(Originally posted on LiveJournal)
Preparing to weave into my home-life those things brought from my mother’s home has made me look at what I do have with new eyes. Plus there’s the aspect of looking back at my own artwork.
The last several years, I’ve pretty much ignored my own artwork – except for those things I have on my walls at home. Many of my pen-and-ink pieces done for Mythlore were sold years ago, the originals, that is. And I haven’t had a scanner that would allow me to scan copies from Mythlore pages, as what I do have is a roller-copier built into my HP printer.
But lately, I’ve been considering getting a flatbed scanner, so that I can copy/scan some of the larger pieces, and some of the color artwork. As I understand it, I’ll have to learn bunches of things dealing with PhotoShop. But, that’s okay. After all, I did eventually get a grasp of Dreamweaver for building my website. (Oh, poor website: needs a serious overhaul and updating — I’m hoping to get to that soon, once I’ve gotten data transfered to the laptop.)
Epson V500 scanner
Anyway, I’m not so daunted by the prospect of having to learn yet another program – especially if it will let me do some things that I want to do, like make prints of some of the artwork, or put them on STUFF (I’m considering signing up for Zazzle – I like most of their products better than Cafe Press’, but I haven’t made a final decision yet.).
The company had it’s Christmas party early this year (jointly with our sister-show). And I actually won some Nice Bucks in the “prize” drawing. Unexpectedly. Which is why I’m contemplating the flatbed right now. I have the cash in hand.
But where to put the beast? I have knick knacks from Mom’s house that I’ve been cleaning and inspecting, but which will have to go back into boxes until the furniture arrives from Houston and is settled into place. And a flatbed scanner isn’t exactly a small piece of equipment.
The prospects are enticing me. It’s fun to look forward with anticipation at being able to do stuff to share out my works (and possibly make some money from it 😉 ). But it’s not going to happen today.
Besides, the plumber comes tomorrow.
Comments
sartorias – Dec. 4th, 2007
Cool!
muuranker – Dec. 4th, 2007
*Looks up* and sees that original of yours which illustrated a paper of mine. Let me know if you want a scan (at some point – I don’t want to take it out of its frame, and I don’t know how it will scan).
I’m VERY interested “products”(that _might_ get me to deframe it!)
I would be interested to know if your issues with Cafe Press are about the range of products, the quality, or something else.
On scanning: I gather that the ‘capture’ software is a different issue to the ‘manipulation’ software. It would probably be worth talking to one of the archivists/specialist librarians of our our mutual friends to see what they say.
I sympathise with the “where???” question (especially as the recommendation is that you don’t put weights/cats on top of it).
scribblerworks – Dec. 4th, 2007
Regarding the software matter, yes, I sort of knew of the distinction between the “capture” versus “manipulation” matters. I have a couple of artist friends who use scanners for their art, wedding partial scans for larger pieces (something I’ll have to do for the color artwork).
There’s also the matter of scanning old letters, since I came home from Houston with a lot of my great-aunt’s correspondece from her years in India. Although I mean to make a typed transcription of them, I’ll also probably do an image scan for preservation purposes. Another reason to choose a flatbed over my current roller-scanner.
As for the Zazzle versus Cafe Press choice … there doesn’t seem to be too much difference in product quality, so far as I can tell. But I like the various mug types that Zazzle has that Cafe Press does not (particularly, the mugs with color rims). My one regret is that Zazzle does not have a messenger bag similar to the one that Cafe Press has. Zazzle has some nice bags, but not that really nice messenger bag (I have a CP messenger bag that I use for conventions). I haven’t delved deeply into the details of either site yet, but from the little investigation I’ve done so far, Zazzle has a few more options that I like. I’ll probaly decide in a week or so.
UPDATE: I did eventually buy an Epson V500 scanner.
