Best drawing paper for scanning?

[Floralcaster]

Hello all-

Looking for advice for best drawing paper for scanning. I'm trying to find something smooth and clean that scans well that is still good for drawing with ink.

I have a fairly basic scanner. I scan directly into PhotoShop.

Many thanks...

A.S

[davidc1815]

I think your question is really about finding a paper you like for your ink drawings.  I don't think  - I may be wrong - that the type of drawing paper will make any difference to it's ability to be scanned provided it will fit the scanner window.

[Floralcaster]

Hi David-

Thanks for your response. What I'm looking for is actually a paper that will scan as cleanly as possible without any texture, bleed-through and minimal artifacting (other than that caused by the scanning process itself).

I've been working with marker paper and hot press paper. Out of the two the marker paper has yielded the best results. I am just curious if anyone has other/better suggestions.

Cheers...

[gener7 · Accepted solution]

I scan many types of paper including pulp. If you are concerned about bleed-through, place a black or gray sheet or book behind the paper if it happens to have any drawing on the other side. I also own a Brother MFC J6920 DW A3/Tabloid (11in x 17in) scanner.

It's inexpensive at $299 or less and saves having to "stitch" oversized artwork.

You should just pick paper based on the media you use, but quality material = quality results. If there is any texture in the paper your scanner is picking up you can use a Levels Adjustment layer in Photoshop. See A Simple Way to Get Better Scans by Wayne Fulton. He offers easy to follow advice.

Sometimes I place a towel over the scanner to keep outside light from interfering with the scan, and place a little weight (a book for example) to keep the paper flat against the glass.

Speaking of which, I clean the glass before scans to remove any dust specks that happens to get on the glass.

I think that should get you started with a minimum of fuss.

Gene