Category Archives: books

How to Scan Large Artwork for Books etc

How do you scan artwork that is too big for your scanner?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OujHz3PcOyY

After my last video, showing how to scan artwork for children’s books, Danio Caw asked me how to scan artwork that is too big for the scanner.

It depends how much too big. If the shorter side of the artwork is no bigger than the longer side of the scanning area, you can stitch it together in an image program like photoshop or affinity.

In this video I show you how. If your artwork is really big it will need to be photographed or scanned on a professional large scanner.

How to Scan your Artwork for Perfect Picture Book Illustration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVVCHv62QsM

Scanning your own artwork can often result in a grey mush in the white areas of your illustration, making it look a bit lacklustre and lifeless. How to brighten it up and remove the grey edges?

Kathleen Crawford contacted me and asked: Do you scan your own images into photoshop? I’d love to see a video on scanning & more photoshop edits. Do you find that you need to erase the background of the watercolour paper (is it textured or off white) behind the characters?

Here is a video for her and for you. The secret of scanning lies in the quality of your scanner, the quality of your scanning software and the levels tab in your image program, like photoshop or Affinity photo etc.

All image programs will have a levels window to adjust blacks, whites and the colours in between. Get to know it. It is your friend

Designing the cover for my new children’s book – Generation Moon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-smrjSMruzc

It’s time to think about the cover design for my new middle-grade space adventure trilogy – Generation Moon.

This is a first go at it to see what happens. Often, a first attempt looks terrible, so you try everything else. But, eventually, you tend to come back to the first idea.

In this video I show you how I adapt sketches to fit the idea and then begin to manipulate them in photoshop.

Of course, I completely changed my mind and started all over again, but you’ll have to see the next video for that!