How I Scan & Edit My Illustrations

[@kellylewis3237]

As someone who feels very comfortable with watercolor painting, but has ZERO know how to do anything photoshop related... I found this EXTREMELY helpful. Thanks so much!

[@Anna-wb5sy]

"Oh bloody hell I can't explain this" I found you explained it very well! Love the artwork for your wedding.

[@hollyexley]

thank you!!

[@CookieZ3353]

Agreed! "Bloody hell!" is a necessary phrase when working with Photo Shop! Love your watercolors!

[@jenniferlee7122]

Agreed! I laughed out lout at "oh bloody hell"...been there said that many a time with Photoshop. Beautiful illustration and video!

[@tkasmith]

This was my favorite part of the whole thing!

[@hannahfelton1943]

So refreshing to have someone talk about photoshop with such relaxed terminology, really helps in a way you can't imagine. Cannot wait to see the end result!

[@teohyc]

Not sure why you are not using Levels to remove the paper texture. You can do that under a minute. That will save you so much time from having to cut out your illustration. Downside is Levels may affect the highlights of your art, but you can duplicate your original layer and blend in to those areas affected. You can use Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Level instead of Image->Adjustments->Levels. This will produce a Levels layer that will keep your original scan, and do the necessary Levels enhancement on top (which you can always change later on).

[@hollyexley]

Often clients ask for artwork to be supplied on a transparent background so I prefer to just use this method. Thanks!

[@kelsiewhite4189]

Teoh Yi Chie and Holly there are so many ways to do it! I spent an afternoon googling how to do it for my hand lettering and managed to cut my edit time down by 90% using some nifty shortcuts.

[@teohyc]

I see. Transparent backgrounds are always tedious -_-"

[@julieholland7051]

@@hollyexley Do you use PNG file for transparent background?

[@chrisgrant1620]

@@kelsiewhite4189 I wish you had named some of the shortcuts when you wrote this comment! :-(

[@F00lforu]

I'm glad to have found you! I have been so confounded by experts teaching on editing....they just don't know how to dumb it down for us newbs. Also relieved someone else swears as much as me with editing. Thank you so much for this very useful little tute!!

[@charlotte9247]

Wow i never thought about using the burn tool! Thanks so much for this, very inspiring and love seeing the designs for the invites. They look beautiful!

[@josiannedufour2944]

Wow! Your wedding invitations will be soooo gorgeous!!!

[@bentooh2371]

I ALWAYS GET SUPER EXCITED WHENEVER I SEE YOU UPLOAD A NEW VIDEO!!!

[@marnimanning2457]

OMG Holly, every time I see a little video thumbnail of yours pop up in my KZbin suggestions, I get so excited! I've loved your work for a long time, and I even own your little dandelion original (from when you had a sale in the last year or so.) Your voice is so soothing, your videography on point, and your subjects, music, and style are all things that I love. You're so very talented, with art, and with creating enjoyable vlogs. Keep going, you have a super fan all the way over here in the US!

[@marisspot7677]

This was really interesting to watch! I love seeing the process of everything, from how one paints, to how one prepares a painting for print or selling online. I am eager to see the finished invitation! It looks beautiful so far!

[@BenjaminDrews]

Very fun video! I can't wait to see the final result!

[@vicsterdekann9395]

Hi There! Great tutorial! Use Hotpress watercolour (300gsm) or Bristol Board (250gsm) ideal for light washes and much easier to edit your artwork in Photoshop. It's to do with the brightness and smoothness of the paper. I work in an art shop for years and tell alot of students about this. Thanks for the inspiring content.

[@aryanrod]

I find your voice very soothing and explanation very clear. Thank you for making this!

[@lindyashford7744]

Hi Holly, nice video and great explanations. The little nicks you get are an artefact of slight imperfections in the way the selections are made, a very minor colour difference may not be within the range. You can select in many ways and everyone has their favourite but they are rarely perfect. To get rid of the artefacts, which are usually very small and only a few, you can add or subtract from the selection before deleting to transparent. It is a bit cleaner than using the erase tool and just a few seconds work before you press delete! You can mess around with the range but if you are mostly happy the add/subtract is better. I used to do large scale photomontage composites of children's art, mostly drawn, and deleting white space was the tedious bit! The fun bit was adding colour and making a single image. The kids rarely realised how much observation there was in their own images, when it included a whole classes work the look on their faces was brilliant! I used a process almmost identical to yours but with the addition of tweaking layers to enhance colour.

