Organizing your cels/sketches

[Keropi]

Thanks for the reponses everyone!

After going through all your replies, I can see what I have is an 80 percent scanning problem and a 20 percent organizing problem. It used to be easy for me to remember where everything was or at least have good guesses. But I can't remember anymore because there are too many items from too many series from too far back. I end up going to through most of my stuff each time I need to find just one item.

As far as my "stacks" go: I don't stack my things too high because the weight would squash them more together. I don't put similar series cels/sketches together because I would have to remove the packaging that keeps them out of the light. I'd hate to leave them out in more indirect light than I have to since I've even seen my NON-production artwork papers fade in indirect light after some years have passed (the part that was sticking out in the light I mean).

I did go and label my ITOYA folders spines with the names of the series in the folder. That'll help me if I'm looking for something in those. It used to be easy to find a sketch, but I have too many sketch sets from several times more series than I did eighteen months ago so "memory" is no longer an option for me.

Say Krafty, how does that file cabinet you put your sketches in look like?

Sketch sets are definitely harder to keep organized than cels. I should find some way to display my favorite sketches in folders while keeping the sketches I don't like as much somewhere else (without throwing them away). Then I'll need some way to remember which separately displayed sketches go with what extras/repeats sketch bag they came from originally.

[Krafty]

Say Krafty, how does that file cabinet you put your sketches in look like?

Sketch sets are definitely harder to keep organized than cels. I should find some way to display my favorite sketches in folders while keeping the sketches I don't like as much somewhere else (without throwing them away). Then I'll need some way to remember which separately displayed sketches go with what extras/repeats sketch bag they came from originally.

If you have a cut of 30 drawings, it's nice to keep the most interesting 2 or 3 to hand and hide the rest away. I'd be frightened of misplacing them if they were separated so I can't bring myself to do it. It may be hard work if I want to reunite them in future.

Here are some pics of "The Cel Cabinet" *dum dum dummmmm*
The four links below demonstrate some storage capabilities. [Each image around 30-36kb].



Top drawer open with the goodies inside You can fit quite a few cels in here, I like to place large genga at the base and two rows of cels on top so they don't have much weight on them.
The shallow drawers are a great reminder not to pile them up high and add to the pressure.

Bottom drawer for storing the settei/douga cuts. The big drawer is 10" deep so it can hold piles of sketches. Doesn't matter about piling them too much because it's only paper- just have to make sure the items down below aren't folded or creased. The background setups are easily accomodated.

All that stuff you can see came from that single drawerThe only 'system' I have is grouping the series together and making sure it all fits, LOL

Fist of the North Star genga/settei/storyboards on the bottom, Digi Charat/UFO Princess Valkyrie/Eiken/Gallforce sketches on top. Next to it I have settei/stroyboards from various series including Cyber City, VHD, Marin Chan, Gowcaizer, Angelium, Angel Blade, Akira and Mezzo.
On top lies the background/genga artwork. stuff like Burn Up W, Mezzo, Septum Charm, Champloo...

Fits Hanken perfectly with its 24" depth. A sneak peek at a Viper hanken I've yet to scan. Some of these are in their own plastic folder to avoid them getting squashed.
The runners on each drawer are buffered so they can't be slammed but close slowly. That's a neat feature. I know the artwork's safe and won't get knocked around whilst stored in here.

[Golden Boy]

James,
That is a sweet setup you got there. I wish I had room for an extra cabinet just for cels/sketches.

90% of my cels are in books. 10% are in those plastic cases. All my sketches are in plastic cases. The books used to be organized by series, but with additions and subtractions, they've become fragmented.

Someday, I would like to keep all my cels in portfolio cases with zippers. These are ring types that you can add or subtract or move around pages. Each page would have a black, acid-free backing board. This way I can go through the books without bending pages and pick and choose which cels I would like to bring to a con for instance. It would be less handling of the cels as I would just have to collect pages to show. I would then put all my sketches in the Itoya books that used to have my cels.

gb

[kira]

what kind of cabinet is that?

looks like one you'd put hanging file folders in but i'm not sure since the top draw is different.

[hobbywhelmed]

Neat cabinet. Looks almost like a small blueprint drawer cabinet. (Never underestimate what you can find in a used office equipment/furniture dealer's warehouse.)

My Itoya's are labeled not only on the spine, but with removable colored labels on the sides, since some of the metal racks I store them in are in higher shelves . This way I only have to pull out the book slightly, from either direction, to see what's in.

I try hard to have a separate book for each series/show. Where I know I'll only collect a very few, I make the kids share a single book. Where things get out of hand, and I find myself going to 2 or 3 books, I'll start to subdivide a series by character(s), just as I initially did with Weiss Kreuz and Generator Gawl.

Single or 2-page sketches, if there aren't many and/or the show is CG, will go in a book. Where there are a lot, or I have full cuts, they would go into those plastic cases the overseas deputies are so liberal with. And recently I found domestic archival plastic boxes in the craft stores (used for storing either rubber stamps, or scrapbooking papers and supplies) that are even deeper than the Japanese type, and a tad larger in W x L.

However, all that said, the extent of my organization is to keep the WK and GG books in racks on a spare desk, the books with backgrounds together above my computer desk, and everybody else shares two shelves in an alcove, and I just go looking. It's always a shock to expect a "thin" book to be the one I'm looking for, only to realize it's the one looking kinda bulgy....

[Krafty]

GB, backing your cels with acid-free card is a really idea. It might pad out the book but it'll protect the cels from bending when you move the books around and flick through the sleeves.

what kind of cabinet is that?
looks like one you'd put hanging file folders in but i'm not sure since the top draw is different.

When I was looking for a suitable one, it took ages to find the kind I wanted, sometimes they come under 'standard filers', other times they are 'side filers' or 'lateral filers' and because of the dimensions, like HobbyWhelmed suggests, they are sold as map/blueprint cabinets.

Here's a UK site that sells the one I bought- "Furniture At Work" *Plus GBP 75.00 is a good price for these too*
If you're looking for a similar one, ALWAYS check the dimensions before you order.
The one I bought is the first item in the drop-down menu- 1 drawer/3 storage.

[wELCOME cONSUMER]

I haven't really been reading this thread, so if this has already been said
forgive me, but shouldn't cels be stored vertically? Lying them down on top
of one another is a bad idea. Stacking causes considerable pressure. The
weight usually leads to sticking and other problems.

This is what some dealers have told me, which is why I have my Itoyas
on the shelf like books or DVDs. If I'm mistaken here, please forgive my ignorance.

[RoboFlonne]

It looks like Krafty only puts a handful of Cels in his Drawers at a time so the weight isn't that much of a problem.

His heavy stuff seems to be a ton of settai and sketches, where weight doesn't really matter.