Archive Admin Update 23/02/25
Last update (23/01/25): here
These seem to work to keep my brain on track! Many things have not changed since last month as it's been very busy offline for me, but here's where things are:
Tasks not started/still in the same place as last update:
Volume 8 (French Ltd. Ed.) Artbook internals fully edited and uploaded. Covers still require edits.
Volume 13 (French Ltd. Ed.) Artbook still to be scanned
Colouring Book (Japanese) partially scanned. Much more labour intensive than the last one as it dimensions are >A4 so there's a lot of page edits that I'm working out a better process for.
Pika Editions Artbook to be scanned. This is a MASSIVE book though it is a compilation of images we mostly have, so I'll be prioritising new/larger versions of images that don't exist digitally or with clean scans elsewhere. It will also not be shared for some time to encourage purchase of the original.
Creating a streamlined, HQ repository of Volume covers, complete with scan & edit credit list in new Index upload. Currently there are incomplete collections of various languages, but this represents minimal variation. I will be keeping my offline collection of these, but aim to replace it with the following:
Standard edition dust jackets* - editions 7-13 have been scanned, edited & uploaded this week. Volumes 1-6 in progress.
Limited edition dust jackets* - editions 11-13 scanned, 12 complete & uploaded.
Special edition dust jackets* (e.g. PIKA Ed. alternate covers) - Volumes 7-13 scanned and mid-edit, Volumes 1-6 in progress. These take a considerable amount of time because of the intricate design elements that do not scan well, and I'd like to make them as pristine as I can. I'm... somewhat considering digital remasters where the cover images are available digitally (most of them are!) which might actually be faster lol. We'll see!
Under-dust-jacket covers (with Ltd Ed. colours where available) - this collection is complete and uploaded, though I would like to replace the covers with standard edition colours where I can.
Placeholder covers (e.g. German temporary cover designs) - all HQ versions I'm aware of I already had & have been updating, to be uploaded once renamed.
Title pages (internal) - I'm replacing scans I have of these so I can make cleaner edits. Volume 1-4 available from digital copies.
Contents pages (internal) - They have unique danglies! Again, need to make replacement scans.
Chapter covers (textless) - This is where things have fallen significantly behind. Again I will be keeping versions with text in an offline archive, but want to move the chapter covers to this folder and get text-less edits where ever I can.
*where a dust jacket isn't available or needs scanning in HQ, providing a version of at least the front cover & back cover in the standard edition (ENG) for each volume, or a placeholder scan which may or may not be fully edited.
Here's the current state of my tracker for reference. Ew!!
This is where I'm not certain what to do - the "chapter end cap/stubs" (as I've been calling them - they're the little illustrations between chapters in each volume that currently have their own folder) technically belong with all the other Volume art, but they're also mostly illustrations of specific characters who have a spot in the Illustrations folder. I'm not sure if it'd be best to slot them into the former or the latter. But they're living happily where they are, for now, and I may do some rescan/edits after comparing print quality between volumes (some publishers have blurrier prints than others aha)
Apologies for the long post! I've been blazing through the volume reorg this week and wanted to share! I'm uploading as I go, and leaving everything that hasn't been replaced in situ. I've taken a lot of care to edit out creases and scanner dust from the volume covers I've completed so far so please check them out!!
Here's a little comparison of the before (right) and after (left) of an edit. I want the white backgrounds to be bright and the colours vibrant! And this was one of the easier creases to remove from the backgrounds (Volume 13 and Volume 8 my NIGHTMARES)