So what's the best way to scan original art?

[Detroit MIke]

I need to get a scanner and scan some pages. I have Photoshop already. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[mister_not_so_nice]

I've been using a MUSTEK A3 scanner. It's lastest me about 8 years and hundreds and hyndreds of scans. It has just recently shown signs of *spooning* the bed and will need to be replaced soon.

 

Before that scanner I was using a regular sized scanner and piecing together the scans. That gets old after your third page.

 

Mike

[Detroit MIke]

Thanks for your advice Mike. Anybody else care to share?

[Apotheosis]

I use the same scanner. Perfect for art, but horrible for slabbed comics. If you do both you'll probably need two scanners.

[cbac]

It took me ages to decide what I wanted.

 

One of the important factors for me was reliability, thus a good brand name, which would likely last a long time. After watching eBay for a while and researching I decided I wanted an Epson and was looking for the older 836 series (a scanner around the 1k mark back in the day). Two came up on the same day and I actually ended up with a Epson GT-10000+ 11" x 17" Color Flatbed SCSI Scanner.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200052540974&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:US:1

 

Was the auction. The price was low, the shipping an extra $80 or so, but these guys had new custom packing and shipped it on a pallet. It arrived in the area on a Friday and I picked it up from the depot to get it for the weekend. I just hoped it would work

 

It worked perfectly the first time I used it. After messing with bad photos for so long this was easy and produced great scans, and I was thrilled.

 

The only thing is caveat emptor, with that I mean reading the auction carefully for second hand items. My computer had a SCSI card I put in previously, I had spare power cables and I found the drivers and software online (older scanners may not have it available). Thus I had no problem getting this running. USB is obviously easier nowadays for new computers, as they typically have never come with SCSI.

 

Whatever you get it really is a world of difference having an A3 scanner with a one click scan on pre-defined settings.

 

Also as a side note I found advanced photo scanning options built in have been handy for other things too, but I never would have considered buying it if it wasn't for OA!

[Jeffro.]

Not to derail your thread but why not use a digital camera and get results like this?

 

[osborn_fr]

Epson GT-10000+ 11" x 17" Color Flatbed SCSI Scanner.

 

Agree on this one. Not a brand new one, but it's great.

[mrpunch0]

Not to derail your thread but why not use a digital camera and get results like this?

 

 

A scanner will get you much better results.

Say you want to get a blue line of a pencil sketch inked ... good luck doing that with a digital camera.

[Detroit MIke]

Not to derail your thread but why not use a digital camera and get results like this?

 

 

I've been using my digital camera, and it's usually good enough, but some of my art is going to be used in an upcoming book. So, I need a better pic.

 

Lots of great suggestions, so far. Thanks everybody!

[lookwhoitis]

I use the same scanner. Perfect for art, but horrible for slabbed comics. If you do both you'll probably need two scanners.

 

wow! why is this? I was thinking of buying the A3 but I'd like ot5 be able to scan both art and slabs.

[Artemaria]

After you scan that bluelined pencil, what do you use to print the page at 11 x 17?

 

An ordinary printer does not accept paper that large.

 

Also, is there a process involved that takes a graphite pencil and makes it blue lined?

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Apotheosis]

I use the same scanner. Perfect for art, but horrible for slabbed comics. If you do both you'll probably need two scanners.

 

wow! why is this? I was thinking of buying the A3 but I'd like ot5 be able to scan both art and slabs.

 

Slabs are hard for good number of scanners. I think most end up having a hard time figuring out the focal point to scan since there's a clear case and then more plastic (the inner well). The Mustek ends up giving you blury scans on slabs. I've spent hours trying to get it right and this is the best I can get out of it...

 

 

Not horrible, but what I want either

[nik]

Actually what I do is go down to Staples, have them make a reduced Xerox copy ( 8 x 11 )of the artwork which costs about .03c each, then scan the Xerox copy.

 

Works great for penciled art also

 

[Guest]

I've commissioned some poster size original art and since I don't do this every day, it wouldn't be worth trying to find a scanner that big and I don't like the jig saw method so I just took it out to my local printers. Most have huge industrial scanners. My newspaper contracts them for work on images. They laid a piece of protective plastic film over my art and set it on the rollers and ran it through like a CAT Scan. I gave them my thumbstick and they put an incredibly detailed image on it. I can blow up every square inch of it. Ran me about 7 bucks.

[mrpunch0]

Take it to Kinkos and have them print the file.

Or just email the file to your favorite inker - chances are they can take care of it for you.

[Jeffro.]

I've been using my digital camera, and it's usually good enough, but some of my art is going to be used in an upcoming book. So, I need a better pic.

 

 

Okay, yeah, a camera won't work for that purpose.