Need help creating something.

[cheribear]

My five year old is drawing pictures, and more pictures. I can't stop her and we already have enough to put one in every Christmas card this year. I've got her doing words now, just for a change in pace.

Obviously through my mother's eyes, they're cute. I want to make them into elements to use them on my Christmas cards. How do I go about it? If they turn out okay I'd certainly share them with whoever is interested.

Is it just as simple as scanning them in at a high DPI? I've done that with one of her earlier masterpieces. :lol: What can I do to them to put them on a clear background instead of white?

[Karen B]

Well, I use GIMP 2.2 , but you may have a similar option (or GIMP is free if you want to tackle it, gimp.org ) . I would scan it, copy and paste the image to make the bottom layer transparent, select by color, and cut/delete the white paper, leaving only the crayon or marker.

[HelenaJole]

I've had good luck scanning drawings and then defining them as a brush and stamping on a new layer. That only works if it's all one color, though.

[cheribear]

She's got about a bazillion colors going on. She uses markers so they're pretty bright. I think I have to remove the white - I use PS 7 and to be honest, I know very little about selecting things by color or whatever. When people talk about using magic wands or lasso tools and stuff, I'm lost already. I so I need to figure that part out.

[HelenaJole]

There's an "eliminate white" filter here (http://graphicssoft.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.edesign.com/filters/) that I checked out before. I couldn't use it because it doesn't work in CS2, but maybe it will work for you.

[cheribear]

Oh, that sounds like something that just might work! I'll try it and get back to you!

Thank you so much!