Using a scanner to develop hand-made art

 As I have mentioned before, I often do sketches while I am commuting on a train or when I am sitting waiting for something such as a doctor's appointment. For the most part, these sketches are just for practice. However, from time to time, one is a special image that I would like to take further.


The problem is that the sketches are small, pocket-size images done on a note pad or on a piece of scrap paper. Their size and the quality of the paper preclude trying to make them into a series piece of art.


My solution has been the traditional one - - I hand copy the image onto a larger, better quality piece of paper. Once the image has been successfully transferred, I can add color, change it or otherwise develop the work.


A problem with this method is that sometimes something gets lost in making the copy. An image can have a certain something that cannot be re-captured no matter how hard you try. A random line or two may be what gives the sketch its character. Also, hand copying can be a lot of work.


This week, I tried an experiment. I took two small sketches and made high-quality digital images of them.


Once you make a digital image of a work, there is a lot that you can do with it using a photo editing program such as Photoshop. You can add color, erase mistakes, improve the brightness and contrast etc.


But I was not looking to digitally manipulate these sketches. Rather, my goal was to enlarge the image and then work on it by hand.


Therefore, the next step was to print the images. Of course, the print will depend upon the quality of the printer. However, using my rather ancient printer, I was able to print out acceptable quality prints that could serve as the base for further development.


I then used a pen to emphasize some of the lines. For color, I used colored pencils on one and Cray-pas on the other.


I was pleased with the results. The size of the works was now more substantial. Also, the addition of color had enhanced the images.


Clearly, there are limitations to this process. The largest paper my printer will accept is A4 so the image cannot be larger than one that would fit on that size paper. Along the same lines, he printer is probably not capable of handling heavy water color paper and the like. A better printer would push these limits out further.


I don't think I will give up on hand copying. However, this little experiment has put another arrow in my quiver.   

Before and after.  On the left side are the original images, both done on 3 x 5 inch note paper.  On the right, are the images after scanning, printing and further development by hand.  They are now on *.5 by 11 inch paper.