Easiest way to digitize scanned watercolor paintings?

[bay2sacto]

Does anyone here know the best/easiest way to digitize a watercolor illustration/painting? I have an aunt who is putting out a childrens book which will feature several of her illustrations/paintings done with watercolor on paper. She has asked me to help her with this as she's a bit over her head in regards to the digitizing part. She has sent them to me as scans on CD.

She has told me they need to be saved as EPS/PDF/AI files for her publisher. I'm guessing they need to be vector files and not just resaved as EPS/PDF/AI which would just wrap the image in postscript and not make it vector.

I'm thinking I'll need to run live trace in Illustrator and go from there. I'm trying to keep the time spend on each to a minimum as there are around 12 or so.

Any suggestions?

Thanks...

 

[Jim Campbell]

She has told me they need to be saved as EPS/PDF/AI files for her publisher. I'm guessing they need to be vector files and not just resaved as EPS/PDF/AI which would just wrap the image in postscript and not make it vector.

I would be very surprised if they actually wanted a vector conversion, so I would double-check that. I have worked with printers and presses who would not accept a colour image if it wasn't an EPS. Back in the dim mists of pre-history, EPS was the professional image format and some print houses seem mired in the misconception that this remains the case.

Check to see whether they actually require vector artwork (and, if so, why? Are they planning on blowing it up to bill-board size any time soon?) and, if not, simply save as a CMYK EPS direct from Photoshop after scanning - finished print size at 300DPI will be more than sufficient.

Cheers!

Jim

 

[opeter]

A CMYK TIFF would be also good.

 

[Jim Campbell]

A CMYK TIFF would be also good.

Unless they've asked for an EPS, which they have.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Consultant]

Highly unusual to digitize existign work into vector form. Ask if high resolution TIFF would work (at least final print size at 300dpi).

If small enough to scan, scan, otherwise get a professional photographer. You might need a professional who has a calibrated set up even for the scanning.

 

[Jim Campbell]

Highly unusual to digitize existign work into vector form. Ask if high resolution TIFF would work (at least final print size at 300dpi).

An EPS will quite happily hold bitmap data if that's the file format the brief specifies* ... I don't see the need to ask them if they'll accept an alternative format when a straight scan from Photoshop can be saved direct to EPS.

Cheers

Jim

* Yes, I know it's unnecessary, but it's what they've asked for. Some design/repro/print operations still cling to the idea that EPS is the professional graphics format, whether bitmap or vector.

 

[bay2sacto]

Hi all,

Ended up my Aunt didn't actually need them converted to vector, which I had a feeling was the case. Just needed them saved as PDFs. So easy to do.

Thanks.