ESeffinga

He does happily sign things in my past experience. I’ve seen a number of people share their signed books in recent years. You just have to catch him at a show. If he has a chance he is also very kind with little doodles in his hardcover books, from what I’ve seen.

And was writing my response to the OP and not to you, but since you mention it, this is 100% not correct. I didn’t buy any art directly from Darrow after 1998, (in Chicago, if anyone cares). My Darrow art collecting pre-dated that show, from 3-4 years prior as we’d see him every year. Geoff was absolutely bringing vellum drawings to conventions in the 90s. I bought several from him, usually a piece or two every year. I stopped going to those Cons after my 99trip to SD. I can tell you what years and what shows even. Some of the art was published, like the Shade The Changing Man piece from another Vertigo gallery comic, or a Transmet cover. Several were absolutely not. And were 100% based on already published work. He had Nixon art every single time we saw him. In fact I bought 2 non-hard boiled pieces from the same show that were essentially the same art work, with only the main figures changed out. One was published in one of the Sandman art gallery books, the other was Big Guy and Rusty in the same piece (giant car filled with frogs at a gas station) little Morpheus and/or little Big Guy. Same show. Same size vellum. And then a year or two later I saw someone with yet another copy of that drawing with yet another character in the piece in place of Sandman and Big Guy. Which was when I finally got wise to Darrow’s recycling of certain images. Then post-2000 as you say, they became super obvious and everywhere. Of course there are pencil on board pieces out there, and those are generally originals, though Darrow has also been known to light box pencils from time to time. You can usually tell the working pencils though as they don’t tend to be all that clean. They show work on the page. The earlier in the the 90s the piece is, the more likely it is a 1-off that is also for sure, as this tendency to repeat images really wasn’t as common until the mid to later 90s. But they are absolutely out there. Dated and all. And some of the later 90s and into the 2000s pieces are redrawn/revisited bits from the early 90s. And Darrow’s modern art is still produced the same way. So published inks are on vellum, and unpublished ones look very similar. They are generally priced accordingly. But this is why Darrow’s art has never hit the highs of other artists. His process scares off many would-be collectors. Just something to keep in mind for someone who is just getting into Darrow’s art. It’s something to be aware of. I should add, by mid-90s Darrow had sold every pencil page of Hard Boiled already. I asked him about pages as early as 95, I think, and they were gone. He may have held a few back and sold them at a later date, but my direct experience with him was the vellum inks were a way of hooking up fans with what they wanted. The real trick is to look at the dates! He dated a lot of that stuff. Some is only signed, but much was dated.

And there is a BUNCH of Hard Boiled vellum drawings out there. Not pages, but drawings of various characters that were done after the book was published. Some of the same poses and drawings have been done over and over again. All are inked by Darrow on vellum, and most have little differences in the details. But something else to be aware of. And with Darrow art, it’s not just Hard Boiled, but Shaolin Cowboy, Big Guy and Rusty (so much big guy and rusty!!!) and more. For years Geoff would bring these vellum drawings to sell at shows. Many/most not being published drawings but possibly inked from pencils done for published drawings, if that makes sense.

Stellar!

That Watchmen page tho...

Some people use barriers and buffer boards against wood. I just figure why risk it if you are only talking another $20 or whatever for the more expensive foam board. They keep calling it prints, as that is what many framing companies see the most in their shops. It has value but not always that much value, and if damaged, replaceable. Always be sure to reiterate your artwork is original, and it’s not a bad idea to talk to your framer about what insurance they have against their work regarding damage should an accident happen to your art while in their care. Stuff can and does happen in frame shops. I often see people shopping for the cheapest frame deals they can get, without seeming to invest any kind of care in who is handling their work and how. 15 years ago or so, back when my wife was still doing archival framing, she had someone bring her a game worn jersey by some pro football player that had been hanging in someone’s home in a box frame for a few years. They decided they wanted to re-do the piece in the frame so it hung differently and asked her if her shop could redo the work. Normally the archival way to do jerseys is to very carefully and strategically/inconspicuously sew them onto an archival backer. Instead she had to call the poor guy and inform him that Michaels or whatever big box framer they used originally had hot glued his jersey to their “acid free” mat board. Silicone hot glue is considered archival, this is true. On non-porous objects. You could hot glue a marble sculpture to a base in a display case for instance. But what you don’t do is use hot glue on fabric. The whole thing was a disaster and they used a LOT of it. She had the guy come back, showed him the mess they made and had to give it to him and let him see if he could find a restorer to try and clean it up. I’ve got dozens of stories like that. FWIW, if you have a lot to frame it’s not a bad idea to buy a point gun, order the frames, backer boards and mats online as you need them, and learn to hinge and put the frames together yourself. Most any kid in high school with some sense of smarts can work in a frame shop. Many do. It was my wife’s job back when she was putting herself through college, and what she did for a few years after running frame shops. If a high school kid can do it, pretty much anyone willing to watch 30 minutes worth of short youtube clips can learn to hinge. And assemble. You can even buy pre-cut to size frames and mats online these days. and like we always say about art, buyer beware. Educate yourself on the materials, the lingo, the ins and outs of different techniques, etc. Know that everything labeled as acid free isn’t always, and that some have a timeline on them. Or save time and spend a little money. support your local frame shop, if you are lucky enough to have a good one. Get to know them. Let them get to know you. Great things can happen from that relationship. Etc and so on.

