Newest addition came in and there's a BIG issue

[GoalieZero]

Mother. Of. God.

I know there are some really big and beautiful backgrounds that have been posted here, but as for actual cels, I'm not sure I've seen one as quite as big as this beast that just came in.

The newest, biggest, and baddest addition to my collection is this massive panning shot of the Deathscythe Hell, measuring in at 21" wide x 18" tall. It's in wonderful condition for it's size too.






My largest Itoya next to the cel is 14" wide x 17" tall. Herein lies my two main issues.

A) For those collectors with massive artwork like this, how were you able to scan & upload your piece?

B) To those same collectors, what is your preferred way of storing large artwork like this (i.e. what kind of Itoya type portfolios are available to accommodate this size)

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks guys!

Regards,

G0

[earl]

I have several large items. If you don't plan on having a bunch of very large pieces, I recommend using an archival box. For example, there are boxes available here:

http://www.universityproducts.com/cart. ... entId=1266

that are 20"x24"x1.5" and would accommodate that piece nicely. They are around $19 + shipping (which, in my experience on that site, has been a flat $9-$10 for ground shipping), so obviously this isn't economical if you have a lot of large items. However, I think it can be worth it depending on the value of the item.

As far as scanning is concerned, I use a handheld "wand" scanner (everything in my gallery was scanned with it, not just the large items):

http://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics%C2%AE- ... ld+scanner

and then use this simple software to automatically stitch the scans together (the demo version is free, never expires, and does everything I need it to do):

http://matthewalunbrown.com/autostitch/autostitch.html

Sometimes the autostitch isn't perfect... but it does a pretty good job most of the time as long as your scans are straight.

[Animechaos]

I use a Mustek large format scanner. Very high DPI and quality. It can scan a standard size cel with full background in one swipe and then some. It accommodates large items very well, but would still need 2 passes for huge items. The handheld scanner only goes to 900 DPI where the Mustek goes to 2400. (higher DPI = more detail)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... ge+scanner

If more than one pass, the program Earl mentioned would likely do the trick, but I've always just cropped them via Photoshop.

BTW, that cel looks a little familiar.

[GoalieZero]

I have several large items. If you don't plan on having a bunch of very large pieces, I recommend using an archival box. For example, there are boxes available here:

http://www.universityproducts.com/cart. ... entId=1266

that are 20"x24"x1.5" and would accommodate that piece nicely. They are around $19 + shipping (which, in my experience on that site, has been a flat $9-$10 for ground shipping), so obviously this isn't economical if you have a lot of large items. However, I think it can be worth it depending on the value of the item.

As far as scanning is concerned, I use a handheld "wand" scanner (everything in my gallery was scanned with it, not just the large items):

http://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics%C2%AE- ... ld+scanner

Thanks earl, I think that'll work great for storage, i'm not sure if I'll find another piece at this size, so it should suffice. And I'll look into that hand scanner, 900dpi is pretty awesome for that price.

I use a Mustek large format scanner. Very high DPI and quality. It can scan a standard size cel with full background in one swipe and then some. It accommodates large items very well, but would still need 2 passes for huge items. The handheld scanner only goes to 900 DPI where the Mustek goes to 2400. (higher DPI = more detail)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... ge+scanner

If more than one pass, the program Earl mentioned would likely do the trick, but I've always just cropped them via Photoshop.

BTW, that cel looks a little familiar.

I've been dying for a Mustek for awhile now. My little printer scanner is terrible, requires two scans for even standard cels and alot of color correction in Photoshop, not too mention the Automerging and cleanup.

And thanks a bunch for the safe shipping! I'll definitely be using SMJ from now on as my main deputy. Already have another settei set coming shortly : )

[earl]

I use a Mustek large format scanner. Very high DPI and quality. It can scan a standard size cel with full background in one swipe and then some. It accommodates large items very well, but would still need 2 passes for huge items. The handheld scanner only goes to 900 DPI where the Mustek goes to 2400. (higher DPI = more detail)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... ge+scanner

If more than one pass, the program Earl mentioned would likely do the trick, but I've always just cropped them via Photoshop.

