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No more James Jean Fables covers starting with 82. =(

Started by DKB,

38 posts in this topic

irchooker

irchooker

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Anybody heard which of the Galleries he's talking with.

 

His solo show is being held January 2009 at Jonathan Levine Gallery NYC. I've dealt with Jonathan; he's got a fantastic indie rep, has many, many years in the Outsider Art world from starting in Philly and moving to NYC.

 

Or he may bypass the up and coming indie fine arts crowd entirely and jump right up to the top of that pile with folks like Mark Ryden and Camille Rose Garcia. He's on a similar career trajectory for sure.

 

The one obvious difference between Ryden and Jean is that the pricing of Rydens best work: take the price of Jeans last Fables cover and add a 25 in front.

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DKB

DKB

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I am curious to see what kind of pricing his fine art will command at his NY gallery show.

 

His fine art pricing? Take the price of the last two Fables covers and place a 1 in front.

 

:pullhair:

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Shawn Low

Shawn Low

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What did he sell these covers for? Looks like the store is empty now.

 

Recent covers (not prelims) go for $5-6k for the painted one. More for large paintings. $3k or so for the pencilled covers.

 

Prelims were $550+.

 

All come with a coloured monoprint (some signed, some not) of the cover. These have been sold seperately on ebay so if you're buying a cover from another seller, ask for the monoprint.

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Solar

Solar

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Ryden has broken a mil recently so that may be aiming a bit high; however, JJ should fit right in to the pop-surrealist movement. He's already bypassing the lower end galleries in heading straight to Levine, which has a very solid reputation in the scene. It'll be fun to watch his career progress, especially for those of us who have been following him since the early days of Fables.

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delekkerste

delekkerste

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If his show isn't comic book-oriented, I disagree. I just don't believe that traditional fine arts success (i.e., unrelated to comics) translates into higher prices for comic covers.

 

It'll be interesting to see what happens. In most cases, comic book success hasn't translated well into higher prices for and greater success in fine art. I own Vampirella artwork by Jose Gonzalez, Enric Torres and Manuel Sanjulian, three very talented Spanish artists who all crossed over into fine art. I'm pretty sure the comic book artwork is still more valuable than any of the fine art - pretty as the fine art may be, it's just a whole different ballgame outside of comic book fandom, much more competitive and difficult to make a name for yourself even when you're talented.

 

To use your Jeff Jones example, his best fine art work is more valuable than any of the limited comic art he produced, though as far as I can tell, the people paying big money for his art seem to largely be comic and illustration art aficionados who know him from his comic and paperback work and affiliation with the other comic book artists from The Studio. Similarly, I'd be surprised if Barry Windsor-Smith's fine art didn't reside primarily in the hands of comic book and illustration art collectors - don't really think there would be a lot of appeal or name recognition outside of this group.

 

Come to think of it, has any comic book artist succeeded in making a real name for himself/herself in the fine art world (I'm going to exclude the likes of Frazetta here who, while certainly a fine artist, would be considered by most to be more of a genre artist than what one would think of as a fine arts gallery type)? I know surrealist Terrance Lindall did some comic book and paperback work in the late 1970s/early 1980s and has largely made his reputation elsewhere since then. I imagine that maybe some European artists have made some inroads outside of comic art? Anyone, anyone? (shrug)

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Shawn Low

Shawn Low

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To use your Jeff Jones example, his best fine art work is more valuable than any of the limited comic art he produced, though as far as I can tell, the people paying big money for his art seem to largely be comic and illustration art aficionados who know him from his comic and paperback work and affiliation with the other comic book artists from The Studio. Similarly, I'd be surprised if Barry Windsor-Smith's fine art didn't reside primarily in the hands of comic book and illustration art collectors - don't really think there would be a lot of appeal or name recognition outside of this group.

