Scanning/Photographing large artwork?

[Aaron Gein]

People that paint or draw and digitize it....where do you get your large stuff scanned or photographed? Anyone got any tips? I'm working on artwork for my bands next release and trying to figure out the best way to get it into my computer for layout purposes.

[windflame]

Most people here scan stuff in pieces and combine them all in photoshop. But even that can be hard to do depending on what size your drawing/painting will be.

[Aaron Gein]

Most people here scan stuff in pieces and combine them all in photoshop. But even that can be hard to do depending on what size your drawing/painting will be.

Yeah, thats usually what I do with my line drawings. It's pretty easy to piece together black and white inked line drawings...but this is going to be a mix of watercolor, pen & ink, and laser toner transfers. I'm thinking that piecing that together might be a bit rough. And it's hard to get big things to lay flat enough on my scanner to not have them get all distorted. I may end up going that route though.

[mikeage]

I scan in the posters I make in pieces and then assemble them in Photoshop.
The key is to give enough overlap so you can find a good place to make the break.

[ialieneye]

^^yup^^ on fully colored things (not line work) once you get them close together and seemingly in the right spot the "blur" tool on the tool bar works great to run down the connecting line. I zig zag it back and forth just to obliterate any remaining obvious connection.

[DethBronX]

Use the 'difference' layers. It's super easy to match up. After you have the layers matched up you flatten the image and BAM!

check this out:
Stitching images

[TeddyPancake]

Try to find an imaging or photographer place that will professionally photograph the art for you and give you a file on disk. I pay about $20-$30 per shot depending on the size of the piece. Depending on your skills and speed in photoshop, this may or may not actually be a cheaper way to go if you factor in the time it takes to stitch these things together.

[mictron]

i bought an oversized scanner and i LOVE it.

really, really hate assembling scans, and i usually make other people do it for me. have a real hard time getting my stuff to match up.

and, of course, now that i have the scanner, i'm working on a drawing right now is bigger than the scanning bed...

for the big stuff i just take digital photos, but they're usually not super awesome. i have a ton of drawings that are no longer in my possession that i don't have good copies of. big regret. kids, don't be like me!

[Anville]

Mustek makes a 17" x 11" scanner for less than $200. Ive had one a year and it works really well. Any other brand is 2k+ so its a good deal for what it is and what it does.

If its a painting, you can get away with photographing it with a nice DSLR, but for large intense linework, I highly recommend you scan it.

[vrooooom]

Work small, scan at high resolution? Enlarge digitally.