Customer Reviews

Start With a Scan: A Guide to Transforming Scanned Photos and Objects into High Quality Art

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I have already reviewed the first edition of this book. There is a second edition with *all new* graphics and more about making art for the world wide web. It is so good that I was moved to come back here and say this... here goes...

This book is the best book I have ever read about scanning. It is also the best book I have ever read about the principles of GRAPHIC ART itself. Everything that I learned formally about graphic design in years of study I found expertly summarised within these pages. This book must be the bargain of the century. Most artists would jealously guard these great secrets, tips and tricks. Look carefully at every illustration (I am still making great discoveries) analyse the appeal, reproduce in your own way and reap the artistic and financial rewards. Real insight freely and abundantly given into how professionals make the grade.

Enthralling. That's a pretty strong word to use about a technical manual, but this is no ordinary book about scanning. Everything in here is an utter delight. The history and theory of scanning are clearly explained. Yes, it may well start with a scan, but it ends with rekindling your enthusiasm for computing and graphics in a very big way. If you read it with your system booted up and immerse yourself in the chapters, you can see why these guys are so passionate about their work. Wonderful value for money. Apart from revealing hundreds of ways to turn lacklustre clipart and other sources into money-making graphics, it doubles as a handy guide to the features and versatility of Photoshop. This is a tour de force from two very generous authors. Arriving in the same package as Lynda Weinman's excellent "<designing web graphics.3>", I can't remember when I was last so happy just reading. Thanks!

A number of computer data input devices have come on the scene in recent years to allow computer users to import a variety of data into computer graphics applications. One such input device that has gained popularity for importing artwork for Website designing is the scanner. Janet Ashford and John Odam have teamed up to produce Start With A Scan to actively promote the use of scanners to create impressive artwork that can be used for a variety of purposes including Website design.

This book serves as an excellent guide for taking scanned images and converting them through the use of filtering and other image editing tools to create outstanding graphic images. Consider adding effective shadowing, extruding 2D scanned images into 3D images, combining images, adding coloring and patterns, cropping, and special edging effects, to name a few. There are almost an endless number of ways that images can be creatively edited. These talented authors will show readers how they too can start with a simple scanned image and apply graphic image editing to achieve cool special effect results!

Besides offering an impressive array of options open to graphics artists to convert scanned images into wonderful works of art, Ashford and Odam also demonstrate just how easy it is to scan a variety of objects such as paper, fabrics, food items, flowers, toys, household items, office supplies, tools, photos, patterns, symbols, and yes, even my favorite Ramen noodles! Custom-made backgrounds, textures, and clipart are yours for the scanning! Consider the number of items you can scan and how they can be put to creative and productive use!

The large 8 1/2" by 11" format of this book makes for easy reading and viewing. Exceptional illustrations used throughout the book offers a breathtaking view of how someone can scan simple objects and turn them into useful Web graphics. This book is an essential reference guide highly recommended for serious Web graphics use by those who also want to have fun and expand their creative abilities. "To scan or not to scan" is a question now left up to you to decide!

I was graphics-challenged till I read this. The most I ever did with graphics was pretty much to resize them or add a little text. This book gives you a whole range of possibilites with color, texture, cropping, layering, etc. - more than just applying a fancy filter or tweaking the brightness and contrast. Now, based on the wealth of ideas in this book, I look at clip art and photos with a new eye, and have applied the various ideas to make a much wider variety of graphic images. The best thing about this book is that it's DESIGN-centric, rather than SOFTWARE-centric, so it's not limited to what a handful filters might do. Instead it expands your thinking to combine a whole variety of techniques to create something really unique.

I enjoyed the ideas presented in the book. I was hoping for a little more step by step instruction. I found most of the examples hard to follow as the book moves along very quickly.

I have been working with graphics for 5 years. This is one of the most useful books I have found. "Start with a Scan" does exactly that. Then it goes the next level, what to do with it. From photos, to 3D objects, and even old black & white clip art, are used creatively by Janet Ashford and John Odam. I have at least 20 books I use regularly, but this is one of the best.

I ordered this one. I will return it. Yes, there are very good ideas in this book, but nothing great that you cannot come up by yourself if your are creative. Trust yourself.

There are many references to using photoshop (I am an intermediate photoshop user) that you can find elsewhere, not pertaining specifically to scanning.

Technical discussions on file types, resolution are OK but, once again, if you have read other books, doesn't add anything.

I think that you can find better tips and ideas surfing the Web.

Simply not for me.

I bought this book solely for reference on scanning line art and fonts, but have found that it has much, much more to offer. I disagree with a prior reviewer that this book is only for beginners and that much of the information is out there on the web. I have been searching, without success, for specific directions on scanning line art and fonts and converting those scans into usable art. (Just two chapters in this book.) This book not only gives one specific instructions for this, but goes much further and delves quite deeply into the actual creation of real art from a simple scan. The book also provides a lot of information on turning photos into graphic art. I had considered myself a fairly advanced user of photo software, but this book has opened my eyes to an amazing range of techniques and ideas on image usage.

I was expecting a technical guide to basic scanning techniques, and this book provides that. It also takes one much further beyond mere technical skill and is a wonderful guide to both the creation and use of computer generated graphics.