Cleaning How do I clean this raw?

[Rosella]

Right. I have a question - how do I clean this type of scan?

Damn, I don't even know whether those dots and dark shades are dirt, or the author's style of drawing... Don't tell me I have to clean it manually O.o?

Anyways, I'd very appreciate it if you can give me a sample or some pointers. Thank you, you people are amazing <3!

 

[Gradonil_Ral]

The dots where "white" is supposed to be are intentional. The ones on the "black" areas are dirt (well, "noise" to be precise).
Unfortunately, there's a lot of this noise where black meets dark grey patterns, so without quite a bit of manual work there, you'll have to be satisfied with losing most of it.

This is basically what you'll get without doing shitload of manual work:

It could be slightly improved, but probably not by much.

 

[Rosella]

Wow, thanks. So it DOES need a lot of work >.<. Hahahahah, thanks a lot for your try and the information!

 

[Gradonil_Ral]

My "try" was just: crop, smart sharpen, level, topaz denoise, resize, topaz denoise x2, topaz clean, level. So it was no effort at all ^^;

You can burn/clean blacks quite easily, but if you'd like to get good looking greys, it'd take a lot of work. You'd either have to redraw some parts or replace them altogether.

 

[Mana Light]

i think the main problem is setting of scanner (don't use any filters, uncheck every check box).
you should use digital raws/tank raws for better quality.

 

[mashouluro]

Here is what I did, it's quite better, right?
My step:
1. Crop and resize to H=3000
2. Add blur and 3x Max Constrast
3. Use Topaz Denois 3 and 5 filter
4. 2x Min Constrast

 

[Gradonil_Ral]

Here is what I did, it's quite better, right?
My step:
1. Crop and resize to H=3000
2. Add blur and 3x Max Constrast
3. Use Topaz Denois 3 and 5 filter
4. 2x Min Constrast

Spoiler

Actually, it looks quite terrible