Lineart, printer, scanner questions
3) Questions about my art: Lineart, scanner, and printer questions
How do you ink your pictures?
Usually, I “ink” with a HB or B mechanical pencil.
How do you get such clean lineart on watercolour paper?
Not at all. I do the lineart (often after a looser digital sketch) on drawing board (Hahnemühle “Nostalgie”, 200 gsm), scan it, and print it out on watercolour paper.
For the full process, see here!
How do you print lineart on watercolour paper? Doesn’t it bleed/smudge?
Different printer brands have totally different ink. I’ve been working with copied lineart since 2003. Initially, I had a HP printer which only dissolved ever so slightly, and took paper weights up to 250 gr if coaxed gently. Then I had a Canon, which has no waterproof ink (it went runny all over the place; not a pleasant sight), so I went to a copyshop to have my lineart printed onto watercolour paper there. In peak times, they saw me two to three times a week. They haven’t seen me since the summer of 2010, however, since I’ve owned Epson printers since that time. Epson has absolutely waterproof ink even for inkjets and my printer can handle paper weights of well over 300 gr. It truly has revolutionised my workflow! It only works with original Epson ink, of course; the cheaper ones you find vary greatly in quality and water-proofness, and I don’t take chances there. In the end, as my brother says, nothing is as expensive as buying cheap. Right now, I have an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 (A3).
How do you scan your watercolours?
I’ve got a CanoScan Lide 90, which is great because it picks up everything. One of the tricks in scanning watercolours, I’ve found, is not to change the scanner settings at all. You get what it “sees”, and then you can do any tweaking manually. I usually adjust the contrast slightly, tweak the colours if necessary, and turn up sharpness just a notch, and just for web viewing.
I scan my watercolours in three parts. I used to do it in two, but that leaves you with a line along the middle. If you scan the middle again, that doesn’t happen.There are new scanners that pick up things that don’t lie flat against the paper – which sounds like a great idea for watercolour. I’ll have to look into that at some point.
Hi Jenny,
I was just browsing through your site. About your scanner, I have a Mustek a3 scanner, that I would really recommend to you :) it has made my work so much easier. The best part is, that it’s incredibly cheap compared to other scanners in that size. I paid around 130 euros four years ago, and it’s still a wonderful scanner. It does, like most scanners, loose the softest hues if those are among sharper or even primary colours. But overall it’s great.
Just a tip, really :)
Thanks for sharing your wonderful work!
Tanja
Interesting – I had just *today* decided to get myself an Epson Perfection soon. They work with CCD technology, meaning they pick up stuff that does not lie flat against the glass – like the inside of a book, or watercolour paper!
It also comes with software to automatically put together larger paintings scanned in several parts. But I really have to say that I don’t mind scanning the parts and putting them together, tweaking colours… it’s got something meditative about it. Like the final hill you have to climb before a piece is truly complete. ;)
I’ll look into that one though, that you very much!
Really? Seems I haven’t been keeping myself up to date with the latest tech, but I’ll have to check out some of Epson’s new products :)
Your printer does, by the way, sound absolutely fantastic. However I normally just painting without much sketch-work done beforehand, so it might not apply to my work. But maybe that will change..
Before I got my a3 scanner I absolutely hated reassembling pictures. Somehow, a dark line would find its way onto my drawings. So I guess I’m not really that much of a climber – went the final brush or pencil stroke is made it is -done-.
And you’re most welcome!
May i ask what brand of ink are you using exactly? My lineart dissolves with water all the time! As for scanning, i personally use a layer of transparency to reduce glare:-)
Read the post, please, it’s all answered there :)
As in the ink for your epson? Is there a special type?
The normal Epson ink. It’s waterproof.
I see, thank you!
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