside the edition, not the quality of the print.
This distinction belongs to a limited edition alone, where the count is fixed and proofs are held against it. An open edition, printed to order and not capped, has no fraction for a proof to sit beside, so it carries none in the traditional sense. A one-of-one exists in a single copy with no edition for a proof to belong to. I record each work's edition class as open, limited, or one-of-one, and the artist's proof belongs to the limited class.
Why collectors prize proofs
Because there are so few proofs relative to the edition, collectors often prize them, and a proof can carry a higher price than a numbered print from the same run. That higher price rests on the smaller count and the proof's standing as the artist's own copy, not on the object itself, which is identical in paper, ink, and printing to the numbered edition. A proof is collected for what it is: a singular position inside an edition, the impression the artist kept back, recorded and signed alongside the edition it came from.
How I state proofs at release
I state the number of proofs when an edition is released, so the full size of the edition is clear from the start. The proofs are counted into the declared total: an edition of forty-five can be forty numbered prints with five proofs inside that figure, both named at release. The proofs are printed to the same standard as the numbered run, on the same papers and pigment inks the work is made on, and they carry my signature. A proof kept back is a copy of the exact surface the edition holds. When that limited edition reaches its terms, it closes.
A short glossary
Artist's proof (AP). A print set aside from a numbered edition for the artist, identical in paper, ink, and printing. Marked AP rather than a fraction, and counted into the declared total.
Numbered print. A print carrying its place in a capped edition as a fraction, such as 18/40.
Limited edition. An edition produced in a set quantity or within a set time, then closed once those terms are met. A timed edition is a form of limited edition. Artist's proofs belong here.
Open edition. An edition printed to order and not capped at a fixed number. No artist's proofs in the traditional sense.
One-of-one. A single, unrepeatable work: a unique original or a hand-finished unique. No edition, so no proof.
The proofs, the numbers, and the edition class all hold from the day an edition opens. That is how a print keeps its terms.