Storage

[German-s]

I know we all know how to draw purty pictures but how do y'all take care of them after the fact??

My current method of piling them up where there is free space is evidently not the best storage method. How do you folks take care of all your sketchbooks and artwork?

[ladydove7]

What a wonderful question. I hope we get more responses to it! I've had a problem with this myself as I used to pile up my artwork under my bed with no protection. It's not very good to leave pieces loose in piles as the corners can be damaged and they are exposed to light and other harmful elements.

For storage, I personally buy various sizes of Itoya portfolio books (http://www.dickblick.com/brands/itoya/) which have archival pages. These books are then stored away in a plastic set of drawers where they can avoid the dust of my basement or the harmful pets and other things that can get under my bed.

Larger pieces of loose art are harder to take care of, but again, a large portfolio will do wonders and you may want to invest in the large carrying case s or tubes to store pieces in. I personally don't use tubes because I don't like the way they curl artwork.

Also, it may be wise to take the pieces you're the most proud of and mat them. Try to use php nuetral or archival (museum quality) mats and then seal them in plastic bags to keep dust and matter surfaces. I buy my archival bags and backing board from clearbags.com (these are also wonderful for storing and selling prints).

Whatever you do, make sure anything that comes in direct contact with your work is acid free or archival. If not, non archival tape and other items may leave yellow marks and your work could fade or turn funny colors in the long run.

One last note, it may be smart to spray your color pencil and pastel works with fixative, as these are media which are known for smudging and degrading. I use Prismacolor's brand pastel and color pencil brand of fixative, but I'm sure any brand will do (any other suggestions from anyone else?).

Hope that helps you out some! Good luck in preserving your originals. I hope you save more than I did! I lost many to the monster under my bed/m\

[German-s]

I think grabbing those portfolios will be a good first step, thanks for the advice.
What about in regards to sketchbooks?? can't imagine cutting those up and tossing them in a portfolio (well, actually I can. It just seems like a lot of work and expense)

[Hyver]

bookcases go remarkably well with sketchbooks.. who would have thought huh? ;)
As for sizes bigger than A4 and loose sheets, i have a cheap yet sturdy shelvething wide enough to hold those big ass sketchpads used for lifedrawing.
Cardboard sheets for now as "seperator".. work in progress

[ladydove7]

My sketchbooks are stored in the plastic set of drawers alongside my portfolios. For the most part, you can leave things in your sketchbooks without worrying too much, but I would cut out the images you're most proud of and store them in the folder instead. Flipping through sketchbooks causes friction on the pages that can rub away graphite images (particularly drawings that have heavy layers of graphite on them). You might be able to spray them with fixative to prevent this. Also, pages in sketchbooks are prone to bending ever so slightly and the corners are still generally unprotected, which is yet another reason to cut out the pictures you're most proud of and storing them somewhere within a page protector.

Good luck!

Oh and here is what my work space looks like. My originals are stored in the plastic drawers sitting on top of the other set of drawers on the far right of this photo.

Sadly, my 18x24 sketch pads outweigh the capacity my large portfolios have so most are still pining away under my bed.

[Aphotic Phoenix]

One of the art stores near where I used to live sold large folded pieces of cardboard with handle spots cut out of top to transport newly bought papers without bending them up. I store larger stuff in one of those, in my closet.

I have one of those Itoya portfolios for medium sized stuff, but I'll use Avery sheet protectors for smaller things, as they're supposed to be acid free/archival safe. Plus they're easily transferred between binders, and easy to pull out if the work was created for gaming purposes. (Really I'm not horribly concerned)

Decent idea sketches get cut out, fixed, and stashed in a drawer. Mostly just to be used as idea fodder for the future.

CD backups (when I remember to make them) get labeled by month range, and put in paper sleeves in a CD box.

Otherwise I really don't care. I'll erase whole pages of stuff, work in bleedy pens on the other side, etc. My work really isn't at the level where I think I need to save everything for prosperity... Ideas are more valuable to me than the work itself.

[corwin]

Well things which I don’t require much I keep it in some art storage (http://www.storagedeluxe.com/storage-space.asp?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=pv&utm_campaign=storagespace)which helps me keep my things in a good condition and also reduce mess at my place. Though it comes at a charge, I feel its worth paying those $$s to preserve the art work!

[dierat]

Since I scan everything these days, I try to recycle everything I don't like or don't find very interesting. I very rarely go back through physical drawings anyway. The ones I keep are stashed in a plastic portfolio case (which I actually found at a dumpster! sounds gross I know but it's thick plastic and with a really good wash it came out looking good as new) in the back room that I mostly use for storage. It's pretty big so all my drawings and prints from way back fit quite well.

I personally don't use tubes because I don't like the way they curl artwork.I think those tubes are intended more for transporting drawings (like taking them on the train or sending them in the mail) than for permanent storage. For taking a couple drawings to class or to their new owner, those tubes are ab fab. I've seen plastic ones with straps so they're waterproof and hang over your shoulder comfortably.