Scanning Watercolors for a Tarot Deck

CharonMonolith

I'm on the fence on starting my own deck and was wondering, if I were to use watercolor as my medium, what would be the best type of scanner to use to preserve color without blotchiness or deterioration in quality from the original image?
 

BrightEye

I have a printer-scanner of the Canon MG6300 series. This brings out watercolours nicely, including the structure of the paper, depending on resolution (which you can set as you need it). The only downside with this one is that it scans the red darker than they are in the original. But you can touch that up with image editing software.
 

CharonMonolith

Thanks! If red is the only color dramatically affected, I think I can work with that!
 

reall

you can always take photos?:)) just be sure to align it well!:))
 

CharonMonolith

Yeah, photos are the way I've been going but it definitely has some shortcomings...or maybe I should say I have some shortcomings as I'm not as talented with a camera or Photoshop as I am with a pen or brush!
 

seven stars

I'm on the fence on starting my own deck and was wondering, if I were to use watercolor as my medium, what would be the best type of scanner to use to preserve color without blotchiness or deterioration in quality from the original image?

Scan them, then run them through paintshop & clean them up, touch them up & refine the color.
 

Babalon Jones

There is also the option of scanning them and not "touching up" the color digitally.

It really is barely/rarely necessary if you have done the work with the paint. Though yeah some colors combined with some scanners do not play well. I do no color touch ups with my art. But I have two scanners. One is a just a scanner and one is a cheapo all-in-one scanner, copier, printer and fax. The scanner is also low end. Both cheap units. I scan with each of them and then pick which one looks best. Most of the time it is the all-in-one! Sometimes the other, though; depending on what aspect of the picture should be highlighted. So I feel I need them both.

If both scans look shitty, I take the painting back to the drawing board and repaint the problem areas. Duh! Guess what? It always looks way better after than it would have if I had just left it and digitally messed with it.
 

OnePotato

Hello CharonMonolith.

I scan watercolors all the time.

I have an Epson V500 scanner.

For small works:
I scan at 48 bit color, 1440 dpi actual size.
Do adjustments in Photoshop:
-Retouch out dust & scratches
-Set "levels" (brightness & contrast)
-Save .PS file at this point.
-Reduce resolution to 720 dpi
-Reduce to 24 bit
-Save a copy in .tiff format, & make a test print
-Look at test print, go back to original 48 bit 1440 file, and adjust "saturation" & "levels" accordingly, and create a new 720 dpi 24 bit .tiff file. (Usually make a few variations, & see what looks best.)
-Print new test prints
-choose a final version, or go back and adjust again.

This is a bit simplified, but it's a good recipe for good quality results.

Good luck with your project.
 

Babalon Jones

Wow OnePotato such clear, detailed advice. That is a great thing to offer! Someday I will try what you outline rather than the silly things I do!

Though I stand by what I say that I think if you need to adjust your scan you also need to adjust your actual painted image if you care about the original being best it can be. I have seen great improvements in my paintings by repainting things that looked off in a scan, instead of fixing the scan.
 

OnePotato

Wow OnePotato such clear, detailed advice. That is a great thing to offer! Someday I will try what you outline rather than the silly things I do!

Though I stand by what I say that I think if you need to adjust your scan you also need to adjust your actual painted image if you care about the original being best it can be. I have seen great improvements in my paintings by repainting things that looked off in a scan, instead of fixing the scan.

You always have to adjust the overall settings of the scan to accommodate the limited range of a given printer & specific paper, in order to get the best overall match to the original art. The adjustments I mentioned are not a matter of "fixing" one specific area, but rather the overall appearance. If something specific needs re-working, it still needs re-working.

(Example: When I print a raw, untouched scan, on un-coated bristol, it generally prints light, very flat in the dark areas, and noticeably dull in color. If I adjust the levels, and bump the saturation up 12 - 15%, I can get a print that is very close match to the original. If I print the same raw file on coated matte photo paper, it needs no added saturation to get a close match.)