[@astridbrisson6386]

Hi Holly! beautiful invites

[@JuliaK-ve2rw]

yes, please!

[@vivikat3548]

Woah, these invitations are going to be gorgeous! I'm so thankful you are sharing this process with us!

[@stylefodder3506]

Love the layout of your invitations, and the leaf illustrations are beautiful!

[@Sara-ti7he]

This was so helpful Holly! Thank you for sharing your technique. I loved listening to your voice as well, so kind and gentle!

[@draw_with_milly]

love this video! Especially the 'oh bloody hell' middle bit. Such an English video!! xxxx

[@brokenlizard2]

Thanks for sharing! I noticed you resized your image without turning it into a Smart Object. When you do it w/o converting the layer to a Smart Object, you are losing resolution as well as increasing the risk of distorting the image. To turn an image into a smart object, simply right click the pic's layer in the Layers panel & hit "Convert to Smart Object.". It's truly a game changer. Keep up the beautiful illos! From one creative to another, Raven.

[@nancyballesteros7383]

I recommend you to use masks over the layers instead of copy-pasting. That way you can always edit it. Also, as the comment below says, using levels will save you a lot of time. I know these tricks because I am a graphic designer and I also illustrate with watercolor. If you ever have the chance you should take a Photoshop class. Your illustrations are really pretty and mastering the editing tools like Photoshop will increase your potencial :)

[@pauwdah]

I found out while comparing jpg, bmp, tif & png at 300 DPI (max on my printer), that tif got by far the most crisper results (but also larger files). Just a heads up to improve quality without getting a new scanner. :D

[@reeminikin]

Beautiful invitations 😻 Thanks for sharing your process Holly, was super helpful!

[@JudedirectStudio]

I love the design of your invitations! How unique to you to have your own artwork​ on them-lovely really.

[@DanaCecile]

Thank you thank you thank you for making this video. I'm a traditional media artist, and have been trying to figure out how to do this. I also am a basic Photoshop user rn, and way you edit your work makes so much sense to me. Your invitations are going to be beautiful, btw. The illustrations came out great!

[@kerryeugenie]

So sweet Holly, the botanical theme is amazing! You are going to make the most beautiful bride! :) I've faithfully followed you since your first few videos & I can't tell you how much you inspire me! I'm in final year of graphic design degree but afterwards hope to pursue the same career path of nature and wildlife illustration along with food etc. A mixed bag, but the variety is what keeps it interesting! Hope to write you a proper letter some day soon, sounds a little strange but I always write to my favorite illustrators! Haha. All the very best 'til soon, Kerry :)

[@Amira-od6ul]

Love your videos and illustrations Holly

[@juliabuschbeck1480]

Hi Holly, I always enjoy watching your videos! I read already some of the suggestions below, but I'm still wondering if you ever gave the mask a try? That's a "non-destroying" method, so you can always correct your outlines afterwards. The workflow would be: - activate the picture layer - go to the menue "selection" (I'm using another language, so I hope you'll find it anyway), then colour section - select paper colour with the pipette; you'll have a mask made of moving dotted lines (hard to explain;) - go to layers, there select mask (bottom bar, third symbold from the left, a square with a hole) - switch to the selection tool (i.e. shortcut "w" or "m"), then right-click and invert the selection - cut out the mask you created for your layer by using "ctrl+x" - now you should have every white/paper part cut away and the coloured parts in front of a transparent background - if you need to adjust the outlines, you can use the eraser "e", and by changing the colour from white to black or vice versa (using "x"), you can work on the mask (make sure you selected the mask, not the layer itself) I hope that was understandable, and maybe that's a way for you to speed up a little;) And for the adjustments you could use an effect layer (next to the mask symbol in the bottom bar of the layers), it's working similar to the masks, so you can redo it always. Thanks a lot for sharing all your experiences and thoughts, it's always cheering up watching your channel (even when it's about frustrations etc. :) Cheers, Julia

[@catherineraper]

These invitations are beautiful!

