Prelims

[Rodey]

Since I'm new to the world of OA, are prelims just as valuable like on a cover or a page? Or they just considered sketches?

[LordZarak]

I'd say for the most part, prelims are sketches. That's not to say they aren't worth anything, as they still have value depending on artist, subject, and quality. But don't expect it to go for as much as its published counterpart.

 

[aardvark88]

Some detailed pencil prelims may retail for close to the inked version of the cover esp. if the inked version was light-boxed from the pencils. This means there are 2 versions of an original cover: detailed prelim on white paper and inked (possibly larger) version on 11 x 17 inch bristol board.

[LordZarak]

Some detailed pencil prelims may retail for close to the inked version of the cover esp. if the inked version was light-boxed from the pencils. This means there are 2 versions of an original cover: detailed prelim on white paper and inked (possibly larger) version on 11 x 17 inch bristol board.

 

By definition, are those prelims though? I condiser that original penciled artwork. To me, prelims are sketches to determine the look and feel of a page or cover.

 

[malvin]

Like everything else in this hobby, there are no set rules, but prelims are usually a different size from the eventual OA use, just so that an artist gets a feel for what the page should look like. They are usually 8.5x11 or even 4 thumbnails on a 8.5 x 11 sheet. Sometimes cover prelims are also sent to editors (with various versions) for their approval, to make sure the editor will approve of the composition before the artist does all the work!

 

Some artist (one comes to mind) do use full size 11x17 prelims (which are rough) before making the final version. Not sure if they lightbox or not.

 

As for value, like everything else, its whatever you want to pay for it! but prelims usually go for a fraction of the eventual OA.

 

Malvin

[Rodey]

Ok, cool. That explains everything.

[MutantKeys]

From what I have seen... they are basically rough sketches of what they vision the cover to look like. Most are done quickly and arent close to as nice as the finished product. In terms of value, they seem to be pretty inexpensive for the most part... not even close to the cover...

[comix4fun]

Since I'm new to the world of OA, are prelims just as valuable like on a cover or a page? Or they just considered sketches?

 

They are pretty much always worth less than their published counterpart. But as everyone has said it is depends of how "finished" the prelim is, who the artist is, and what his published/finished work usually goes for....

 

Some prelims don't look like prelims at all...and they certainly aren't "sketches"

 

when compared to their finished counterpart.

 

 

[MutantKeys]

Thats a prelim Very well done

 

One of the better ones I've seen... I remember looking at a couple of X-Men ones last year

[TMNT]

Here's another set of examples...

 

Here's a rough prelim sketch:

 

Here's the "thumbnail" layout spread..note this page is the 2nd to the bottom right. Again, very rough and very different than the above image:

 

Here's the final page, again completely different than the 2 prelims:

 

In this example, you can see that these are not nearly finished and probably not worth very much. However, I love them, as they show all the stages of the page design. Just something a little different for the collection. Bu I wouldn't pay a premium for them.

[mrpunch0]

Not all prelims are created equal.

Catwoman #50 by Adam Hughes

Prelim.

Finished cover.

Catwoman #58 by Adam Hughes

Prelim.

Final cover.

The Pulse by Mike Mayhew

These are sketchier.

Finished cover.

[bluechip]

Prelims can also be covers that were revised for one reason or another. Like this one, which was changed based on Stan Lee's instructions to make the students look less threatening and to have spidey swinging from both hands.

 

 

 

 

Or -- a prelim can be as described in another post -- Essentially the cover art in pencil, which was then inked for the final. And it may not always be that the final has to be worth more. Like in this case, where the pencils were done by the more famous artist.

 

 

 

Sometimes a prelim can have different artwork from the final, and they prove interesting enough in retrospect that they end up getting published years afterward, such as this one.

 

 

Here's another example of a prelim, where the original prelim was apparently done long before the final, so that the style of the image was actually from an earlier time.

 

Here's the final, from 1972.

 

 

And here is the prelim, on which the artist apparently offers this to the editor from his files as an "original version" which may have been done much earlier. How much earlier? what if the prelim were somehow dated to the 1950s? would that affect the value? Depends on your point of view...