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Now, for something a little different - a 3D Shadowbox of the cover to the first comic that I ever bought. My wonderful wife, Kathy, commissioned Todd Reis to make it. Click the image to read more, see other pictures, and learn how to get one for yourself.

Excellent. Jeremy does great work.

I bought or picked up a few pieces at Comicpalooza over the Memorial Day weekend. I thought you might enjoy a look:

1) Joe Rubinstein inks Curt Swan

Well more accurately, he inked a blue line of my Swan Superman. I plan to have Laura Martin color it at Heroes Con. The image is in the "Additional Images" section along with a picture of Joe with the inked page.

2) Shane Davis - Superman: Earth One

While picking up a piece for a friend, I succumbed and commissioned Shane for a head shot of Clark in his hoodie. There's a picture of Shane and the cover of the original book in the Additional Images.

3) Craig Yoe

This actually is my favorite of the things I bought at Comicpalooza. I've enjoyed Craig's books for years, but I had no idea he could draw. You really should check this out.. There's a picture of both of us as well, but don't let that put you off.

Nice week. Congratulations!

As a point of reference, I bought the pencils and inks for a printed page for one of Daniel HDR's Legion stories. I paid:

• $100 for the pencils to a dealer
  
• $40 for the inked blue lines directly to the inker (Bob Wiacek)

I think a 60/40 split is probably pretty common. I think my 70/30 split reflects the fact that one was direct from the artist and the other came through a dealer.

Here's the piece, click on it to read the Description field to learn a bit more about it including a brief discussion of what the inker changed and why.

At the end of the day, both pieces are part of a production process. Different people prefer different stages, e.g.,

• some like the pencils because they are what the storyteller created,
• some prefer the inked blue line because that is what was used to print the page (and inkers do change things),
• most would prefer a page with pencils, inks, and lettering, but those days have passed.

Hope this is useful.

That's a shame.

Amen. I'd probably bust the bank to get a piece, but ...

Does any Jack Cole Plastic Man art still exist? There doesn't seem to be any on CAF (that I could find).

I read in one Cole biography or another that the owner of Quality comics cut it up to prevent its reuse. Don't get me started on how stupid that concept is.

Anyway, there may a piece somewhere, but I doubt it. The Archives are great though.

My 1st OA purchase. The first of many I think!!

You got that right.

My weakness for kids books has struck again.

Ben Hatke was drawing at my LCS, Bedrock City Comic Company, and he drew this for me:

To make the sketch happen, we had to scramble to find a pencil and I drafted my wife to bring the colored pencils to make it pop. Not bad for a FCBD sketch.

If you don't know Zita the Spacegirl, you should. Here's the description from the Goodreads page of the first book:

When her best friend is abducted by an alien doomsday cult, Zita leaps to the rescue and finds herself a stranger on a strange planet. Humanoid chickens and neurotic robots are shocking enough as new experiences go, but Zita is even more surprised to find herself taking on the role of intergalactic hero. Before long, aliens in all shapes and sizes don’t even phase her. Neither do ancient prophecies, doomed planets, or even a friendly con man who takes a mysterious interest in Zita’s quest.

 

Zita the Spacegirl is a fun, captivating tale of friendship and redemption from Flight veteran Ben Hatke. It also has more whimsical, eye-catching, Miyazaki-esque monsters than you can shake a stick at.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3212743.Ben_Hatke

Perez is amazing and on a $/character he's a cover bargain.

Congrats, Alex! I was looking at that myself. Beautiful piece of Kane art!

It really is. Not well-known characters, but pretty classic work.

Picked this up from the collection of Bill Banick. Thanks, Bill.

It's from the surprisingly good Atari Force series. Click the image and read about it.

My newest commission came by way of the Aw Yeah Comics! Kickstarter. It's a painting of Action Cat by Art Baltazar. Action Cat is the hero of the tales (or is it tails).

My newest commission came by way of the Aw Yeah Comics! Kickstarter. It's a painting of Action Cat by Art Baltazar. Action Cat is the hero of the tales (or is it tails?).

If you want to see some of the OA Themed Collections, check out the Themed Art Gallery listing on Comic Art Community. I should update it, but...

Anyone else think Doc Manhattan when they see this? Maybe zapping a bunch of Viet Cong?

No way! He has on pants.

That is one Strange collection of wall art! Congratulations.

Not sure what to do with the inked version, wall space is a problem. I have one dark thought that popped in my head and keeps nagging at me to see it realized. I doubt I'll go through with it, I'd hate for it to catch on because it really would be disastrous for the hobby.

Selling the inks separately is okay, but take the time to write a note on the back explaining that the work is ink over blue lines so that later buyers will know what they are getting - art used to print - and what they are not getting - pencils and inks on the same page.

BTW, I have one piece where I found the pencils and inks in separate towns quite by accident. I bought the inks first and then found the pencils.

Click to embiggen:

I forgot to mention this not to mention I forgot to post it. Amazing Grace from the Catalyst Comix run written by Joe Casey and published by Dark Horse.

Click to embiggen:

Okay, you know the drill - an artist that I like doing the character that I associate with him.

In this case, it's Action Cat by Art Baltazar. I was a perk from the Kickstarter for his comic Aw Yeah! Comics. I'm VERY happy with it. The colors are much brighter in person; I may retake the picture.

Check it out. It should make you smile.

Keep an eye out for a comic mini-series teaming Captain Action Cat with Action Cat from Dark Horse. It's due this month.

Also, I got my Hero Initiative sketch card - Super-Adaptoid by Chris Ivy:

I'm kind of new to this...........what does it mean if its transparent overlays? It can be removed with no harm to the art?

I bought the cover art to an Archie Andrews, Where Are You? comic by Dan DeCarlo. I wanted the look of the completed cover so I had Chris Ivy create an overlay to carry the logos and other material. He did a great job.

You can see the before (Additional Image), after (main image), and printed cover (Additional Image) by clicking the image below:

It's April Fools Day, too.

First, more Yale Stewart. If you don't read JL8, you are missing a treat [78K+ followers can't be wrong, right? ]. This example of his art and humor comes from Valentine's Day. Yale did a set of gift tag wallpapers and I liked them enough to buy the OA.

You can read the strip here

Second, I've become a fan of David Wright's Carol Day strip and bought this example - I consider it to have a prototype of the Punisher's costume.

Great thread

 

I'm just about to dip into getting some commissions and this thread has given me some great ideas about themes and highlighted some wonderful work.

Themes? Did you say themes? Check out this blog post for themes!

It needs updating, but ...

Yours turned out awesome as well !

She must be very happy with it, hopefully its framed and hanging on the wall, mine will be soon

She is and it is!