[@sarahroethle4188]

Thank you so much for making this video. I'm a beginner when it comes to putting my art into digital files and I eventually want to make prints. This video was just what I needed!

[@pamelakurtz86]

Gorgeous concept for the invitations! Have you tried the rubber stamp tool to fix those little nicks at the illustration's edge? Try using a small rubber stamp size with feathered edges and you won't see the fix--just take your "sample" from along the edge where it has no nicks and voila! You won't need to rub away any of the border to fix those annoying little inconsistencies. I'm excited to see the next stage!

[@KatherineApplebyIllustration]

Thank you for sharing that! And it's BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Not to mention, getting married in a conservatory surrounded by tropical plants sounds like a dream. :) Another useful tool in Photoshop (for nicks that are on the edge) is the patch too. You select the tool, draw a circle around the nick (or blemish) and then pull down to fill that space with another matching spot (hard to explain!). Can't wait to see those printed (if you share them). :)

[@NMranchhand]

“Oh, bloody hell!”, brought a tear to my eye for halcyon days living in East Anglia. Thank you. And you did a fine job of explaining it for my vote.

[@dawnbevins451]

Can’t wait to see your printed invitations Holly, they are going to look beautiful 😍🙌x

[@SunraySister]

Thank you for these tips Holly! I've only just started removing the background when I scan my artwork, and it's opened up a whole new world of possibilities!!! I'm so happy you shared this process with us :) Rachel x

[@mariescott9071]

I so enjoyed this video. You are so talented.

[@joyabbott5844]

You know more than i do regards photoshop. You explained everything very well I thought!!

[@kjkkjjjjkjkkjkjj]

Oh man the colours you used for the invites are gorgeouss

[@Payal_mathur]

Love your idea of the wedding invitations! Thanks for sharing a detailed step by step process of editing the images and not skimming over it. This was really helpful. I wasn’t able to see very clearly the effect of the burn tool. If you can talk show the difference of before and after that would be great! Thanks again 😊 btw I’m a new subscriber and I love your channel!

[@agisparrow524]

Those invitations are going to be so beautiful and unique !!!

[@victoriamaria1590]

Thanks for sharing this! The invitations looks amazing!

[@alishaali14]

Really excited to see the end result of your invites...they look amazing so far!

[@KatieKDIY]

Gorgeous! I love the burn tool, I think I first discovered it from one of your videos! Excited to see your lovely invitations all made up xx

[@EmmaCarpenterIllustration]

Something I only discovered recently is you can add and take away to your lasso selection. Hold shift to add (and + will appear next to the lasso) and alt to take away (- symbol appears). You can do the same thing using the magic wand tool as well.

[@ariellemorris]

what beautiful paintings!!!

[@JACLYN3211]

Definitely found this helpful!! Didnt even know the magnetic wand existed! Must try for my next watercolour scan :) x

[@ClareWillcocks]

I watched this video when you published it and remembered it now I've got some editing to do. It has just been so helpful for me, thank you Holly.

[@ella.jacobson]

Such a helpful video and your voice in so calming! x

[@ItsLizV]

Great video, I'm always curious what people do when they edit their illustrations in photoshop. Can't wait to see the final result for these invitations, the paintings look lovely!

[@sammmenzies134]

Holly! Thanks for such a helpful and insightful video. Brilliant x

[@AgathaPlays]

This video was really helpful! Thank you, Holly!

[@mathildalundin4456]

Thank you so much for sharing your process Holly! I absolutely love your videos

[@andrearomero5414]

Awesome video and beautiful idea for invitations 💕 you are amazing and I love your art work 💕

[@ellenhope1710]

These are beautiful! Great video! 💛

[@amberbooler5840]

SO helpful!

