Part 2- How to Make Prints of Your Artwork: Post-Processing & Printing
Step 1: Capture An Image of Your Artwork
If you missed part 1 of this series where I talk about how to scan your artwork, check out this link: Step 1- How to Get Prints Made of Your Artwork in 3 Steps- Scanning with An Epson V600
In that article, I discussed scanning my artwork with an Epson V600, which is the scanner I recommend. (I’m an Amazon Affiliate, and I’d get a small amount if you purchased through me).
Even if you use another method to capture a picture of your artwork, you can use the following instructions to clean up the digital file before having prints made.
Step 2: Post Processing
Now we will move along to cleaning up your scanned image.
I will only guide cleaning up your scan in Adobe Photoshop for this article. I pay a monthly fee of $30 to have access to a suite of Adobe products. To my knowledge, you can’t download it and run it on your desktop anymore, which I find annoying but it is what it is.
Despite my irritation about the reoccurring fee, I do use Photoshop, Lightroom, and ProPremier frequently, so I justify the cost.
There are free options for post-processing software, like Gimp. I don’t know much about the free options, but I’m sure if you search you could find information on those programs.
Tools in Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop has so many tools that it makes my head spin. When I use the software, I try and keep it simple. So here are the tools that have cleaned up my scan. Keep in mind that there are multiple approaches to accomplishing these tasks within Adobe Photoshop. If one method doesn't yield the desired outcome, try a different approach.
Step 3: Buy the Prints
I have only used one online company to buy prints, but I have been pleased with them. They are called FinerWorks.
Their website is great. It’s easy to use, and FinerWorks has many options for final products like canvases and giclee prints.
They also have blogs and FAQs that can help you to select the best prints if you are unsure.
Conclusion
Once I finally figured out how to scan my artwork, I was left with the task of figuring out how to clean up my digital image. There is a myriad of information on the internet on how to clean up your image, but this was the simplest way I could find while using Adobe Photoshop.
Save yourself some time and try these tools first, and let me know what you think.
