alxjhnsn

36 minutes ago, Rick2you2 said:

So, in any of your opinions, was it a better piece just pencilled, or is it better inked? I like them both, which make me useless on that subject. But, I am thinking about having him do a second commission, full figure, in a scene.

I like the inked piece best, but like them both.

2 hours ago, dichotomy said:

[T]he selecting of my 5th piece is proving practically impossible. 

The fifth one is a killer - always. I decided to spread my pieces across categories so a couple of my favorites were left off. Tough calls.

Here are my nominees for Best of 2019

Unpublished: Sketch Covers/Convention Sketches

Femme Fatale (Catwoman) by Tim Sale

I saw one like this and all my plans to get a Daredevil Yellow from Tim vanished. When Essential Sequential offered commissions for a reasonable price for pickup at HeroesCon, it was a faster than you can blink signup. I’m thrilled with this piece. It thought it would be done before the show, but it was not. Tim worked on and finished it that weekend; hence, this category.

Published: Splash Pages, Pinups

Justice Society of America 11 pg 4-5 (JSA, JLA, Kingdom Come Superman) by Dale Eaglesham (p) and Ruy José (i)

I love group shots and this is a tremendous one - the JLA, the JSA, and the Kingdom Come Superman! Couldn’t believe that Spencer had it when I stumbled over it at HeroesCon. I really am thrilled with this one though I do wish the headshots were part of it.

 

Published: Interior Pages

Sea Sirens pg. 68 by Janet K. Lee

Lovely and expressive art and a good story. Check it out. I particularly like the individual faces and the expressions on Cap’n Bill’s face; he’s the cat. The colors are brilliant and don’t show as well on my scan as they do in person.

 

Unpublished: Sketch Covers/Convention Sketches

Sheldon Mayer and his Creations by Dave Aikins

Dave nailed this piece - from the mind of a genius, we get great characters. The reference photos and some others supplied by his granddaughter, Chelle are in the Additional Images.

 

 

Published/Unpublished: Commissions

Sugar and Spike #100 Cover featuring The Muppet Babies by Scott Shaw

One of my sub-themes is faux Sugar and Spike #100 Covers. The series made it to 98. DC did a 99 as a special. Surely #100 is inevitable, and they will need variant covers so I’m helping! You can see the others here.

 

 

Honorable Mention

Published/Unpublished: Commissions

Legion/LSH vs. Universo by John Watson

Universo defeated the Legion on more than one occasion, yet, the team would find a way to victory. I’m not so sure that will happen this time. John nails the Legion everytime.

 

Published/Unpublished: Commissions

Legion of Super-Heroes (1989, FYL, LSH) 4 Cover Recreation (Mon-El) by Keith Giffen

Keith recreates one of my all-time favorite covers. Mon-El’s determination is one of his best character traits and Keith nails it. This is actually one of my must unexpected and appreciated commissions.

 

 

 

Unpublished Published: Other

Blacksad and Andy's Kitties by Andy Price
Not much to say, it’s just funny. I picked it up at the Baltimore Comic Con 2019

 

Published/Unpublished: Commissions

Eliza and Willow the cat from Willowbrook by Emma Kubert

If I’d known this Kickstarter perk was going to be this good, I’d have pledged for the larger size. Simply beautiful to my eyes.

 

Published/Unpublished: Commissions

Sugar and Spike #100 Cover featuring Sir Quimp from The Middle Ages by Steve Conley

Steve has a great feel for funny and I think this image pairing S&S with Sir Quimp and the dragon babies is great. Look at the expression on Quimp’s face.

Published/Unpublished: Commissions

Sugar and Spike #100 Cover featuring Supergirl by Matthew Childers

A terrific take on my faux S&S 100 cover theme. I’m sure Supergirl was hired to babysit; I think she has it under control. J

Done. Good luck.

2 hours ago, eewwnuk said:

Thread has over 2k views.  Just not a ton of voting 

I'll vote more seriously after a few days. Just waiting for more posts.

If we are talking runners up, here are the ones that I thought about posting, but did not. The last two would have probably garnered more votes. I really like them and the Emma Kubert piece, but we could only post three.
  

It was a good year for nice pieces for not a lot of money - assuming you like con sketches and commissions.

My brother moved from Houston to Wichita. He's talking to a friend who later became his business partner, IIRC, and the friend said when he bought his new home a few months ago, there were boxes of comics in the attic. Bill asked, "What did you do with them?" He said, "Threw them away." Bill said, "Big mistake."

