Anime-Beta TNG

I use backgrounds. I place those on top of the sketch. I have a very large CCS background that I use white side facing the scanning plate that works really well for this and makes sure the white potion of the paper doesn't appear faded. When I scan manga pages, I used a black background so that the page on the back doesn't show up in the scan.

Hmm, maybe I'm missing something but aren't backgrounds typically colorful? Do you mean the unfinished back side of one? Ironically I'm trying to scan a large background. I'm also not sure paper would be heavy enough to hold the background down (which it needs because part of the background is actually a cel that needs to lie flat.

Yes, white side down when scanning a sketch. But if it's a manga page, then black side facing down so that it eliminates the back image. I used to supply scans to a scanlation group and that was their recommendation. It worked really well.

The bulkiest items I've scanned are sketches drawn on some sort of polyboard, so I've never had an issue of anything not staying in place.