Hawkgirl

I’m looking for advice. I have a one-bedroom apartment which is east-facing so gets morning light. It’s a small apartment, so there isn’t really anywhere that I can hang my pieces that will avoid direct sunlight, which makes me worried about displaying my collection. I have some inked pages and some pencils-only. They haven’t been framed yet. Should I go ahead and get them framed to hang them up? Or should I keep them in a portfolio for now? 

On 9/18/2022 at 8:28 AM, Rick2you2 said:

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if AI is being used already for backgrounds which are somewhat repetitive? It wouldn’t surprise me, and I wouldn’t be offended. Some artists use assistants for backgrounds, so I don’t know if there is much of a difference.

Not sure about AI exactly (it doesn’t seem like AI art is great at keeping things consistent between prompts), but a lot of artist use digital tools for the background. For a more obvious example… in his Daredevil run, Alex Maleev used photos (that he’d taken himself) for many of the backgrounds. He drew the figures traditionally, scanned and adjusted them, and inserted the background digitally. I feel like it worked for noir-like atmosphere of the Bendis/Maleev Daredevil run, and the art was praised in that comic, but for comics in general, something like that probably wouldn’t work very well because the resulting art is more static.

It will be interesting to see what happens with NFTs in the future. I’m a later millennial and would never buy an NFT, but I’m interested in collecting comic art otherwise, and not just OA—I also collect prints. But I collect to be able to display and appreciate the art, and I don’t believe in the value of NFTs. And just like any collectible, an NFT is only worth what buyers are willing to pay. 

Obviously, art is subjective, but it seems like many who collect NFTs don’t collect it on the artistic merit (see: those apes) and are either using it for money laundering, are trying to sucker other buyers, and/or were suckered themselves. NFTs are like an extension of Bitcoin/other cryptocurrencies so I imagine there’s a significant amount of overlap between people who collect and NFTs and ones who are into Bitcoin. NFT producers/collectors have a vested interest in making NFTs seem legitimate/valuable. So you could buy your own NFT from yourself for $100k of Bitcoin by transferring between your own wallets and now that you have your baseline “value”, turn around and attempt to resell to an actual buyer for that amount+.

I also see digital artists on social media complain that their art has been stolen to be sold as an NFT, so while the blockchain might establish that you own the NFT of that image, it doesn’t necessarily establish that the seller had the copyright/rights to sell that NFT.

When it comes to physical art, at a certain level of art purchases, there’s definitely going to be some fraud and money laundering just because of the sheer amount of money involved, but there is an actual physical product, more established baselines of worth, more hoops to go through, and more legitimate avenues of purchase/establishing provenance such as auction houses.

I’m new to OA collecting. I made an account on Heritage but have mostly been watching. I follow a lot of comic artists on Twitter, and I saw this Tweet which I thought it was interesting because I hadn’t realized how many comic artists are into collecting OA themselves. I guess when we buy OA from current artists, we’re funding their OA collecting too! It makes sense that they appreciate comic art as artists themselves. I wonder if there are many comic artists on this board.

On 9/10/2022 at 4:58 PM, JC25427N said:

I have some pages where the artist's name is on the top under Penciller and/or Inker, some pages where the artist signed with their signatures in the margins, some pages with both, and a few pages with neither. It varies, but I'd say it isn't too uncommon to get a page that doesn't have the artists name on it, it's more common if the artist did both the pencils and inks and thus was the only person to ever handle that board, they usually just write the book title and issue # on it in those cases. 

Disclaimer: Most of the pages I own are from late 1990s onwards, anything before that might have different customs I'm not familiar with. 

Thanks for the response! That explains it. I hadn’t thought about it that way. The penciller and inker are the same, so that makes sense. It doesn’t have the book title on it, just the page number. I guess I’ll just have to remember what comic it’s from.

I have another question. I have a couple of pages, and most have the artist’s name on it, but one of the pages doesn’t. In general, I expect the artist’s name to be on the page somewhere, as well as the comic’s title for Marvel and DC work, so I’m not sure what to think about the page that is missing those (it’s from a Marvel comic but is on plain Bristol board instead of the official Marvel art board). 

What are your thoughts on getting a page signed by the artist (either if the page already has the artist’s name or if the name isn’t on there)? Is it normal to buy a page that doesn’t have the artist’s name anywhere on it? 

I’m a newbie to the OA hobby, but I would be interested if the meetup is open to anyone! It would be great to meet others in the area who are into comics and OA. 

On 8/23/2022 at 8:41 AM, RBerman said:

Welcome! You've already made some good choices, like coming here and joining CAF. Learning the community of collectors and dealers and agents will pay dividends. Premium CAF membership is worth it, to display more and higher res images and to support CAF itself. There's also an active CAF YouTube channel where you can see the dealers and collectors in action.

Here's a thread discussing modern artists; I posted quite a few examples, as did others: 

 

 

I am a relatively new collector myself (started 2019). As you can see on my CAF link, I get a good bit of modern work. It doesn't have the nostalgia factor -- yet -- but is quality art and is far more affordable than older pieces. I don't go for "artist proofs" or "monoprints" seems like a scheme to get people to reclassify prints as original art. There's too much actual original art available anyway.

