Print Artist

Print Artist (originally named Instant Artist) is a line of graphics/productivity software. This article is partly about its native .gfx format, and partly about the software, and its other formats.

Formats
GFX is apparently a (vector based?) clip art library format, though it might have other uses.

Many other file extensions have reportedly been used by Print Artist, including:
 * .ban - banner
 * .bc - business card
 * .cal - calendar
 * .cer - certificate
 * .crf - craft
 * .env - envelope
 * .gc - greeting card
 * .lbl - labels
 * .lth - letterhead
 * .pc - postcard
 * .qot - quote
 * .sgn - sign

History
Instant Artist was developed by The Pixellite Group, and published by Autodesk around 1992. It was soon acquired by Maxis, and renamed Print Artist. In 1995, it was acquired by Sierra On-Line. As of 2019, it is maintained by Nova Development.

There were also educational offshoots, ca. 1998, named Print Artist Junior and Print Artist Craft Factory. The latter was apparently developed in partnership with Knowledge Adventure. These versions apparently use quite different file formats, based on Microsoft Compound File format, including a different .gfx format, .pa, .lyx, jpx.

Identification
The GFX files we've examined all begin with bytes (not counting the ones based on Microsoft Compound File).

Software

 * Some downloads of disk images of Instant Artist
 * Print Artist CD Edition (1995)
 * Print Artist Classic 3.0 (1997)
 * Print Artist 4 for Windows (1999)
 * Print Artist 12.0 Special Edition (2000)
 * Print Artist Craft Factory

Sample files

 * https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/printArtist/

Links

 * Sierra Print Artist
 * Some info on Instant Artist
 * The Sierra Chest: Print Artist 4 → Walkthrough
 * https://www.printartist.com/