Scanning tips 0

[Jordysnordy]

What’s the best way to scan OA since my scanner can’t fit a whole page. Take it to a scanning centre? Any other ideas?

[alxjhnsn]

Buy a bigger scanner (<$200) or use the office copier (free) will work for 11x17. How large are we talking about?

[John E.]

1 hour ago, Jordysnordy said:

What’s the best way to scan OA since my scanner can’t fit a whole page. Take it to a scanning centre? Any other ideas?

I take my OA to get scanned at any corporate office supply store. They handscan it for me. I know this part has been debated in the scanner section, but I request it to be scanned as a jpg, in color, and at 600dpi. It costs me $1.99 per scan. Not bad done in pieces. 

[Unca Ben]

I have to scan my art in sections, then I use ICE (Image Composite Editor from Microsoft) to stitch the pieces together.   It does a nice job.  It's free.  It does add a few more steps to the process, but it's cheaper (and quicker) than driving to the store.
-My old scanner made the art a little tan near the edges because of the way the scanner glass was recessed from the surrounding bezel.  I got a new scanner big enough to do slabs and I don't have this problem anymore.  

[Rick2you2]

7 hours ago, alxjhnsn said:

Buy a bigger scanner (<$200) or use the office copier (free) will work for 11x17. How large are we talking about?

A twice up.

[alxjhnsn]

I got nothing. Piecewise scanning and merging the images in a tool like Photoshop or Visio or GraphicConverter can be done. Kind of a pain in my experience.

Another approach is to take a photograph using a camera mount while the piece is on the floor. A good camera with a fixed mount should provide a good capture.

[vodou]

1 hour ago, Rick2you2 said:

A twice up.

 

20 minutes ago, alxjhnsn said:

I got nothing. Piecewise scanning and merging the images in a tool like Photoshop or Visio or GraphicConverter can be done. Kind of a pain in my experience.

Another approach is to take a photograph using a camera mount while the piece is on the floor. A good camera with a fixed mount should provide a good capture.

In the early  to mid 2000s, maybe as late as 2010, Kinko's had large format photocopiers. These could output to 11x17 or even 8.5x11 paper, depending on what size scanner you have, in color or black. This was high quality output that even reduced down in size was still just as good as scanning smaller originals direct. I'm thinking they were $2 or $3 per photocopy. The machines could accept flat media up to at least 20x30, and definitely twice up comic art. However, that was a long time ago and I haven't been back since. Maybe things have changed, those machines may be gone, and maybe their policy toward copying originals has gotten much more stringent than a simple verbal, "yeah, sure, I'm the artist" (sarcastic intonation not picked up by the clerk...what can I do, educate everyone everyday? )

[BCarter27]

11 hours ago, Unca Ben said:

ICE (Image Composite Editor from Microsoft) to stitch the pieces together.

Yes, this is usually the quickest method and works for me about 90% of the time. The other 10% I have to stitch manually in Photoshop.

[Eltanin]

With a good smartphone, the (free) app CamScanner gives very decent results for B&W pages.

Here are examples of pieces I "scanned" using the app:

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1398719

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1423772

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1398722

Edited January 17, 2018 by Eltanin