Remove Non-Photo Blue in Photoshop
Struggling to eliminate that pesky non-photo blue pencil in your inked scans? Follow this tutorial for crisp, black and white inked pages!
1. Scan the piece in color
Scan at 600 dpi, since we will convert this image to grayscale later
Very light non-photo blue lines may not show up at all—I had to significantly darken my lines for this demo!
2. Open the piece in Photoshop
3. Navigate to Image > Adjustments > Black & White — the piece now appears in black and white
4. Click on the Preset dropdown, choose Blue Filter
This may totally clean up your image!
5. If not, adjust the cyan and blue color sliders until your image is clean
You may notice, you can filter other colors as well! Non-photo blue is the most effective, but other color pencils will work in a pinch. Just make sure your pencils are not wax-based, or your ink won’t stick as well on top—if you’re not sure, try a test patch before a Serious Drawing.
6. Convert your image to grayscale, to save file space:
Image > Mode > Grayscale
7. Save your work!
Use a .psd or a .tiff for print and for your personal archives
Downsample and save a second version* as a .jpg or a .png for the web
* ALWAYS keep a high-res version of your work in case you ever want a nice, crisp print!!
