comicinkking.com

On 12/1/2006 at 11:36 AM, Solar said:

This may not be a popular opinion, but I believe that separate inks are no better than color guides. They're an enhanced photocopy/lightbox. Ink only pieces would add value to the original pencils if included in a purchase, but on their own, I'll pass on every one I come across.

If I were an inker, I'd be very insulted by this comment.  It's the old "inkers are tracers" line.  I suspect you may not realize what good inking is really about.

I hated Infantino when I was a kid - and still not a huge fan of his stuff, but I owned a DD page that he did which was inked by Janson.  It was a great combo and made me appreciate Carmine a bit more.

20 hours ago, MarvelComicsArt said:

So in that case if hypothetically the "finished" published stat version of the Captain America #100 cover emerged for sale would you consider that the inked piece. If the actual corrections were done on the stat ( re inked figures ) or redrawn Captain america figure on the stat.

How would you feel about the original unpublished/ altered /art versus the published cover?

here is a linked provided below by Twanj --- ( thank you again)... For a comparison of the art versus the published cover.  just scroll sideways to adjust between images.

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=69740292-2fba-11e8-b263-0edaf8f81e27

Quote: "So in that case if hypothetically the "finished" published stat version of the Captain America #100 cover emerged for sale would you consider that the inked piece." 

I'm confused about this sentence - published "stat" implies it's not original - so I would never consider that the inked piece.  I don't know if this cover is a good example of what we've been talking about, but it's unfortunate that the b&w art does not match the printed cover.  If I owned this, I'd want the original redrawn Cap image to go along with it.  Without it, the value of the cover takes a big hit IMO.

6 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

Actually, I think it means a lot. What you are saying is that they have comparable worth. If inkers were consistently paid less than pencilers, or visa-versa, then that would show something different. 

Inkers are consistently paid less than pencilers - it's just that Scott is a superstar.

6 hours ago, Bronty said:

Congrats!

Thank you!

After about a 15 year search, I was able to turn up one of the paperback covers I've been looking for.  Probably the biggest art day of my life!

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1448856

Tony,

www.comicinkking.com

As old as their toes, and a little older than their teeth.

1 hour ago, MarvelComicsArt said:

Pencils are always King. 

Are you paying for the artistry and craftsmanship of the artist or the embellishment of the inker.

No disrespect to inkers ( a few are incredible artists in their own right ). Tom Palmer and Joe Sinnott come to mind immediately!

But purchasing inks over pencils means,  you actually value the guy who primarily went over the pencilled drawing with ink more than the person who created the intricate image itself. 

And that is totally absurd. I understand from a future flipping/selling point of view, explaining to a potential buyer how this is the actual reproduced page "in ink"

may be easier to comprehend than "here are the original un inked pencils."

But the original art -versus original published version , in my book pencils are and always will be the original art.

Now , there are always complicated exceptions.

If you have an artist who sometimes also takes inking inking  assignments on the side( or better yet gets finishing credits ) thats something else entirely.

For instance Kevin Nowlan, Al Williamson, Bill Sienkewicz. (to my knowledge Williamson never did inks over blue line so its just for example purposes only )

These individuals add more to the art than your usual inker would in terms of artistic choices.

Therefore the inks over blue line would also be considered original art,  along with the un inked pencils. 

At that point you have to decided (a) what looks better to you, which artistic vision (the pencilers or inkers?).

And (b) if you ever decide to sell , will it be easier to sell the "inked" artistic version that actually resembles the published version of the Comic. Or is the original penciled un published/ unseen version still the 'real' ART!

 

 

I agree that the penciler does most of the heavy lifting in comics - it's a much bigger skill set than inking.  And I would agree that in general, they are more "important" than the inker in that sense.  But as a collector - I want the art that was published - bottom line.  Traditionally, the finished product of comic book art is an inked page in which the pencils have been obliterated.  In the case where the pencils and inks are separate - the finished product is going to be the same - the inked page.  It's the pencils which are now "unfinished" in a sense.  I'd want the inked piece.

Very interesting topic - I was just thinking about this the other day.  I am surprised at the number of people who said they'd pick pencils.  I would take inks - that's what gets published, and that is what I like so much about the hobby - owning the original art used to print the comic.  Technically, the pencils get destroyed anyway when an inker inks over them.  Typically, original comic art is an ink based medium.  If I could have both, I would take them.  But if I had to choose, inks all the way.