BTW, that cel looks a little familiar.

I agree that a higher DPI is better if you want to keep super detailed scans for archival purposes. However, if your main goal is to upload the images to an online gallery, 900 DPI is more than enough. Looking at one of my raw scans, it's 7744x12816 pixels with a 6.24MB file size at 900 DPI. It would be difficult for most people to tell the difference between that scan and one at 2400 DPI when they are resized down to something that is appropriate for an online gallery. That being said, the Mustek scanner is clearly better... but I like my little handheld scanner for the price and portability.

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

My Mustek is probably a similar scanner to the one mentioned. I love it mostly for how much can be scanned in one sweep. It's not often I have to stitch together scans anymore. ^_^ They are NOT cheap and we had to special order it into a large store in the city (local stores insisted they couldn't order it) but I love the thing! (Mine was a gift from my husband.)

For storage, I have only two cels that absolutely can not be fit into the Itoyas I like to use for storage. My storage solution was to go to a framing store and get two pieces of acid-free foam core that were slightly larger than the cels in question. I made little hinges out of packing tape (making sure all the tape was on the OUTSIDE) and voila. I had a super-huge, stiff, acid free folder that I can keep next to my oversized Itoyas.

That said, my largest Itoya is 18x24, so if you REALLY wanted the cel in an Itoya, they *DO* make one big enough. I don't know if this is their largest size or not, I've not looked into anything bigger. However, the super-huge Itoyas are another thing that isn't cheap. I want to say the two 18x24s that I have were something like $55-$60 each. If you only have one cel that falls into this category, I would make it a foam core folder. Much less expensive but still decently archival and sturdy too. ^_^

(And for the curious, the largest cel I own that was the culprit which forced me to make it it's own folder is 22"x22.5" ^_^)

[GoalieZero]

My Mustek is probably a similar scanner to the one mentioned. I love it mostly for how much can be scanned in one sweep. It's not often I have to stitch together scans anymore. ^_^ They are NOT cheap and we had to special order it into a large store in the city (local stores insisted they couldn't order it) but I love the thing! (Mine was a gift from my husband.)

For storage, I have only two cels that absolutely can not be fit into the Itoyas I like to use for storage. My storage solution was to go to a framing store and get two pieces of acid-free foam core that were slightly larger than the cels in question. I made little hinges out of packing tape (making sure all the tape was on the OUTSIDE) and voila. I had a super-huge, stiff, acid free folder that I can keep next to my oversized Itoyas.

That said, my largest Itoya is 18x24, so if you REALLY wanted the cel in an Itoya, they *DO* make one big enough. I don't know if this is their largest size or not, I've not looked into anything bigger. However, the super-huge Itoyas are another thing that isn't cheap. I want to say the two 18x24s that I have were something like $55-$60 each. If you only have one cel that falls into this category, I would make it a foam core folder. Much less expensive but still decently archival and sturdy too. ^_^

(And for the curious, the largest cel I own that was the culprit which forced me to make it it's own folder is 22"x22.5" ^_^)

That's definitely a creative solution! I'll keep that in mind. I haven't found an Itoya in the variety I use (ZigZag Frost) at that size yet, so these outside the box ideas are definitely helpful!

[theultimatebrucelee]

I also store my largest cels in 18x24 itoya. I think your cel would fit pretty comfortably into it. Looks like you can get one for less than $40 on amazon right now, free shipping. There used to be a cel in my collection that was 28 inches on one side and I stored that in a large archive box on top of everything else...but I finally got tired of it being the only single out at some point at decided to learn from tori and trip it down to fit it into itoya lol

For scanner, I use mustek also, and its works pretty well when it comes to large cels, I don't think I had to do more than two scans for even my largest cel/sketch...doesn't have any fine adjustment program though, and sketches scans sometimes come out horrible.

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

I haven't had a problem with sketches when scanning. (Not yet.) But I sometimes have trouble with cels not scanning correctly, particularly a couple with dark backgrounds. They come out ghosty looking, as if the scanner light is reflecting off the cel in weird ways instead of illuminating it. I haven't figured if it's a combination of the color of the background and the number of layers or if there's something about those cels particularly.