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Re: Scanning a childs drawing
Posted: 05 Sep 2015, 14:17
by Quinsfan
Hi fellow subbers.
I have done a quick search under scanning and scanners but to many returns with no real answer found so I am posting the question.
My wife is a Brown Owl and we are going to be making some items for Christmas presents from her Brownies. I am wondering what is the best settings for scanning the girls drawings. I have a bulk standard printer that scans. Should I import them as Jpeg or something else.
I use coreldraw normally but was wondering whether to photoshop ( GIMP) the images as well. Like making the background transparent and maybe brightening up the colours.
Re: Scanning a childs drawing
Posted: 05 Sep 2015, 14:34
by Paul
i use build in scanner to my brother printer and it does the job well. then I use photoshop to juice some colours up, transparent background etc.
Re: Scanning a childs drawing
Posted: 05 Sep 2015, 14:51
by Quinsfan
That what I thought to do but was wondering if anyone had any other ideas
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Re: Scanning a childs drawing
Posted: 05 Sep 2015, 23:31
by KathG
Yes to everything you and Paul said. My only tip is to scan them at a high resolution. No less than 300dpi
Re: Scanning a childs drawing
Posted: 06 Sep 2015, 17:25
by Quinsfan
I am glad that we all do the same. This should be a nice job for me if I get it. My daughters school want the kids to do a drawing of their family to be put onto either bookmarks , coasters or keyrings for the Christmas gifts this year.
I had a stall at the schools summer fair and it seems to have paid off.:redface:
Re: Scanning a childs drawing
Posted: 07 Sep 2015, 23:21
by sublimetals_nicci
I don't do much printing now, far too busy cutting metal lol but this is a project from a few years ago that I thought might give you a few ideas (and of course you may then need to buy some coasters, bookmarks or keyrings from us to give it a go :biggrin: lol)...
I did a mothers day metal coaster for every child in my daughters old school (167!) from their drawings as a PTA gift (the PTA paid for them in this case, but you could ask parents to contribute). I did get the workflow down to as efficient as possible - I instructed the teachers to cut up paper to 90mm squares for the children to colour on (and the children were told to put their name in the design). I then provided a 3 x 2 grid on A4 for the teachers to photocopy and stick the finished drawings on (each class used different medium - the felt pens looked the brightest but the coloured pencils and crayons also looked good and glitter looked fab!). They also added the name of the class on each A4 sheet.
I then scanned each page in on a Brother print and scan (at 300dpi actual size and a plus in the contrast and brightness as it scanned) and printed straight out from the scans (though I also saved the scans as i went along so I didn't have to repeat the operation if I got extra orders). I then taped on the metal coasters down one edge, pressed 12 at a time and just flipped them out to check they pressed ok, then flipped them back onto the sheet. Once cool I stuck on the polydome bumpers - which was the longest part of the operation lol 
(though you could provide these to kids to do themselves) but left the coasters taped to the sheets to return to the school, so it was easy for them to give back to each class, then to each child (as each sheet had the class name on, each coaster the childs name). Worked perfectly - only hiccup was that I provided the order form leaflets which were supposed to accompany the coasters home and they weren't given out till a week later for some strange reason, which may be why I haven't had any extra orders! I then produced a display of other items which I put in reception and provided the leaflet for parent email (but again was late sending) and I meant to stand outside with my display as the kids were collected from school, the first few days after the coaster went out but it was snowing or raining, so after trying it one day and watching people scurrying past (can't balme them really lol) I didn't bother again.
It was a useful exercise and as I was on the PTA and wanted to help support the school I was not too bothered if it didn't bring much extra in, and I gave the PTA a 50% discount on my normal prices, so 75p a coaster so still made a reasonable amount (as our coasters are 34p plus VAT here: )
and if I had stayed at the school longer we may have tried something again for fathers day or christmas and the drip drip approach might have gained some customers in the long run.
I've attached my order form from the project so you can see what I sent out. Hope its all of some use! Nicci 
- vB_ID:3701
- Memories on metal FREE GIFT photo printing leaflet A4.jpg (110.82 KiB) Viewed 31 times
Re: Scanning a childs drawing
Posted: 08 Sep 2015, 07:04
by daviddeer
You may like to try
this plugin for photoshop to make the background transparent [download link is at the top right of the page]
(though you could provide these to kids to do themselves) but left the coasters taped to the sheets to return to the school, so it was easy for them to give back to each class, then to each child (as each sheet had the class name on, each coaster the childs name). Worked perfectly - only hiccup was that I provided the order form leaflets which were supposed to accompany the coasters home and they weren't given out till a week later for some strange reason, which may be why I haven't had any extra orders! I then produced a display of other items which I put in reception and provided the leaflet for parent email (but again was late sending) and I meant to stand outside with my display as the kids were collected from school, the first few days after the coaster went out but it was snowing or raining, so after trying it one day and watching people scurrying past (can't balme them really lol) I didn't bother again.