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I am probably the only LSH / DC fan on this thread, but the one that usually gets dragged over these coals is Keith Giffen.

His early LSH work was classic; his later work for LSH (the 5 year later story line) and pretty much everything after is wildly different.

I actually enjoy both, but lots of LSH fans will lose their minds over the change.

Before:

After:

I didn't read the series, but I did enjoy his covers.

4 hours ago, grapeape said:

Yes had I owned the piece I would have been hesitant to alter it. But it’s Don Rosa. You don’t say no to Don Rosa over a creative suggestion!!!

I did hesitate. I finally decided that if the price was right and I was commissioning him, I’d have gone for the color so I bit my tongue and let him go to work.

54 minutes ago, zhamlau said:

I tried that and I got a message saying it wasn’t working. This is the email I used

johnbeattyart@gmail.com

 

You are correct. I posted the wrong email. Here's the one I actually used: john@johnbeattyart.com. I fixed it above.

His note read:

Oops. Double post. 

6 minutes ago, grapeape said:

Alex that’s beautiful.

It really is. As I say in the description, I took it to HeroesCon to get a picture of it with Don and he offered to color it. We visited while he worked. I Thad thought the pen & ink was great, but this is really impressive. 

If you’d prefer to give directly, his PayPal email is: john@johnbeattyart.com

On 9/18/2020 at 8:39 AM, delekkerste said:

I think Scott is right in that '80s/'90s BWS was more consistent, maybe even more dynamic/energetic as he posits.  But, if you look at The Song of Red Sonja, Red Nails, Worms of the Earth, Tupenny Conan and the best of his Studio-era works from the '70s, and then compare that output to Conan Saga, Weapon X, his later Marvel covers and his Valiant work from the mid-80s to mid-90s...well, I would, personally, find it very difficult to argue that the former group doesn't represent Peak BWS.  

That said, I do recognize that much of it is personal preference; earlier BWS is more steeped in classical artistic traditions while later BWS has a more modern, individualistic sensibility about it  

I'm with you, Gene. Red Nails is my favorite BWS work. Frost Giant's daughter after that. Weapon X was fine, but I didn't like it as much.

As to the original premise, no, I've managed to resist over extending myself.

I have a few major themes:

• Artists I like and the characters I most associate with them, e.g., Swan/Superman, Swan/LSH, Kubert/Sgt. Rock, Kubert/Hawkman, Cardy/Bat Lash, Cardy Teen Titans, etc. Lots of commissions because I like the money to go directly to the artists, but quite a few published pieces, too.
• Faux Sugar and Spike #100 Covers  - S&S made it to 98 in the original run and 99 with a special edition comic, but no 100. While we wait, I'm preparing the variant covers that that issue will require.
• Arm Wrestling with Heroes - I needed a fallback commission idea and this struck me as a good one. Silver Age Supergirl against the artist's character, generally, but not always. I'm in a couple of them.
• Legion of Super-Heroes - My favorite team.

I like to commission folks and a theme is a good idea if you do that. My main theme takes me to published pieces and commissions.

2 hours ago, vodou said:

Walt = Cliffguy.

I was a bit sad to see them start appearing on the market. Nobody collects forever. I guess

Another was Joel Thingvall's Wonder Woman collection. Once massive, that's been selling off over many years, still large though.

I saw an Uncle Scrooge and Donald piece by Don Rosa on eBay. I showed it to my wife and turns out she bought it for me for my birthday. It was from Walt, but it wasn't until a year or two later that I realized it was part of the Cliffguy collection even though I know Walt was Cliffguy. I will never be Batman.

 

2 hours ago, Varanis said:

I assume you're kidding, but if that makes someone happy - who cares?

He's not kidding.

If anyone here is interested in Themed Art Galleries, I posted a list here with descriptions.

It's old and I really should update it, but it is fascinating. In some cases, I had to rely on the Wayback Machine.

Check it out.

18 minutes ago, stinkininkin said:

This happened to be my cover when we split up covers in 1990. I sold if for $650 at San Diego that same year. That might have been, um, a mistake.

Ouch!

How do you rate this cover? Is it one of the top 5 by the Lee/Williams team?

On 8/13/2020 at 9:26 PM, OtherEric said:

I wish you the very best of luck.  This is the only Mayer art I have, and am elated to have it:

Thanks and that's really cute.

If you like Mayer, you can see mine here.

I also have a tribute gallery that contains faux Sugar and Spike 100 covers here.

Fred did the first of my faux Sugar & Spike 100 covers and I'm forever grateful for his patience as we worked the scene out.
 

which led to this:

Hmmm... my bank account says it was a bad thing, but I don't agree with it.

22 hours ago, dichotomy said:

As a new collector, absolutely! I was reading Yale Stewart’s JL8 online and then he started posting some pieces for auction on eBay. He did a Zatanna I really liked but lost out on, and then when this piece came up I made sure to snag it. It didn’t kickstart my collecting though because the strip and art are still outside mainstream comics for the most part. But paying for it helped me absorb prices at my first con, which resulted in some spectacular pieces that I might have balked paying for had I not been indoctrinated with this piece. I have the original in my den, and a color print that Yale sent hangs in my son’s room. 

 

I'm a fan. I have a few commissions that he turned into prints and a few of his strips.

You can see them all here, but I'll show a sample:

1 minute ago, Brian Peck said:

I had inquired about having the artwork picked up but he didn't want people to know where he lived. Wonder what other original by his grandfather he hot in the will?

 

Good question. If he wouldn't let me fly there, I'd fly him here. 

For that money, I'd buy a plane ticket an pick it up personally. 

Of course, I'm the guy that left a piece in an airport so maybe USPS would be better.

Yes, I still own it. It's my favorite character by my favorite artist and was bought with money that my grandmother left as an inheritance. It's not going anywhere. Full story on the CAF description, just click on the image.

He's also on Facebook regularly.

5 hours ago, Andahaion said:

I’ve not met him yet, but he sounds like just about the nicest guy one could ever meet.  And I really do hope to meet him one day.

Joe and is wife are as nice a couple as you could hope to meet. I've enjoyed meeting them at several cons over the years. I supported his Kickstarter for "The Sires of Time" from many years ago.

55 minutes ago, JadeGiant said:

The SF link goes to a JLA page on CAF

Fixed.

Here's the raw link: http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=127386&highlight=purpose

Here's another thread on the topic in the Statue Forum. 

My approach was:

• Get an idea that you can express in a couple of sentences - a theme if you will
• Gather reference for the characters and they way they should look - there must be a million Hawkman outfits, e.g.,
• Find an artist to do the layout - I can recommend Matthew Clark - talented, fast, trustworthy
  • Having the layout artist do the first character is optional in my opinion.
• Make a list of potential artists - if you have your heart set on a specific few, that's okay, but it makes the project even harder
• Chase it

I doubt that I would let my jam leave the convention to be done at home (sketchbooks even more so).

It doesn't hurt to have common supplies - pencils, erasers, handful of color markers if you want to color it a bit, etc.

Here's the one that I have done. The full story can be read by clicking on the image.

Terrific!

8 hours ago, Brian Peck said:

Frank Cho's art rep is Steve Morger.

Steve's Comic Art Shop - https://www.comicartshop.com/comicartshopsbycat.asp?gcat=2120