cleaning up/ coloring

ratsliveon · 07-05-2008

What do you think is the fastest way to clean up a scanned drawing in photoshop?

Yesterday I spent four hours erasing and masking all the extra lines, smudges and supposed-to-be-erased bits out of a drawing.

I usually trace my drawings in illustrator and then color them with photoshop, which is a lot faster, but it never looks quite the same as the original drawing. Any tips?

*synthetic* · 07-05-2008

when I work digitally from sketches... I normally only use the sketch for a guide only... so I scan it as grayscale... adjust levels in PS to make lines dark black and bring back white background which gets rid of some smudges and erased lines... then just lay that in background of PS or AI and work over top.

It sounds like you are spending a lot of time preparing your scanned sketch in order to save time by using "live trace" in AI... is this correct? Why not spend less time cleaning up scan and more time just tracing manually? I am a bit old school (just don't use much of the new features unless it really saves me time) and that is way I have always worked.

Also, consider your needs for final output of your image. Is the final image all vector? I ask because you mentioned coloring in PS. If the final image output is not a .ai or .eps vector file... I would skip the AI part totally. This would allow you to to probably recreate your more illustrative look easier in PS that would likely more resemble your drawing IMHO.

Below is one of my projects in which I created in AI. I had scanned each cell of the illustration from larger rough pencil sketches and the recreated in AI just by manually tracing my sketches large and reducing and coloring in AI. Had my original drawings been more detailed... I might have just done it all in PS but my sketches were really quick and rough and I didn't know how many projects the art would be used for so just worked it all in AI while trying to keep the illustration effect....

**Tamlin** · 07-05-2008

This is a subject that often pops up on Photoshop forums. There's no one "hard and fast" way to do it - like most procedures in Photoshop - although most seem to use Levels as Dean has suggested. Here is a selection of links to tutorials that may help (including one right here at BioRUST, and a prehistoric one by graphics guru Kai Krause that has screenshots of Photoshop 2 - although I think the technique is still valid):

BioRUST.com :: Tutorials >> Cleaning Scanned Lineart
Cleaning Scanned Images in Photoshop - Associated Content
Scanning and Preparing Lineart and Drawings into Photoshop - Associated Content
CleanUp Fax&Scans: Kai's Power Tips: The Gurus Network

wainrob · 07-06-2008

Thanks for the links. Great thread for beginners like me. After all it is really nice to see your works afterwards. I want to learn to those tricks that you just shared.

ratsliveon · 07-07-2008

It sounds like you are spending a lot of time preparing your scanned sketch in order to save time by using "live trace" in AI... is this correct? Why not spend less time cleaning up scan and more time just tracing manually? I am a bit old school (just don't use much of the new features unless it really saves me time) and that is way I have always worked.

Actually I don't use live trace and I usually do just trace manually. I was just wondering if there was a faster way to clean up images exclusively in photoshop without having to switch programs or having to resort to black magic and voodoo to make things look perfect. Did I mention I was a perfectionist? That might be why everything takes so long with me

Than you for the advice though, I like the idea of tracing it big and shrinking it down.

There's no one "hard and fast" way to do it

I was hoping no one would say that >.<
Are you sure there is no magic "trace button" that will clean up my drawings instantly and make me a cup of coffe while it's at it?

greenjellybean · 07-13-2008

A few ideas for you:

1) do your best to clean up your image before you even scan it - best is just a piece of tracing paper and redraw your final lines. It's the best way to keep your lines black and solid if you're only using PS

2) This technique will lose your hard edges, and possibly some of your lighter, thin lines, but after you work with your levels to get your page as clean as possible, use: Filter>noise>dust & scratches. It's by far one of my favorite filters, but can only take you so far.

ratsliveon · 07-13-2008

Thank you! I'll try that technique out

jcscooter · 07-16-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by tamlin

This is a subject that often pops up on Photoshop forums. There's no one "hard and fast" way to do it - like most procedures in Photoshop - although most seem to use Levels as Dean has suggested. Here is a selection of links to tutorials that may help (including one right here at BioRUST, and a prehistoric one by graphics guru Kai Krause that has screenshots of Photoshop 2 - although I think the technique is still valid):

BioRUST.com :: Tutorials >> Cleaning Scanned Lineart
Cleaning Scanned Images in Photoshop - Associated Content
Scanning and Preparing Lineart and Drawings into Photoshop - Associated Content
CleanUp Fax&Scans: Kai's Power Tips: The Gurus Network

I must agree with you whole heartedly. It takes me hours to do my outlines from my sketches after scans. (i'm a perfectionist and have ocd go figure.) I loved the way you put it out there though

eyndyel · 08-27-2008

i will try this techniques. i am only a starter in photo editing. i really need help and tips to make a wonderful pics!

huncyrus · 10-03-2008

Hola!

For ideaz:

I scanning with HQ & 600dpi (RGB or CMYK) and using a filter (photomagic, auto-density)

After i re-save to an psd. In psd duplicate the layer. Then kill all background with magic-selector and eraser.

For corrigin' i use the auto-level and other adjustment function.