Chewing Pencils

Although I’m using it less and less, my scanner is still an important part of my cartooning tool box. The first scanner I ever bought was a great, big HP machine that was loud and slow, but reliable and produced great scans. When my house was hit by lightening, my scanner went to computer part heaven and I went out to the local computer store to find a replacement. When I got there, I was staggered to see how many different varieties of scanner had evolved and how much more they could do.

This wide range of choices is a good thing, but it can also be quite confusing when looking for a new scanner. While I don’t think there is any one machine that would fall into the ‘industry standard’ category, there are a few things that you should look for when shopping around:

1. Size

Regardless of what anybody tells you, size doesn’t matter. In scanners at least, bigger does not always mean better and might, in fact, mean nothing more than a waste of space.

Of all the cartoonists I know, I think only one has an A3 size scanner. Everybody else has an A4 size - on the odd occasion that they need to scan something bigger, they simply scan the piece in two parts and join it up with their software.

A3 scanners might be more convenient if you scan that size often, but they do require more bench space and come with a much larger price tag. A4 on the other hand are now quite cheap and a good unit can be purchased for around $100.

As always, it’s up to you, but I think A3 is a waste of money for most cartoonists.

2. Speed

As I mentioned before, my old HP scanner was good, but man was it slow!! If I was scanning at high resolutions, I’d set it off on a scan and then go and do something else for 20 minutes, hoping that everything would work out ok while I was gone!

Check the speed of your potential scanner to make sure it scans entire pages quickly. Any more than 15-20 seconds for an A4 page at lowish resolution is too long. Particularly if you have a large job with a tight deadline.

3. Resolution

This is really important if you do a lot of work for print publications. Your scanner should be able to handle 1200dpi without any trouble. You’ll probably never need to produce finished work at this dpi, but just in case you do…

Remember that it is EASY to reduce the dpi in your software, but it is very difficult to increase it and maintain quality, especially if you are using bitmap images.

4. Colour (or Color!)

This is really important if you are scanning finished artwork into your computer. The last thing you want is for a vibrant, colourful piece of art to end up drab and dull because your scanner wasn’t able to pick up all the colours properly.

Often you will need to calibrate your scanner with your computer to ensure that the colours you see on screen match those in real life. But if you’re scanning line work only, then there’s nothing to worry about.

It’s always best to see your scanner in operation before you buy it, so take a nice colour photo with you and get the assistant to scan it in for you. This should give you a good idea about how well the scanner handles colour!

5. Price

No need to spend more than around $150-$200 on a scanner. You can if you want, but you don’t need to.

6. Software

Most of the graphics programs that you will use should have decent scanning features built in, but many scanner come with some great scanning packages that will work in well with what you already use. Check out what is included with your scanner and if there’s nothing, try and negotiate to get something thrown in.

The above tips should be more than enough for you to pick out a scanner that will do everything you need it to. On the off chance that you need something of super high quality scanned and printed, use your local printing service rather than buying an expensive scanner that will never be fully utilised.

The reality is that most cartoonists are working entorely in digital media now, and the scanner is going the way of the printer. It makes a nice desk ornament but doesn’t do a whole lot more! So don’t be tempted into buying a really expensive scanner, but set a budget, shop around and then have fun watching your cartoons leap from the paper to the screen!