[@itscarolinemary]

love the idea of the plants as a pop out, very unique! can't wait to see the finished version. I just got engaged also and I'm trying to find an illustrator/person who makes some unique wedding invitations.

[@hollyexley]

itscarolinemary oooh congratulations! 💙

[@Pankaj-Verma-]

That was something great to watch.

[@hayleymontoya]

May I be a flower girl on your wedding? or a wallflower maybe?? please lovely Holly! I think this will be the most aesthetic wedding i'll ever see. Lots of blessings for you and Craig from Mexico. Love your beautiful ring. P.D. If you accept, I'll bring hummus :)

[@Kahlimcleod]

Finally a great tutorial on this topic Thanks!!!

[@KatieSanvick]

how have i never used this tool before??! just used the magnetic lasso on some scanned watercolor elements and omg it was amazing, thanks!

[@janinegaylard9233]

Loved your video! I work in almost the same way, quickest and best, I found. Only one comment: When you create the new document to copy paste into, make the dpi of new document the same dpi as the scan and you won't have to rescale and the image stays the same size as originally scanned. As a textile designer, I need the digital file to be the same size as the painted artwork...no funny resized prints!

[@fastbacktina]

Beautiful artwork!

[@windyshih7689]

Great video! It's really helping. 🙆🏻 I'm so happy that you have set certain days for uploading videos. 😍

[@indomia5990]

This is so helpful and informative. Thank you so much, Holly. 🙏🏼

[@meganlobrien]

Aw beauuuutiful artwork ...bet the invites turned out perfect! :)

[@chrisgrant1620]

Make two scans, rotating the paper 180 degrees for the second. In Photoshop, flip one and lay one over the other (two layers). Align them exactly. Do a blend with the "lighter color" blend filter. The shadows made by the paper texture cancel out.

[@a.skinner]

Super helpful Holly thanks!!

[@volhakorban9146]

Thank you so much for doing this! It was extremely helpful.

[@refinnejselwonk]

Thank you Holly! Very helpful 😊

[@tinytofubunny]

Yes! This video was so helpful. Thanks for making it! :)

[@lixxylu]

I don’t know if it would be of interest to you, but Pixelmator has a Quick Selection Tool that makes removing the background a hundred times quicker than Photoshop’s Lasso. I love the software and it’s not very expensive for the time it saves. They have some preview videos of how the tools work if you did want to check it out. Beautiful illustrations as always and great instructions! :)

[@hollyexley]

I do wonder how well the selection tool would work with watercolour, nothing I've tried has been as accurate as the lasso tool. I'm happy with my method for now!

[@SunraySister]

Yes I just watched Kendyll Hillegas' video about Pixelmator - she recommends it if you're interested. I think I might get it, since I don't have photoshop anyway!

[@elisarosaUA]

Hello Holly. Since you are satisfied with your method, and don't want critics on it, but wonder why those litle cuts on the lines happen i have to say i have that hapen to me quit often and that has to do with the feather setting. That litle square on the top left. The lines that you paint dont have allways the same color, they are not homogeneous therefore the selection with zero feather will be very strict with the color of the pixel you'll start your selection with, and when it finds pixels that are very smilar to the first one it will simply selct it too, so the cuts hapen. The same is true for the magic wand. Play a litle with it, you might find it useful.

[@57jamari]

Nicely explained, thanks!

[@Slaus900]

This is so relaxing

[@hikikomorichi5283]

Great video and beautiful illustration. I'd be happy to see the finished printed results! Just a tip: You shouldn't use the contrast or saturation tool, but instead the levels (which you did) and the curves tool for contrast and light correction as well as the selective R/G/B color corrections in the curves menu. Using tools like brightness/contast and hue/saturation actually permanently damages your image by cutting down pixel resolution, which makes you lose image quality. Also, you might not convert your image from RGB to CMYK before having done any color corrections as it cuts down on possible color correction options (RGB has a wider colorspectrum than CMYK). Question: I know that when you accept a job and do all the licence and contract work with the client, that you know where and how your illustration will be used. Do you attach color profiles to your TIFF files or do you let the client take resposability for it?

