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Welcome to a special episode of the podcast, I'm calling Ask Rodney I'm exploring it sort of like a column where I'll take listener questions and dedicate a bonus episode or two a month focused on addressing any questions you might have.

If you'd like to submit a question about book marketing, sales, book design, or any related topics DM me on Instagram, I can't promise to get to all of them but I will do my best to address it in future Ask Rodney episodes

This first question came from an Instagram follower who wrote:

Hello. I have sketches I would like to digitize so I can turn them into a book but I have no idea where to start or what type of drawing tool I would need to do that

A few of the members of my Coloring Bookpreneur Society mentor program are artists that hand draw their own work while most of my members source their art from online resources like Creative Fabrica many more of them hire illustrators on Fiverr to create original work.

What do you do if you’ve hand drawn your art on paper, but you need to digitize it so you can lay it out in book format for printing?

You have two possible three options:

Option 1:

You’ll have to scan your artwork that’s the most common way to digitize physical art but with it comes additional adjustments that you’ll need to make the most obvious will be cleaning up the background and making the background pure white.

This can be done typically in Photoshop or perhaps Adobe Illustrator.

What if you don’t have or are not familiar with either of this software?

You could have your drawings scanned and then hire someone on Fiverr to clean them up. Enter the term “Photoshop editing” in the search will yield a variety of providers that could help you.

Option 2:

If you don’t own a scanner or have access to one, you could take your art to copy shop like Kinko’s and have your art scanned, or you can try photographing it with your phone and send it to a provider on Fiverr to clean it up.

If you choose this option you’ll need good lighting and I recommend photographing as close as possible without losing the full piece end to end so your editor has plenty to work with.

Option 3:

I address in detail on the podcast but it's only applicable if you're using Apple Products

Resources Mentioned:

Procreate (Apple only product)

Creative Fabrica Spark (at the time I'm publishing payment plans start at $9 a month)

MidJourney (at the time I'm writing this payment plans start at $10 to $30 a month)

Canva (not crazy about the Ai tools, but definitely a contender for laying out and formatting your coloring book)

Fiverr (enter the search bar Photoshop editing)

Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator (subscription plans start at $10 a month)

iPad and Apple Pencil

DM me on Instagram if you like to book a complimentary 15-minute no pressure conversation about the Coloring Book Creator Mentor program

Coloring Book Creator Live Facebook Group