Best Scanner for Watercolor Artwork?
Apr 14, 2023One of the first steps into turning your artwork into designs for products, stationery or prints is to digitize it. A good scanner is a great place to start. I use the Epson Perfection V600 Photo Scanner. While there are many good scanners to choose from, something I like to look for in a good quality scanner is the following.
- Resolution. If you want to enlarge your artwork, you will need a scanner that is able to scan at higher resolutions. Look for one that can scan at a high dpi, (which means dots per inch). For example, if your 8x10 inch painting is scanned at 300 dpi, then you can make an 8x10 inch print without losing detail or resolution. If you scan the same art at 1200 dpi, then you can blow it up to 4x the original size for large scale wall art prints. So your largest print size could be 32x40 inches without losing resolution.
- For paper with a slight texture, I look for a deeper scanning bed. This allows the light source to be a bit further away from my paper. It helps because the light doesn't bounce off the paper and create tiny hills and valleys over the paper texture. I get a smoother scan, and this makes editing in photoshop much easier.
- Bit depth, represents the number of bits of color in one pixel. Scanners come in 8, 16, 24 and 32. The higher the bit depth, the better for color reproduction in artwork. Look for one with a higher bit depth in the 24-32 bit range.
Other good scanners?
The Epson V39. I used this one for many years when I was starting out. It's less expensive and still a good scanner, but the V600 makes it easier to edit my work. I have not tried other scanners, but using these guidelines is a good place to start when shopping for a scanner.
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