Thanks for the advice! Your collection is awesome. You have a ton of art for having gotten started so recently.

I think I’ll focus on collecting interior pages from current artists. I think that today’s artists are doing great work. Plus, a lot of the artists I grew up reading, starting in the early 2000s, are still active. I would also read a lot of back issues from the Silver Age and Bronze Age, but I feel less of a nostalgic pull toward those, and starting with modern artists feels like a more realistic starting point for the hobby. I would like to get some covers and earlier art in the future, but I’ll work my way up to that.

On 8/16/2022 at 3:13 PM, Andahaion said:

Welcome!  Good list of artists.  I recently secured work (commission) from Priscilla Petraites.  I think she may fit in nicely with your list.  I also really like a Greek artist who goes by Dani, or Dani Strips on Instagram.  She's great and uses negative spacing wonderfully.  

Regarding budgeting, it's easy to get out over your skis.  I'd generally recommend pacing yourself.  There is a lot of art out in the world, lots of choices.  I'd also generally recommend quality over quantity, but I also understand the excitement aspect of acquiring work.  But, once you start buying more expensive pieces you may look at the cheaper stuff differently.  

I would say most on this board collect work pre-1990.  There are some of us who dabble in more current art, but this isn't really the venue for that in my opinion.  But, there is a wealth of historical knowledge here and that is really valuable.  I generally collect backwards.  I look to the art on the page, then usually nostalgia or storyline a close second.  Most folks collect based on nostalgia, which is cool too.  

Most here also don't respond well to/think much of artist proofs.  I have one piece, the Hawkman #29 cover by Mikel Janin.  It'll likely be my only print (at least in comic art circles).  I know that Jimenez is pretty much 100% artist proof, so that may be your only recourse for him.  I love his work and might be someone I could buy a print from in the future.  But I love the traditional stuff too much.  

Welcome again.  I'm sure others will chime in...

Thanks! I will definitely check out Priscilla Petraites. I also like Dani and got a convention sketch from her in 2020!

I just created a Comic Art Fans and added all the pages and a few of the con sketches I’ve gotten. https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=177595

That makes sense about the time period focus of most collectors on the board. I’m also in some Facebook groups which focus more on commissions/sketch collecting.

I bought 2 artist proofs from Jorge Jimenez, and that will probably be the extent of my artist proof collecting. I just really love his work.

On 8/16/2022 at 2:40 PM, malvin said:

You have quite a few questions and many things are subjective.  Here are some of my opinions.

This one covers both pacing, budget:

Buy what you like and what you are comfortable in buying.  When I started, I had a psychological barrier to spending above a certain amount (at the time it was $500) on a specific piece.  It was quite artificial and meaningless (e.g. I wouldn't spend $600 on one piece but was ok with spending $600 on 2 pieces), eventually I overcame that barrier (I mean, wouldn't you spend $10K on a piece if it was worth 20K?).

This one is on your question about artists:

It's not quite the same thing, and you aren't saying that, but you know what you like, so don't "force" yourself to like someone because their style is similar to someone you like or lots of people recommend them.  I tend to know what I like when I see it.  I don't "speculate" and buy art I don't like thinking that they would be the next big thing.

Lastly, I don't collect artist proofs and most collectors don't, but they sell so there is a market.  I don't follow it but I think some have sold for less than what the artist originally sold it for.

Malvin

Thanks for your insight. I definitely have that barrier, where I would be fine spending say $1k over several pieces in a year but not on 1 thing. I think that’s ok for now because my collection is so small, and I’m just getting started. I definitely want to overcome that barrier and focus on getting art from the artists I enjoy.

I don’t force myself to like an artist because of a similar style, but I tend to find other artists that I like either by reading their comics or getting recommendations based on what I like. I don’t intend to buy from up-and-coming artists because I want to speculate, but because I like supporting young artists who are getting started and sometimes their art speaks for themselves.

I bought some artist proofs (I also buy prints), but I definitely don’t intend to resell them. It’s more so I can have art from an artist that I like but who doesn’t have original pages. 

Hi! I’m new to this forum. I got started in the OA hobby in 2018 after getting a sketch cover at a con, and I’ve been collecting comics my whole life. I’m slowly easing into getting more serious about collecting OA, both commissions and OA pages. Any advice on budgeting, pacing yourself, targeting certain artists?

I’m late 20s and single, no kids, but want to balance this hobby with saving for the future. I’m currently focusing a bit on ‘quantity’ over ‘quality’, so I’m buying more smaller/less expensive things rather than more epensive/bigger names as I start building out my collection.

Some of my favorite current artists are Dan Mora, Jorge Jimenez, Chris Samnee, Doc Shaner, Tom Reilly, Bilquis Evely, and Elsa Charretier. I would love to hear any recomendations of similar artists, especially ones who have that throwback, simplified comic art, or use negative space in their style. I also want to get into collecting up-and-coming artists if you know of any.

Do you all collect mostly current art or older art, like pages from your favorite comics as a kid, or both?

How do you feel about Artist’s Proofs for current artists who work entirely digitally?