RBerman

Cell phone cameras have come a long way. I am satisfied with the results of my iPhone Pro Max 13. I use Photoshop to fix the skew angle.

On 11/25/2022 at 7:43 PM, paqart said:

It's hard to say. Drawing comic books is more work than almost any art-related field and pays less than practically anything else an artist can do to make money (top earners excluded). It's the kind of "job" that can keep an artist chained to his table for every waking hour, every day of the week until a comic is done, and then the cycle starts up again the very next day. That said, anyone who can make a living as a comic book artist has to work fairly fast. That means that in a situation such as is described here, it is unlikely he was laboring over the commission. Much more likely, it wasn't started on time because he put it off to do something else. The way some artists are in high demand to do commissions, I can picture those artists accepting commissions all day long at a convention without stopping to think about how much work they are now obligated to do. I can picture that kind of situation creating exactly the problem you describe.
Recently, artist Graham Nolan offered commissions as a way to promote a comic he was publishing. He wisely limited how many commissions he would do, knowing how long it would take to execute them.

Why is Nolan not the norm? Professionals should know better. My respect for an artist increases when he tells me, “What you are asking is more than I have time for right now.” Or those who only take payment on completion.

Since some artists are unable to manage themselves, it falls to collectors to share information about the good actors and the bad actors so that others can at least make informed decisions before making partial or full payments in advance on work that will be difficult to collect.

On 10/28/2022 at 10:32 AM, batman_fan said:

It certainly captures their sibling relationship, and of course the age is a plus. Storywise, it's a daily strip decompressed to Sunday length. The entire story is contained in the third, fourth, and final panels. Not a rare phenomenon perhaps, but also not the highest example of his art form.

Another collector wanted to fund a big purchase, so I was able to pick up seven Astro City pages from 1997, each under the $500 Morlock ceiling. Six of them are from the six part Confessor/Choir Boy story, probably the most famous Astro City story.

A trio of illustrations acquired yesterday. First, a recent Storm figure by Bob McLeod: 

A jungle girl from Canadian cartoonist Kagan McLeod, who as best I can tell is no relation:

And one by prominent Serbian cartoonist Borivoje Grbic. I'd be curious to hear how it ended up stateside for me to get.

On 11/21/2022 at 11:13 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

He's joking 'cause he's paid that much for a page in the past

I figured as much. I might too, for one particular PMS X-Men page, whose identity shall remain undisclosed.

On 11/21/2022 at 7:44 AM, delekkerste said:

Who in their right mind would pay $25K for a Paul Smith X-Men page...anyone who would do that should be institutionalized.  

 

(no, I didn't buy nor even pursue this particular page...it was two other crazies this time!)

At least three early on... but I dropped out.

I got one page on my fire-and-forget original bid, not Morlock but not astronomical either. It was a page I remembered well from original publication. I thought I won it in a previous auction but somehow didn't. This time I got it cheaper, which I choose to see as proper valuation rather than falling values. Sorry to whoever lost money on the flip. A little sorry, anyway.

On 11/17/2022 at 10:29 AM, malvin said:

As much as Clink's interfaced sucked, it's good for the hobby if there is a viable alternative to HA. Hopefully Clink is encouraged to invest and modernize their platform (or whatever else they need to be more competitive).  I mean I know they are not part of comicarttracker results because they blocked them. That can't help.

As I understand it, CLink considers their interface to be a feature, not a bug, so change is unlikely. Also, CLink's low margins are attractive for buyers but also make capital expenditures unlikely. I too would like to see viable alternatives to HA though.

I got a couple of lower priced pieces including a DPS. There wasn't a lot that I was passionate about this time around, but I'm glad with what I got. It was just as well since I got some things on CAF Live's event that dwarfed them.

Recent pickups include Tyler Kirkham pencils from a New 52 Superman story. A different version of this scene was used in the published comic.

And here's a scene familiar from the Thor: Ragnarok film -- the evacuation of Asgard. Only in the Last Planet Standing story, it was due to Galactus, not Surtur. Scott Koblish inks Pat Oliffe's blue-line printout.

I missed this thread. Don’t have any vintage examples but do have recent work by a few folks including Ramona Fradon:

David Finch:

Nicola Scott:

Miguel Mendonça:

What is a good solution for carrying portfolios? Preferably something that could even hold a 18x24, and/or something that can be slung on the back.

FWIW, the CAF YouTube channel has a whole host of running gags on different topics. "CGC police" is just one of many that people riff off. It's all in fun for the most part.

That said, it would help to remember that what for most of us is just a fun hobby, to be indulged or ignored at whim, is for other people an actual business on which they depend.for their ongoing livelihood. As such, criticism can have effects beyond just idle banter to pass the time.

I met David Finch and Tyler Kirkham at Music City Multi Con today and got them each to take a photo with one of their Morlock pages that I already had:

On 10/5/2022 at 8:13 PM, Taylor G said:

Chris Snorek and Chuck Arnold have a Discord server. The link for joining that server is this: https://discord.gg/YeEHe3mZ. 

Discord newbie... that link takes me to the Discord Login page, but when I log in, I'm no longer directed toward any particular server. How do I find it within Discord?

On 10/20/2022 at 12:45 PM, Dr. Balls said:

On the flipside of that, I also think the dealers might be open to deeper discounted offers live on Dueling Dealers than they are through their respective sites.

It's hard to tell. If I were them, I would mark up everything 20% on the livecast in case someone feels a sense of urgency to buy. Then discount it back 10% on the replay if no one takes it in the initial offering.

I watch, but like many I'm saving up for the several auctions this month and next.