Scanning sketches

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:34 pm

1. How do you scan your sketches so they look their best online?

2. Or what adjustments do you make to the scan to make the sketch picture to look how you want it to?

If I darken the scan and change the contrast I can see the lines better, but then the color of the sketch paper changes from white to greenish.

Adding color saturation only goes so far.

I was hoping there are alternatives to doing it that way.

EternityOfPain · Post by **EternityOfPain** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:49 pm

I am not sure how everyone does it but this is what I do.

I scan them in there mylar bags with another blank mylar behind it (to capture the light into the sketch more). I scan at 300 DPI and I then reduce the size etc. I do not do any color enhancing for any of my sketches mainly because I perfer to keep it exactly how it actually is. However, there are some cases where my scanner seems to not pick up the same amount of light and in effect some sketche colors are dulled and not as colorful as they are in reality. The ideal would most likely me taking out the sketch from the bag and place it directly on the scanner with something behind it. Who knows someone might have a better method and if so I'd love to hear it as well.

Post by **JWR** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:35 pm

The only trick I found is I put a dark background behind the sketch (in my case a black posterboard) so the white background of the scanner lid does not bleach out the sketch.

kymaera · Post by **kymaera** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:45 pm

I generally just do the auto level adjustment in photoshop. If it looks like
crap, then I'll play with the levels and contrast manually.

iwakuralain16 · Post by **iwakuralain16** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:51 pm

My sketches look horrible. I will taking notes. haha

HotIce · Post by **HotIce** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:53 pm

I scan everything at 100DPI (going online is going to drop it to 72dpi anyways, so scanning at 100DPI saves SO much time)... I usually scan, outside of the bag, because i don't want any distortion to the image from the bag (they go back in RIGHT after scanning though), with something behind the sketch, even if it's just additional printer paper.

When in photoshop, I add little mark points, and colour correct using indivdual colours in curves, to get the white back to the gray scale (or white, if i'm lucky). Then I will work in levels or brightness/contrast to get the scan looking right. I always have the image in front of me so I can try and get the scan looking as close to the actual item as possible.

Of course I don't have very many sketches that have been scanned, and the above method is what I use for my cels... I should play around sometime, and see what works best for my sketches.

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:08 pm

I generally just do the auto level adjustment in photoshop. If it looks like
crap, then I'll play with the levels and contrast manually.-Kym-chan-

I basically do the same as Kym-chan! However, I use a camera!

And I take around 5 pictures then take the best one and use auto levels, levels, brightness, and contrast!

That does the trick!

redwolf · Post by **redwolf** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:21 pm

Keropi wrote:1. How do you scan your sketches so they look their best online?

2. Or what adjustments do you make to the scan to make the sketch picture to look how you want it to?

Does this mean you are scanning in some of your sketch sets??

Anyway, since I've answered this question before...I decided to put a picture together.

How I scan my sketches.
While all scanner software is different, most should have adjustment options like these.

If you're not quite happy after your scan is done and pieced together (If applicable), you'll want to play with levels, brightness/contrast, curves, hue/saturation, etc. like has already been mentioned. It's impossible for a scan to look exactly like the sketch, but I'm happy as long as the linework appears well enough for visitors to appreciate the artwork. Good luck.

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:10 am

redwolf wrote:Does this mean you are scanning in some of your sketch sets??

I have too much time on my hands I know. With the holiday season being over my work hours got cut. Then with the ending of several anime series lately I've had a lot of free time. Too much. Now I'm becoming bored. I was even thinking about re-installing Civilization 2 (the time killer) to play a "quick" game.

Fortunately...I stifled that urge.

I'm not much into any of the new anime series that have debuted so far - except for maybe "Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora" and "Deltora Quest" (only slightly in both cases). I went and ordered those Ever17, Ai Yori Aoshi and Yo-Jin-Bo games to give me something to do.

A couple days ago I was trying to scan some sketches with little success. Personally, I'd prefer adding new series I don't have up to adding to what I already have.

I assume the good thing about sketches is that you don't have to adjust your settings as much as cels in order to scan a batch. I haven't scanned enough sketches to know if that's though.

Anyway, since I've answered this question before...I decided to put a picture together.

How I scan my sketches.
While all scanner software is different, most should have adjustment options like these.

Thanks for creating that.

Everyone:

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll take them into consideration and try them out to see which method work the best with the scanner and the program (Photoshop) I have now.

redwolf · Post by **redwolf** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:46 am

Keropi wrote:A couple days ago I was trying to scan some sketches with little success. Personally, I'd prefer adding new series I don't have up to adding to what I already have.

I hope, one day, I will be fortunate enough to see most of your collection.

I assume the good thing about sketches is that you don't have to adjust your settings as much as cels in order to scan a batch. I haven't scanned enough sketches to know if that's though.

Yeah, I very rarely feel I have to adjust a sketch picture after it is scanned in contrast to cels, where my scanner always likes to scan the colors too reddish. For a sketch, I don't think it's a big deal if the lines are a bit different, but a cel scan where the character looks sunburned or something is no good.

Edit: Cool, I hit 500 posts. Only took me a year and a half.

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:11 am

Yay! Congratulations! By the way, why do anteaters rule?

Joost · Post by **Joost** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:59 am

those yellow sketches are also rather tricky

http://senseighibli.rubberslug.com/gall ... mID=129772

I scan like EternityOfPain, but without any bags or something behind it.
300dpi, then I resize the pic to 30%

redwolf · Post by **redwolf** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:27 am

Since I didn't before, I'd also like to second the black paper method. I've used it sparingly before (only when I really need it because it dulls the white of the paper), but right now I'm scanning in a set where the gengas were drawn very lightly. Without the black paper, it looks washed out no matter how I change the settings.

RoboFlonne wrote:Yay! Congratulations! By the way, why do anteaters rule?

That is Kurata Sayuri from Kanon in my avatar, carrying a 1:1 scale giant anteater toy. While production sketches are my current primary collection, I also occasionally collect some things on the side...comics/manga, figures, DVDs, random neat junk, and cool stuffed animals. Things like weasels, hedgehogs, owls, wolves, rats, etc. I can be picky, but this anteater perfectly bridges the gap between realistic and cute. And that is why "Anteaters rule!" Too bad it isn't real.

glorff · Post by **glorff** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:51 am

I scan them and use curves to exagerate the hell out of them so they pop off the page since most of my collection is cells and sketches look so washed out in comparison.

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:34 pm

glorff wrote:I scan them and use curves to exagerate the hell out of them so they pop off the page since most of my collection is cells and sketches look so washed out in comparison.

Where's "curves"? Is it on your scanner program or your graphics program?

The underside of my scanner lid is black. I found that if I leave the underside of the lid exposed so that its black color shows up on the sides of the sketch in the scan, my scanner software adjusts for it and makes the lines a lot easier to see. If I leave my Taro board under the sketch like I often do for cels, the sketch is brighter and washed out.

For some reason I'm finding that if I adjust the gamma upwards my sketch scan ends up more washed out and harder to see the lines. What are you doing besides turning the gamma up redwolf?

After fiddling around with my scanner software, I've discovered something called "edge enhancement" in the "filter" category. "Edge enhancement" seems to be the best way to bring out the lines so far.

I guess you can't have a "standard" method of enhancing sketch lines because everyone's scanner is so different.