Scanner Art

DIY Art Project

Staff Writer Richard Larios

This week I reviewed a stack of zines. Great times, great reads. Within that stack was a zine called, ‘Smash That Scan Button’. An amazing photography zine that didn’t look like any other. It is by a zine maker named Olivia Thomson.

It peeked my interest. It was on a type of art that I wasn’t familiar with, scanner art. A quick Google search later and I’m looking at some vibrant images.I did not realize that scanner art had the following it does. Now scanner art, or scanography is defined as:

Scanography or Scanner Photography is the process of capturing images using a flatbed scanner with a CCD (charge-coupled device) array capturing device. Although technically considered to be a subgroup of traditional photography, Scanography differs greatly in process and appearance.- Debb VanDelinder

I am sure that we have all seen, whether on TV or work, people playing around with the scanner, but I was amazed when I seen what people were coming up with. As a DIY artist, someone that is always trying to play with different mediums, I felt an impulse to try.

The more I looked into this style of art I began to see that primarily there are three types of styles when using the scanner to make art.

1. Fine art; this style is more of a photo booth, where you set up the image.
2. Image Manipulation; this one is where you use the moving light to manipulate the image. Stretching or condensing.
3. Light manipulation; this is using a light source to create a flow of light running though the image. Something like a brush stroke.

I spent this Saturday enjoying myself and trying this form of photo art out, and I highly recommend it. It is something that you can do with the whole family and would be a great zine project. I recommend you try doing one of each of the three.

If you do, I recommend

1. Don’t print them.
2. Scan them to your computer.
3. Take many without stopping.
4. At the end of the session look through to see what you got.
5. For most of them you should cover the scanner screen using a dark blanket or shirt.
6. Don’t put too much pressure or weight on the scanner screen.
7. Trust me when I say, you will be in for a few laughs, but could be stressful.

The hardest of the three types is without a doubt using the light source like a paint brush. There definitely is a learning curve needed to make some of the art I saw online such as an image of a moon with flowing water. After that, it is stretching or condensing an image. This also has a learning curve but not as steep. Lastly, setting up a photo is more practical. That style really depends on whether or not you have an eye for photos.

Those were some of the images that I came up with. I hope it motivates you to try them out, and please do search cause mine are beginners, but some of the work out there is amazing.