The house had been owned by a single family for decades; this was the early 90s so the books probably dated from the 60s to the 70s. Oh, well.

Nevermind.

8 hours ago, bernoulli said:

First post so I hope you allow me some tardiness (was travelling and just saw this thread upon my return but felt like contributing).

Published. The Terrifics 13 Cover (actually, less than half of limit for this thread)

Unpublished. Lan Medina commission of Aquaman and Mera (dated 2018 but I only saw and received it in early 2019). Also well below the limit. Hope you enjoy it. BTW, I learned a lot from lurking. Thank you all for the public good you offer in posting good analyses. 

@bernoulli, you should split this into three posts so we can vote one each piece. Just edit your original and delete two images and then post those two in different replies.

Playing the Devil's advocate, what if the artist did four of the same thing - with some differences? Click to read more.


Or a lithograph

or just a sketch that was reminiscent?

Certainly these are not identical, but is anything?

In any case, someone was willing to commission an artist to recreate a piece (or the artist saw a chance to make a buck or thought each improved in some way, who knows?).

5 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

The absolute worst costumes for Dr. 13, Phantom Stranger, Mr. E, and Hellblazer can be found in Books of Magic annual 3, page 21, sold at Heritage Auctions Lot 13712 on Aug. 25, 2019. For some reason, I cannot copy it onto my iPad for posting, but it is worth a look. If someone can post it, even better. They are imaginary costumes, thank God, but they are so bad, I let someone else buy the page, even with a unique PS on it, for only $89.00. Hellblazer is particularly wretched, while PS looks like Raven, fully cloaked. And no, Mr. E does not look like the Elongated Man. That was a deliberate gag, I am sure, by the artist.

Here it is in all its glory. Click to see the auction entry.

I didn't recognize any of the characters. Yuck!

Speaking of Themes, I collected and published a list of themes used by various folks. It's a good read, I think, though it needs an update.

For what it's worth, on my Sea Devils 6, above, the water is noticeably colder than on the original cover. Here's the original for comparison if you don't believe me.

 

1 hour ago, Blastaar said:

I would be remiss not to include the fantastic re-creation gifted to me by luck of the draw from Toro my secret Santa. No clue who the artist is but great nonetheless!

 

As mentioned above, Greg Woronchak. You can reach him here: https://gwor23.wixsite.com/comic. He's done a lot of these.

1 minute ago, Unstoppablejayd said:

I was not... these are fantastic!

Yep. I think so.

1 hour ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

My only issue with it is that you should allow people to pre-register their payment and mailing information so all they have to do is select the page they want and submit it to you for 1st come/1st serve review.

Good suggestion.

I assume everyone is familiar with @Michael (OML)'s CAF? It's full of cover "recreations" set one minute after the cover scene. Look in the ones that start "1 Minute Later - xxx" where xxx is the character/theme of the pieces in the gallery. It's a lot of fun.

40 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

Next time I see Jeremy, I'm going to get a piece from him somehow. I just love his work. 

In spoiler tags since it's off topic and long.

I've had three recreations done.

Russ Heath did two (click for bigger picture) which (as I understand it) he lightboxed and painted.

Thom Zahler (re)did this for me. I believe that it too is a lightbox. Thom works digitally for his comic so there is (almost) no original art for Love and Capes.

I didn't really care how they did it; I just wanted the image by the original creator.

5 hours ago, Roy David said:

Thanks for this list. Really helpful. This is a really helpful forum. Thanks everyone. 

You are welcome. It's a pretty common question with no definite answer so I decide to at least provide a list of hints. Hope it helps.

4 minutes ago, Nexus said:

Wow, thanks for all the kind words, I truly appreciate them. Definitely beats the alternative type of thread!

You know what I think about DWJ's art already, so let me share a couple of stories about him as a person:
 

At Comicpalooza, I asked him to do a drawing featuring Thea (it's up at the top of the thread). I could tell that he and Yams were concerned about the drawing. What DWJ had drawn wasn't a classic head shot, but a much more interesting piece featuring Thea on her vehicle. 

I could not have been happier with it, but you could tell that if I didn't like it, DWJ was ready to do something else. Good folks. Happy customer.

31 minutes ago, Carlo M said:

To post or not to post. That is the question.

I decided to post my big win....

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1598886

Happy 2020 to everybody!

Glad you did and likewise!

I read before buy. I do read a lot of monthly books.

As for Felix, I end up seldom buying from him. My reflexes aren't fast enough.