HOW TO MAKE YOUR LOGO DIGITAL

OK, so you have your logo all drawn by hand on a piece of paper. You finally after many edits have it the way you want it to look and you are happy. But the problem now is the person you want to put your logo on your site and letterhead is 2 states away and they want you to email then a copy of your logo so that they can edit it's size and colors. This would be fine if you had it on your computer in a digital format which would take care of that. But you don't and you are not sure how to get the image digitized and on onto your computer. Well there are a few ways to go about achieving the results that you are looking for. Quality will play a factor as well but once the logo is digital then it can be manipulated and tweaked in hundreds of ways. This process will save time from erasing and redrawing over and over again. So let's now explore a few ways to get your image from a piece of paper drawn in pencil to a digital one on your computer.

One way of getting your image or logo onto your computer in a digital form is to use a scanner. A scanner will scan the image and convert it into a digital representation of what is seen on the paper. Essentially creating a digital duplicate of the logo. Scanners can be set to scan in (dpi) which is dots per inch. The higher the dots per inch the better the resolution the image will scan in as. The higher resolution will also make the file size larger. If quality is a key then I would scan the image in a the highest resolutions. If quality is not a factor and you plan on editing it further anyway then I would scan it in in a lower resolution. To get good results early on I would recommend that you use a fine tip marker and go over the drawing of the whole logo to darken then lines because it will show up better when scanned under the intense light that seems to glare out thinner lighter lines. Once it is on your computer you can then email it.

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Digital cameras can be a great way to get your logo onto your computer.  You can place the paper on a flat surface and then use your digital camera to take a picture of you logo and that digital picture will instantly be a digital copy of your logo.  Again with this same technique I would recommend that you darken all of your lines with a fine tip black marker or Sharpie to that the glare from the camera's flash won't bleed over across your logo causing it to no show up all the way.  One thing that will help with this too is if you have drawn it on a piece of white or light colored paper then make sure that the flat surface that you place the image on in order to take the picture is as dark as possible.  This will help the contain the glare from the camera flash.  Or you could take the picture in a well lighted room and turn the camera flash off.  It's a good idea to use macro which is the flower logo setting on your camera to take the picture because it allows you to get extremely close to the object to take your picture without the camera going out of focus leaving you a blurry image. 

A graphic tablet is a very good way to draw your image by hand but directly onto your computer already in the digital format.  Graphic tablets are also know as digital drawing pads.  You can either use this at the beginning of your design for your logo or if you have your logo on paper already.  Whatever it is you draw on the digital pad with the digital pen then it will show up on your computer screen and when you are done you can save the logo or image.  If you have already drawn the logo and want to digitize it then you can use a piece of scotch tape and tape down the image on the digital pad and then trace the image using the digital pen and you will have your logo drawn in digital format.  After it is on the computer you can manipulated, delete, or save the logo as you chose.