[@43110s]

Wonderful! Thank you for sharing! Your wedding invitations are so special and unique! : )

[@StudioMolivche]

Hi, this Vlog was awesome. You seem very down to earth person. And Yes you explain everything super good. Thank you. p.s. I would recommend you to use the 'healing tool' for editing little spots. The shortcut on the keyboard is 'J". That will save you good amount of time. All the best xx

[@chronicfish]

The nicks happen as the Magnetic Lasso tool, isn't the most precise way of cutting out shapes. Yes it works.. but for best results (and unfortunately, most time consuming) , is to use the pen tool > open the Paths window > click on the icon at the bottom right, "Create new path " and then proceed to outline your image. When you are done , click on the icon in the Paths window, "Load path as a selection" and copy paste or drag and drop the selection into a new page. Your art is devine by the way :)

[@Aquarellina]

can't wait to see it all

[@hammads9045]

B/C is a general way of changing the lights and shadows. Levels gives more flexibility changing highlights (H), shadows (S), and mid-tones (MT). Curves gives even greater flexibility, as well as the ability to alter the H/S/MT of the RBG channels. Basic changes = B/C; slightly more ability = Levels; complex changes = Curves.

[@mzkatbee463]

Beautiful!

[@mathenebrodkvas5757]

Lovely work

[@duhj]

beautiful work

[@MattSmithIllustration]

For what it's worth I use a super easy process to get rid of the shadow texture. If you scan it once, then turn it 180 degrees and scan it again you can drop it into photoshop on top of one another and tell it to 'auto-align layers'. Then you can decrease the opacity of the top one and the texture is gone! Leaves a lot of the 'life' of the edges in the work. It's ultra easy!

[@sidneyvadale]

Beautiful illustrations! This was very helpful and I will be trying this method, thank you🖤

[@jiwonbaekshin4634]

This was very helpful. Thank you, Holly. :) X

[@lightryx]

There's a more precise way of getting rid of backgrounds thats pretty fast; there's a magic erase tool that erases large areas of blank space and you can adjust its tolerance if its getting rid of some of your illustration. Hopefully it might be helpful to you and cut out the tedious process of manually doing it!

[@romylunz]

If you use the pen tool it gives a cleaner cut out that the magnetic lasso tool. It does take longer because you have to create your curves and angels but definitely worth it! :)

[@katiemccaskill2593]

Thank you for explaining your process! Very helpful!! I’m just starting with transferring my art in photoshop lol

[@jadegoode1477]

Oh dear, I so wish I had this video 2 days ago! I've ordered a test print on some nice paper, my first ever piece of artwork made into a print and my editing was terrible - nervous to see the outcome 😳

[@gay-neen6148]

u make it sound so easy

[@andreamoorcroft6127]

Really interesting to see your process. Why do you save it as a tiff rather than a PNG for example? Is this better for printing from? Thanks

[@khushboo3412]

This was so helpful! Thankyou so much for the video😊

[@leannebowden2604]

I love your Gorgeous invitations Holly and your explanation was really helpful for a photoshop beginner like me, just wondering if you flatten your images before you save them as TIF's ?

[@AlisonFennell]

Holly - oh bloody hell - I love that you explain everything with the odd expletive - so funny - but this helped me a lot - thansk - smashing! Alison :)

[@quiltersful]

I've been designing fabric strictly with watercolor paintings and the fabric company does the editing...to be more marketable I need to start doing this step my self - love your tutorial! Heading out to get a scanner...can you confirm - Canon 210 is what you use? Thanks

[@SM6Band]

Thank you so much! your an amazing artist btw! love your work

[@alessandroprezzi6840]

Hey! Could you make a video on how you promoted yourself as an illustrator in the beginning? Was it hard? How was the journey that led you to where are you now? Thank you!

[@CamiWins]

Such a cute idea! Good luck on your wedding

[@TheKirschbaumfee]

I would be lying if i would say i'm not at least a bit dissapointed :D You do exactly what i do + using the burn tool, wich i know but i didnt think of using/that it would look good using it that way. I will try that!:)