An artist's proof is a print I pull outside the numbered edition and keep for myself. Marked AP instead of a number. Not counted in whatever total gets quoted for that print. That's the whole definition. Everything else is why it matters.
Every screenprint starts as a test run before it's a numbered edition. Registration first, then colour, then whether the idea survives contact with ink at all. Some of those early pulls get set aside. Not because they're flawed. Because they're the proof the print works before the edition begins. Convention marks these AP rather than a number. I usually keep back five to ten, depending on how much paper I've got spare. That's roughly how many pulls it takes before I trust the rest of the edition to come out the same.
Always The Opposite is what that print run actually looks like. Three layers. Three chances to get it wrong, same as it says on the product page. Every registration mark on that piece got decided by hand, pass by pass with nothing correcting for drift. The proofs have to come off the exact paper I'm printing the edition on, never whatever's lying around the studio. For an edition of fifty I'll buy sixty or sixty-five sheets to cover it. Same logic on a one-off commission, where I'll always buy five sheets extra so whoever's commissioning gets to pick from a handful of proofs rather than just whatever comes off the press first. Five pieces left, unframed and framed combined.
Music For Everyone went through the same process. Five screens, five passes, proofed before a single numbered print existed. See it here.
What "AP" actually means
Someone always asks. Here's the short version.
AP stands for Artist's Proof. A copy I keep for myself, outside the numbered edition, marked AP instead of a number.
People assume that makes it worth more than a numbered print. The image is identical either way. What changes is how many exist, and I usually only keep back five to ten per edition, so there are always fewer APs floating around than numbered prints. Collectors chase them for scarcity, not quality.
Do I sell them? Yes. Most go to art fairs, and if someone asks online, I'll sell one there too. They don't mean more to me than the numbered edition. If anything there's sometimes a small mark on one, left over from checking the colour. The edition is what I actually care about. The proofs just get me there.