Regards,

Tony

www.comicinkking.com

On 3/1/2018 at 6:47 PM, drdroom said:

Sorry to be late to a party I unwittingly started! I'm not the collector you're thinking of, I'm a medium-time collector, CAF gallery Aaron N. The obvious reason for a penciller to be their own best inker is that the penciller has the best understanding of their own artistic intent and can ink accurately OR continue to develop the work creatively as they ink. In the case of a mediocre artist maybe this doesn't matter, and in that case by all means get Wood or someone to ink it and make it better. But John Buscema was a truly talented penciller, and his own inks best reflect the way the pencils look. Look at his inks on the Conan sketch at bottom right  (I didn't search a long time for this example, I know I've seen better ones). Compare the inked arm to the un-inked arm: the inks have as much of the character of the pencils as ink CAN. Yes, the pencils are a bit light and the inks reflect that. I'll take accurate inks over the wispy pencils of the later stuff any day over  Alcala's gross over-inking.

A note on Kirby: he was absolutely his own best inker prior to about 1960. Then he stopped inking almost entirely, and never really took it up again, so we don't know for certain. Royer is my pick for his best post-1960 inker, and I also like the later Sinnott. 

I concur with everything you said, but I put Kirby inkers at Sinnott #1, Royer #2

Very happy to hear those last few responses. I guess I just got unlucky. Getting cynical in my old age...

Maybe this has been covered before (couldn't really find anything in the archives though), but there are a few auction houses, who shall remain nameless, who use the practice of extended bidding.  So if you bid in the last minute or so of the auction, it automatically extends the auction for a set amount of time (minutes to hours longer).  I just won an item through one of these auction houses.  I put my bid in with about 20 seconds to go - not realizing that they were going to extend.  Once entered, mine was the highest bid at that point - and not much higher than the prior bid.  The auction was then extended a few minutes, and suddenly, within that extended period, the bid increased by about 45% - quite a bit higher than my current bid, but just below my max bid.

I thought that was strange - if someone had that level of interest, why hadn't they bid in the last seconds as I did?  It seems very fishy to me.  With this kind of bidding practice, what's to stop the auction house from going in during those extended minutes and pushing up everyone's bid to below the max?  It's an easy revenue stream.  I don't think that's legal, but I think I read long ago that Heritage was set up in Texas because it was one of the states that allows the auction house to bid on their own auctions.  They don't do the extended bidding period, so it's probably less likely that they do that.  But, with these other auction houses, you have to wonder.

Anybody have thoughts on this?  Do you avoid these types of auctions?  It certainly makes me uneasy and suspicious.

Regards,

Tony

Hello!

I had the biggest update ever to my website this past week with some really great art!  I put most of the older stuff on sale, and added new art from:

Neal Adams

Art Adams

John Byrne

Alan Davis

Frank Cho

Joseph Michael Linsner

Chris Sprouse

Wayne Boring

Frank Godwin

Leonard Starr

David Wright

Stop by and check it out:

www.comicinkking.com

Thanks!

Tony

Absolutely his own best inker.  That said, quality varies over the years.  But when he was on his game, he was his own best inker.  This is true of most artists IMO.

Edit: Added "proof"!  See attached image.

Edit #2: If the owner wants to sell this cover, contact me.

Regards,

Tony

I'm not getting notified when someone replies to my post!  Just saw these now.  The first one I believe sold long ago.  I was aware of Burkey's.  Thanks for helping!!

Regards,

Tony

Peanuts Fake on Ebay

Peanuts listed on eBay - 7/2/88. Compare to published version here: https://outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed.com/lkpyv5o

clearly a fake. Seller claims they won it in a contest - how do you win a fake Peanuts strip??  Seller never mentions details about alleged contest and even states the piece is "in the style of...". I've reported to eBay - more people should to get this shut down. 

Looks like my link is prohibited??  You can google the published daily. 

Yes Brian, I am following on Facebook - thanks for the tip!  Hoping someone is hoarding a few and will part with one.

Looking for a nice Sinful Suzi full color pinup by Linsner. Email me if you've got one to sell. Thanks!

p.s.  I'll be updating my website soon. Stay tuned...!