That barrier board can soak in any bad juju from the MDF like a sponge over time. Additionally, reframing it with acid free foam board will be 5 times lighter. If it was a cheap piece in a cheap frame, especially unpublished or unimportant, If leave it alone, unless the swop out is cheap. If it’s something of real value, I’d definitely do the switch, personally. -e.

Albert posted what looks like it might be all the art (in a few batches of posts) on Facebook for those who are really interested in seeing everything. https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=103483818085427&ref=content_filter

Fascinating. If it wasn’t for the initials, I’d never have known at first glance that piece was by Timm. Normally I can spot him a mile off. Though looking closer at the line work I can see it.

^ 100% this. In most cases it is easier to fake a cert of authenticity than to fake the actual art. Real original art is generally like a signature, only 100,000 times more complex. The best way to know what you are buying is to know what you are buying. i.e. take time to learn and gather the skills to tell the difference. If the artist does fairly simple art (as R2Y2 mentions), there are still generally ways to tell what's legit and what is not. It's always best to keep in mind, buyer beware. Learn what to spot, and while still learning, show the art in question to someone with more experience you trust to help authenticate it for you. Learn from them. Ask what they are looking for, etc. Every artist is different. As are their working methods and what is and isn't normal for their output. As for buying stuff direct from an artist without a COA, that's more or less the norm. Very few offer such a thing, for the above reasons. If you get any kind of receipt or communications during acquisition of the piece, or online from the purchase, you can print and save that to add to it's provenance if you prefer. Also can be helpful, come time to insure the art.

I like the Swamp Thing analogy, well done.

How does one change the game more than inventing something? Asking for a friend...

USPS mangled several art pieces and other packages coming to me last winter. Things have been much better since. They definitely are best bang for the buck, as far as ship time vs cost goes. I even got a piece via USPS a couple months back that was barely packed in a manila envelope with a single piece of cardboard in it. It arrived from Boston dead flat, with perfect clean corners. Compare that to the crush-proof tube that was mailed to me 6 months earlier, that arrived both crushed and water logged on a dry day, at the end of a dry week here. So it got soaked somewhere else in the country and stayed that way. That was a total mystery. They had a bad run for a couple months and I don't know why. For the most part our mail and packages get delivered smoothly and regularly. USPS tracking is spotty at best tho. FedEx is usually smooth and fast, even the slower methods. UPS is always dodgy. Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow. Often I have no idea where it is. I never use UPS when I have options. I used to sometimes ship ground (only in masonite) to keep costs down for people, and have just stopped. It's not worth any money saved, to me. Too much headache. My main rule of thumb is the less time a carrier has the package, the happier and smoother things tend to run. Pick the slower/cheaper methods and they can drag on and on, and the timeframe they have to be damaged in transit goes up exponentially. Factor in packaging quality and the rest. -e.

The weird thing about that to me is that I thought the reason they did the Hellboy in Hell art was because Mike still owned it all at the time and could send it complete to be scanned for repro. Maybe that page had pre-sold or something, or my memory is total garbage? Both seem possible.

Which one of those soldiers is Phantom Stranger?

Scrap of uniform, chip of helmet added to manufactured collectibles? And here I thought comic art people were nutty. Makes me think of the old Elvis stories of people keeping his old tissues, which then always makes me think of this...

I like the hot/cool color palettes. His work makes me think of Andrew Robinson. Not bang on, or in every way, but the influence is pretty apparent (IMO).

I wonder if he liked Jamie Lee Curtis.

Well this thread went completely off the rails...

As long as you've been around, that was news to you? Really? Stuff like that has been one of their bread and butter moves for decades. Dozens and dozens of stories like that out there. All have been distilled down into that classic phrase "I gotta go ask my brother." Tales of bait and switch. Of bouncing prices. Of pieces for sale that were suddenly not for sale. Of pieces marked with one price and then not the real price. Of telling one person one price, then upping it, then upping it again, then selling to someone else for less than price #1 all at the same show, etc. and so on. It makes no sense. Don't try and understand. Truly an enigma worth avoiding.

So...many...teeth! And he talks through them (or maybe that back tooth is the one talking? Super!

Cho should buy it for all the $$$ it made him.

Masochist

Sure as hell wasn’t me. The only rep I have is for writing too many damn words in my posts, and maybe too little respect for the nostalgia angle and it’s relation to art. Perhaps also for being a *spoon* more than occasionally.

Is that you Joe? Seriously tho, I like hearing good commission stories from time to time. It’s nice to have balance. And that guy is all over social media, pimping his availability. More than once, Joe has commented on my comments out of the blue, letting me know HE was available to do whatever it was we were talking about. Recent example: I posted one of my big Hale paintings in an OA Commissions topic on Facebook. Got some lovely comments on it. But there is Joe, just letting me know, he ALSO does painted commissions! Holy unsolicited offers, Batman! I can’t tell you how loud a laugh that got out of me. Only that it startled the dog when I did it. The mental comparison alone left me chuckling all day. I don’t blame a guy for hustling, but come on. It’s easier to post to the appropriate groups periodically that you are taking commissions. But this is a way of skirting the no buy/sell rules in some groups I guess? I’ve never commissioned Joe for anything. I’m sure he has had his moments doing right by folks. His art isn’t for me. But I’ve heard all the commission horror stories over the last couple decades too. When I saw this thread resurrected I just thought, not again! Hopefully he is not falling back into old habits, and he is keeping people happy these days.