My first attempts to digitize my art were not exactly successful. I did not even know where to start. Given that art was a new hobby for me I did not want to have to drop hundreds of dollars on a scanner or Photoshop (both of which I have since invested in). Through some trial and error I was able to find ways to digitize my art for very cheap if not free, and I would like to share with you the programs I used to get started.
Scanning your work
The first thing you’ll need to do to digitize your work is to capture it in some way digitally. I watched every Youtube I could find to determine if I really needed to buy a scanner to make this happen. I will say I now have a scanner and wouldn’t trade it for anything, but it is totally possible to digitize your art without one and still have it look decent.
Option 1 Scanning artwork for free using an Iphone
If you have an Iphone the two Apps I used were Scanner Pro and Cam Scanner. I personally like Scanner Pro as I think it does a better job capturing color and detail. If I was scanning I would wait for a day with flat lighting to try and avoid any shadows or overexposure from the sun. You can try and take pics on days that aren’t overcast but just recognize the quality will change.
Option 2 Using an actual camera
I also was fortunate enough to have a Sony A600 camera which I used for a wedding invitation I worked on. I did not think the quality of the images were that much better using this camera and ultimately found that it was more effort to get my images onto my computer or phone than just using the Iphone itself. I think if you are digitizing larger artworks a camera makes sense but most of what I was working on was 6in by 8in or less in size.
Editing your work
Using Adobe Lightroom for photo editing
Once you have your scanned image the next thing you will want to do is edit it. Adobe Lightroom has a free version for the Ipad and Iphone available. The downside of the free version is that you cannot use their cloud service to sync up between your devices. If you work on your Iphone you can save your image to your phone then upload to computer or Ipad later as a work around. Lightroom is only $4.99 a month and in my opinion totally worth it but if you are trying to keep all costs low as I was when I started then free can work totally fine.
In Lightroom you can edit your image to have the exact colors, exposure, saturation, clarity etc. that you were hoping for. The software is user friendly and very fun to play with. I find that editing here first is not only fun but is the easiest way to match the original art.
Lightroom (L using iPhone, R using iPad)
Further editing/ removing background using Procreate
The only thing I actually purchased in the beginning was Procreate. Procreate is currently a one time purchase of $12.99. Man can this App do a lot. I will say you will need an Ipad if you are going to use it and If you have an apple pencil or equivalent it is even better. If you don’t have an apple pencil or a stylus that is okay (I did not when I started), but things are exponentially easier once you get one.
Why I love procreate and you should too! While Photoshop is like the Tesla of digitizing art Procreate is your reliable Honda Civic. Procreate works in layers like Photoshop; however, its not quite as intricate or as smart as PS making in reality way easier to use. You can start by creating a canvas of the size you want and setting the DPI. DPI is dots per inch and this is directly related to the quality of the image you will end up with. The higher the dpi the more detailed the picture will be but also the larger the file you will create. Starting with ~300 DPI is a good measure. If you have something small you want to enlarge you can use ~600 DPI but note that it does not guarantee the larger image will be that sharp. The other thing to consider when creating a canvas is CMYK vs RGB for color profiling. Simply put CMYK is better for printing and RGB will look better on screens. You can create one of each for the same image if you plan to put it on a website and also make prints.
Once you have your canvas set up you can then create a new layer and insert your photo and resize it. Procreate has lots of features making it fun to play around and edit your art. Using the App you can add text, use various brushes and erasers to correct errors, create mirror images and so much more. In addition there are options to remove the background and create PNG files (more on that in another post). My first experience with Procreate was creating a wedding invitation. I uploaded my watercolor then removed the parts of the background I didn’t need and added text on top. Not knowing about canvas size or DPI, my first draft of the invitation came out 1in x 1in when sent to the printer. I had no idea I could resize it and instead started over from scratch (I will post further on ins and out of procreate in another post).
Procreate (L shows the home page where projects are listed in stacks, R shows how to see all of your layers)
Saving your work
When you are ready to print saving your work as a high quality PDF typically is what print shops will ask for. If you have removed the background you will want to use a PNG file.
Hopefully this gives you a starting point to digitizing your work without breaking the bank. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!
Comments