Scannography looks like magic when you see the finished work. It doesn't look like photography. It doesn't look like digital painting. It looks like something captured by a device that doesn't exist — except it does, and it's been sitting in offices and homes since the 1990s. Here's exactly how it's made, from the first object placement to the final print.
If you haven't read our introduction to scannography, start there. This article assumes you understand the basic premise — a flatbed scanner used as the capture device — and goes deeper into the actual process. Consider it a behind-the-scenes look at how the work in JoyXchange collections like Not a Robot and JoyXthetics actually gets made.
The equipment
A scannography setup is minimal. You need a flatbed scanner, subjects to scan, and a dark environment. That's it. The scanner does the work a camera, lens, tripod, studio lighting, and backdrop would otherwise do — and it does some of those things better than any photography rig can.
Which scanner? Most working scannography artists use consumer-grade flatbed scanners in the 1200–4800 DPI range. Higher DPI doesn't automatically produce better art — it produces larger files with more detail. For print work, 2400 DPI is enough to produce clean large-format output. What matters more is the scanner's CCD sensor quality and the evenness of its light distribution across the scanning bed.
Step 1: Subject selection and preparation
What you put on the glass determines everything about the final image. Scannography subjects fall into a few categories, each with distinct properties:
Choose your subjects
Translucent objects (leaves, petals, thin fabric, insect wings) — the scanner's light passes through them, revealing internal structure invisible to the eye. These produce the most otherworldly results.
Opaque objects (coins, small tools, stones, hardware) — lit from above by the scanner's beam, they create sharp silhouettes with soft directional shadows. Good for layered compositions.
Liquid and organic matter (water with objects submerged, paint drips, pressed plant material) — unpredictable, high-risk, high-reward. Moisture on the glass requires careful cleanup.
Avien's material selection is one of the defining elements of his approach. Rather than reaching for "beautiful" objects, his work often starts with subjects that have inherent tension — biological forms alongside mechanical or synthetic materials. The scanner doesn't editorialize. It captures exactly what's placed on the glass, and the artist's job is to place things that are already interesting.
Step 2: Scanner setup
Before placing anything on the glass, get your software settings right. Most artists scan at the highest resolution their workflow can handle, in full color (24-bit RGB minimum, 48-bit for flexibility in post). Set the scan area to the full platen — you can crop later, but you can't add back what you didn't capture.
Configure your scan settings
Resolution: 2400 DPI minimum for print work. 4800 DPI for macro-detail pieces. Higher costs scan time and disk space — budget accordingly.
Color depth: 48-bit if your scanner and software support it. This gives you far more latitude in post-processing before banding or noise becomes visible.
File format: Save as TIFF, not JPEG. JPEG compression destroys fine detail and introduces artifacts that are unusable at print size.
Auto-correction: Turn it off. Let the scanner capture raw data. You'll apply your own color correction in post.
Step 3: Object placement and the dark environment
This is the most tactile, physical step — and the one most beginners underestimate. Place your subjects directly on the scanner glass. The relationship between objects, their distance from the glass, and how they overlap determines the depth of field effect in the final scan.
Objects touching the glass appear sharp. Objects elevated even a centimeter above it — resting on other objects, or propped slightly — appear with increasing blur as distance from the glass increases. This creates a natural depth of field without any lens optics involved. It's one of the scannography technique's most distinctive properties: you build focus into the physical arrangement, not in software.
Manage the background
What you place behind your subjects (or whether you close the scanner lid at all) determines your background. A closed lid pressed down flat creates a clean, even dark background — the lid's interior becomes the backdrop.
An open lid scanned in a dark room creates complete black behind the subjects — a void that makes objects appear to float.
Custom backdrops — colored paper, fabric, textured surfaces placed on top of the objects before scanning — give the image a painted or printed quality that changes the feel completely.
Step 4: The scan
Start the scan and don't touch anything. The scan head moves slowly across the platen — any vibration during this process creates motion blur in the final image. At high resolution, a full-bed scan can take 3–8 minutes. Step away from the desk. Don't bump the table.
For organic or fragile subjects (flowers, insects, living plant material), there's a time pressure: the scanner's light and heat can damage or change the subject during a long scan. Most experienced scannographers have a workflow that minimizes scan time — lower resolution for composition tests, full resolution only for final captures once the arrangement is confirmed.
Step 5: Post-processing — where Avien's work diverges
The raw scan is raw material, not finished art. What happens in post is what separates a technically correct scannography image from a JoyXchange piece. Avien's post-processing approach is the defining element of how his work looks — and it's not a single technique, it's a layered process.
Post-processing workflow
Color correction first. Adjust white balance, exposure, and contrast before anything else. The raw scan will often look flat — this is intentional, as a flat capture gives maximum post flexibility.
Selective colorization. Rather than applying uniform color grading, specific elements within the scan get their own color treatment. A biological form might get one color language; a synthetic material in the same scan gets another. This creates the color tension that makes scannography from this collection feel alive.
Texture compositing. Additional scan layers — pure textures, surfaces, noise patterns from other scans — are composited over the base image. The scanner is used multiple times for a single piece, building layers the way a painter builds glazes.
Digital painting passes. Hand-painted elements, brushwork applied in post, extend the image beyond pure capture into something more constructed. The boundary between "what the scanner made" and "what the artist made" becomes intentionally unclear.
The result is an image that looks impossible because it is, partly, impossible. The scan captures things no camera could. The post-processing builds on that capture in ways no purely photographic process would allow. That combination is the Avien technique.
Practical tips for beginners
If you want to try scannography yourself, these are the things that will save you the most time:
From scan to finished collection work
At JoyXchange, scannography doesn't stay on a screen. The finished images become the source material for physical products — wall art prints, apparel graphics, covers, functional objects. The transition from digital file to physical print is its own craft decision: paper type, print process, scale, framing all change how the work reads.
Scannography is one of those techniques that rewards anyone who tries it — the entry cost is low, the learning curve is forgiving, and the medium has properties that can't be replicated by anything else. If you're an artist who hasn't tried it, a flatbed scanner and a few hours are all you need to start.
And if you'd rather own the finished work than make it yourself, the collections on JoyXchange are the place to start. Every piece tells you exactly where it came from: glass, light, objects, and time.