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Sorry to ask more of a technical than material question but what successes and failures has everone had with scanning sketches and watercolors? I have a mess of various scanners and cameras here and have had no luck in capturing anything flattering (and my sketches need all the digital flattery they can get!)

I've found scanning watercolors to be tricky; working on ordinary 60 lb sketchbook paper makes for awfully warpy pages that don't take well to my scanner. I use heavy books and mugs to flatten watercolors as they scan, then photoshop out imperfections and ghosts afterwards.

I have a lot of trouble scanning my watercolors. They come out okay but the colors are always a little off. I think this is just the nature of the scanning something faint.

Indeed - thanks for the responses. I have played around quite a bit with scanning settings and can improve the colors, etc if I am willing to spend the time (which makes photoshopping easier). When all is said and done my results are still pretty disappointing. Looking at a sketch next to the scan is discouraging. I suppose I should spend more time practicing the sketch rather than the scan though!

If you have photoshop, try doing a levels adjustment on your watercolors.

Thanks! I think I can do ok with the colors now (not always worth the time but with the levels curves in PS it comes out ok). I seem to be having the most trouble with the (for lack of a better term) graniness of the image. The scanners I am using seem to do a great job of highlighting the grain of even the smoothest paper and the edges of the paint but a subpar job of picking up details I'd want. Perhaps I am being too picky but am determinied to come up with a process! It shouldn't be this hard right?

Did you ever come up with a process? A scan or two that show what you were referring to would be great, specially if you managed to overcome the issue, like before (heh maybe those were deleted)/ after.

I just scanned a watercolor that I did for an illustration. I found that changing my scanner settings to AdobeRGB1998 helped tremendously. The colors came in much truer than with the Canon "recommended" settings. Then just a minor tweak in Photoshop.

seeker & donnam: Thanks for the followup!


figure one

Well, I suppose the big issue is that I need to improve my brushstrokes and cringe when I see my scanner magnifying bad lines and downplaying qualities I like. Am I just coming to grips with a frustration that everyone else already takes for granted?

For instance, the image above is a watercolor I love on paper but the scan highlights some odd, messy strokes in the branches and subdues details (such as the prickly pears and derelict car) that I am fond of. After spending a lot of time tweaking the scanner and photoshoping it I decided it would be better to focus on honing my watercolors instead (although photoshop is a blast).

donnam: I'll try that scanner setting though, one of my scanners is a Canon as well.