#scanning tips

[patrickkyle]

Acquiring the correct scanner can be key in accurately digitizing your work. CIS scanners are affordable, fast, good for B&W, but fail to capture the broad spectrum of colour and depth you can get with CCD Scanners.

CCD scanners are more expensive, but as most older scanners were CCD style, you can sometimes find them for cheap on the secondary market. I got my Epson for $20 on craigslist. Their mechanisms are more delicate though, so make sure they work before you buy and take care in transporting them.

Search the name and # of the scanner before you buy - you can often find their technical specs from the manufacturer that will let you know whether they're CCD or CIS format.

[super-lovely-collection]

Hello I wanted to know if you could give some tips on scanning doujinshis? There's one I really like to upload but I dunno where to even start

Hi Anon! So sorry I didn’t reply sooner, I kept thinking I could save my reply as a draft and come back to it when I had to run! But I’m free now, and I can try to give you some advice on the scanning (though even my skills can be sloppy)! ;p Here is how I go about it:

The scanner I have is a Canon Pixma series mg7720 (so nothing new or super pricey). I use the bluetooth to scan to my laptop and from there I use Photoshop to edit the image! 

So for scanning, I really press hard on the bindings to make it flat as possible. Some of my doujinshis are thick, and I tend to bend them so that there is a crease on the binding part (that is when I put it under something heavy like more books to flatten it out again).

Another problems I run into is when making it not flat, and I get the blurry/smudges on the side: I have a manga scan for a sample here~~~

These bug me so much, and it is hard to edit a good version with it. So I do rescan it as much as I can to get it not blurry, but that means more pressure on the book/scanner which is probably not the best for it! >_>

When I do get a good scan, I upload the image to Photoshop! There I edit: first step would be cropping it to the right size or page (since if I scan the second page might slip in or my hand)~~~ ^^

Once it is cropped/rotated to right size, I use the Levels to adjust the black and white levels to give it that smooth and clean look! The level numbers can change, depending on the doujinshi itself. I have some doujinshis that are so light, that even the scanner can’t pick it up. So even if I edit it to the darkest levels, it still can not be seen! *_* 

There I would save it, and just make sure it’s a good image size too: like resolution is 300 pixels/inch (nothing 72, that’s low for me for quality), and save as a JPEG. 

Ack! I hope I didn’t go on a ramble here, especially I just thought about if you don’t have Photoshop! 0_0 I just know that this is how I go about it, and it has been easy for me to scan my doujinshi collection or manga. 

I hope this helps, if you have more to ask - feel free to message me, and I’ll help the best I can! Thanks!

*Kirisame Doujinshi Artist I used as my example*

[maplevogel]

Very sorry for the two first slides!:D I didnt had the original scan anymore since I changed laptop recently! but heres how i scan and clean my watercolors.:D Sometimes I use photoshop or SAI to correct errors too. 

Next tutorial will probably be a little basic on how i use watercolors.:)

art used post!

[ricardobessa]

Do you set your scans to anything special? Whenever I scan mine in they look so rough and pen-like after adjusting the contrast in photoshop. The soft look of pencil is ruined, but in yours they still look soft.

Well, I guess you could be facing one of two problems (or both!):a) your lines are roughb) your scanner isn’t very good.If it’s a) we’re talking about, then the only thing I can tell you is to practice. Line quality really is one of those things that only comes with time. My drawing teacher would make me do these silly exercises in which I’d hold my pen weird or just wobble it up and down the paper, stuff like that. It felt a bit useless at the time, but I think it actually did help me control my pencil that much better.I also draw with a pretty soft (2B) 0.5 mechanical pencil, fyi. My uni drawing teacher hated that I used it but I don’t give a fuuuuck.If it’s b), I think there’s a couple of things you can do. First, scan your stuff in really high resolution. Way higher than you need. My scanner back at my parents’ house is pretty bad, so whenever I need to use I set it to scan at 1200 dpi. When you make it smaller, it will help diminish this roughness that comes with a low quality scanner. Also, you may want to try and tinker with the scanner definitions, if it allows you to. Lowering the contrast may help prevent an overexposed scan that makes lighter lines disappear (you can then adjust it to you taste in Photoshop).

Just as a reference, here’s a side by side comparison: straight from the scanner on the left, and after adjusting in Photoshop (levels + black and white) on the right. I scanned this with an Epsom Perfection V300, which I’ve been using for 5-6 years. As you can see, it’s not a huge difference - to be honest, the best thing you can do to make a smooth scan is drawing smooth lines from the get go.