A question for those who scan artwork

[ButterflyEmpress]

I recently started to get back into traditional art, mainly ink and markers.

When I go to scan in my drawings, I notice that some of the colors look a bit more washed out and inaccurate to what it looks like in person. I tried taking pictures, but they look 'bout the same, if not worse. They always come out, shaky, blurry, and dark, whether or not I use my phone or an actual camera. My home has terrible lighting, I have a hard time not getting my shadow in the shot, and I suck at photography and photo manipulation in general.

So I decided to stick to just scanning. The scanner I've been using is an old hp all in one printer that's my family's been using for a good 10+ years. I was thinking of buying a new scanner, but I'm debating between a stand alone scanner or another all in one printer. An all in one printer is cheap, but I rarely print anything (especially since I'm out of school), it's clunky, and takes up a lot of space. If I get the stand alone scanner it'll probably do a better job since that's it's specialty, take up less space, but the cheapest I can find is $70.

Which do you think is better or which do you personally use?

[KoreanTacos]

Have tried adjusting the hue, contrast, brightness, etc. Or is it the main quality of the scan thats bad?

I personally used to use an all in one printer, but thats because I work from home.

[phoenixrenaissance]

I'd recommend getting a stand alone scanner. Their much more color accurate for sure ( though I haven't used a 3-in-1 in years). My watercolor pages definitely don't get as blasted out as they did on my old scanner. The brand I use is Mustek, but I don't think they really make new ones anymore.

[AmysGames]

There might be some scan settings you can adjust? I remember having to adjust the brightness settings on my old scanner or else everything would look super washed out. You might be able to bump up the color contrast or something.

If that doesn't work, though, you might need a new scanner yeah. I think stand-alone scanners are usually better quality, but I don't know too much about brands or anything so I can't help on that front. Good luck, though!

[ButterflyEmpress]

Yeah I tried editing the scanned pics in ps, but they still seemed kinda meh.

[spadesart]

i don't draw traditional much anymore so i havent used my scanner in years, but yeah. i always had to adjust the hue/saturation to where i wanted it. i think its because the scanner light is so bright.

[Buurd]

I've been having a similar problem with my 3-in-1 canon when it comes to my watercolor and pencil drawings in the sketchbook I'm trying to scan to upload on Gumroad. I'm probably just going to take photos after all since I couldn't find any settings to really adjust other than the DPI (which didn't fix the discoloration.)

If you decide to take photos instead of investing in a whole new scanner - it's important to take photos in good, natural light. So if you have a flat surface by a window, wait for a clear day and not too late to take some photos. Also figure out a position or time when your shadow won't get in the shot, might take some trial and error.
I have the same issue where things always turn out blurry - personally that's just cause I've got shaky hands ^^; I'll be borrowing my sisters tripod to take the photos.
If you have one or someone you know you can borrow one from, I'd say give it a go.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I recently got a flatbed scanner from Amazon for $59 (link). It works fine and it's very convenient and portable. You don't even have to plug it into a wall; it uses power from the computer where you plug in the USB. ^^

If you want your pictures to look nice after scanning, I'd recommend using a photo editor; most scanners don't have much in the way of color enhancing options. The program I use for art in general, Paint.NET, has a lot of nice photo editing tools (and it's free~). There are probably lots of free options online, too.

[cjjoughin]

Whatever scanner you use, as others have said, if you're going to use that as your finalized art it's probably going to need a bit of touching up.

Some tips for best results: If it's simply black ink work w/ no tones, adjusting your levels and curves (levels are a little more simple to adjust) will help reduce blurry edges and shadows. You may still need to go in and do a little cleanup/dust removal.

If you work with tones (say markers, watercolor, heck anything really) and you want to do those traditionally you might consider doing those on a separate piece of paper and creating a second layer for your at file. (this also goes for separate lettering pages if you letter traditionally but I really recommend digital lettering for clarity)

Unfortunately it's very hard to get a decent scanner for less than $50-$70, but I definitely think you can make what you've got work. Don't be afraid to tweak your traditional work digitally!

[LT1986]

I use an all in one printer, because I scan my sketches to color them digitally. No trace of the sketch is left in the final product. I also use an all in one printer, because I've had to use the printer to print stuff and fax stuff in my personal life.

If I needed my scanned pictures to look more realistic, I might think about getting a better scanner for scanning pictures.

[vfinnigan]

I use the HP all in one printer/scanner we have at home, too. But I set it on the highest possible resolution. I take no less than 600 dpi.

[punkarsenic]

you got a local library? libraries have scanners. you can prolly use em for free, and theyll be higher quality than one you can buy yourself

[Pandastrophic]

I find most 3 in 1 scanners pretty bad, I have a stand alone Canon Scanner LiDE and I've been using it for a few years now and I like it. However I think no matter how good a scanner is it's still very hard to get it true to the actual colours you see irl, there has to be some level of editing to make it look like how it does irl.
I posted this on the forums a few months ago:

Here is an example from my older art, I used watercolours and a black inking pen.
In the first one is scanned without editing, you can see how the details are washed out, the black ink is more like grey, the colours are really pale and don't stand out.
For the 2nd one I increased the contrast in photoshop and now it looks way closer to the actual drawing that's on paper, the colours are bright and stand out, the lineart and details show much more clearly too.

[Zaboem]

Piggybacking on Punkarsenic's idea, office supply stores have large scanner-copiers that can handle pictures with bigger than normal dimensions and can be surprisingly cheap for the service. Others are stupidly expensive, so ask first and shop around a little. When I need something scanned, I take it to a UPS Store about two miles from home, exercise + savings. If you expect to scan less than fifty pieces per year, it might be cheaper for you to not buy anything.

[Menbung]

I work traditionally, meaning that I always have to scan my work. Like it was mentioned already, no matter the scan you use if you want your work to look the best as it can you will have to touch it up.

Just a few tips scan at least in 300dpi, for my final drawings I always scan in 600dpi (trust me if you want your lines to look good 600dpi is the way to go), then resize if needed. You'll have to start messing with those levels and using brushes to clean your works a bit. I use a cheap scanner too and to my understanding there's no other way around, you need to learn how to touch up your art.

Also the guys here gave you an awesome advice, before you spend any money, go to a store that has a much better stand alone scanner than the one you have and see for yourself how art looks after scanned in one of those, who knows maybe it looks amazing and having a better scanner is the way to go for what you need.

[lil-sea-salt]

i use the one at my university it's 5 cents a scan. i do also have a roommates printer, but honestly there are probably free scanners in your comminuty that you should try to find.

[Pencilz]

I always adjust the colors in photoshop because the scanner whites everything out.