 

Come to think of it, has any comic book artist succeeded in making a real name for himself/herself in the fine art world (I'm going to exclude the likes of Frazetta here who, while certainly a fine artist, would be considered by most to be more of a genre artist than what one would think of as a fine arts gallery type)? I know surrealist Terrance Lindall did some comic book and paperback work in the late 1970s/early 1980s and has largely made his reputation elsewhere since then. I imagine that maybe some European artists have made some inroads outside of comic art? Anyone, anyone? (shrug)

 

I think that JJ has always been careful with Fables and his choice of commercial work - he's always made sure that his artistic values sit well against the wishes of people who hire him. He's managed to create an identifiable body of work with the Fables run by working in motifs, themes and colour schemes that seem to mesh well with his 'fine art'.

 

Ryden did much 'commercial' work before making it into the big money stratosphere so there's no reason why JJ can't make it. His commercial work has been fairly prolific and high profile too (Prada being one of his clients).

 

As for artists who have bridged comic and fine art, Dave McKean also comes to mind as does Kent Williams, Phil Hale, George Pratt and to a lesser (I'm biased) extent, Jeremy Geddes and Ashley Wood.

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Mighty Hal

Mighty Hal

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Ryden did much 'commercial' work before making it into the big money stratosphere so there's no reason why JJ can't make it. His commercial work has been fairly prolific and high profile too (Prada being one of his clients).

 

When it comes to comic book artists, does anyone think, "Mark Ryden"?

 

I like Ryden's work -- I've seen it on magazine covers and record albums but don't remember it from, say, Spider-Man or Wonder Woman. I like the idea that people are paying big money for paintings that feature giant-headed, creepy-looking kids and I like his work. It looks Vertigo/comic book-ish. But if he made a significant mark in the world of comic books, I missed it.

 

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Eric Seffinga

Eric Seffinga

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Another question is, when it comes to comic book artists, does anyone think, "James Jean"?

 

Honestly, to me Jean's work isn't comics. AFAIK he's done a couple little stories here and there, but mainly he's a cover artist. Or to be terse, he's a commercial artist, which is always how I've seen Jean's work. He's done CD covers, he's done spot illos for magazines, posters, prints and even has his own art books. Not much in the way of a true sequential artist.

 

He's an artist that's taken paying jobs. It just happens to be that he likes the comics medium, and happened to get hired doing work for a comics company. He's just never been a "comic book artist" to me. Not that there's anything wrong with being one.

 

To me, Jean falls in that rare group of artists that have dabbled and been paid to do comics related artwork, but have their own sense of creativity outside the comics realm. McKean, Muth, Pratt, Williams, Hale, are some of the painters and quirky illustrators, but then there's guys like Tomine, Seth, Ware and so on, that are not and still transcend just the comics medium.

 

It's not just comics artists that have this career path. The world is littered with commercial artists, designers, art directors and illustrators of all sorts that are all looking to make their creative way. A very lucky few with a unique perspective on the world catch some lucky breaks and put true talent on the line and break through to the next tier. The higher you go, the fewer there are that make it.

 

FWIW I remember it wasn't all that long ago that Ryden's art was where Jean's is now (yup even at SDCC about 10 years ago). Price-wise and popularity-wise. I think with the right exposure, Jean could very well end way up in that rarified air that many artists long to breathe. He's got the talent, unique sense of style and flair to do it. And of course that art market's been blossoming as of late. It wasn't but 2 years ago that a smallish Camille Rose Garcia painting would set you back a couple grand. Yet I inquired about a piece of the same type last week and it was $12K. Audrey Kawasaki's pieces are in the same realm. Eric Hammer (of Venture Brothers fame) does beautiful traditional oil paintings that regularly sell in that same ballpark. In fact it's a crowded market now in that teens to twenties range and a lot of these are artists whose names are farther from the masses lips than Jean's, with many of the national publications and select album art pieces he's done.

 

That's my take anyway.

I only wish I'd gotten the pieces of his that I wanted back when I could. :(

 

-e.

 

 

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Shawn Low

Shawn Low

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Ryden did much 'commercial' work before making it into the big money stratosphere so there's no reason why JJ can't make it. His commercial work has been fairly prolific and high profile too (Prada being one of his clients).

 

When it comes to comic book artists, does anyone think, "Mark Ryden"?

 

I like Ryden's work -- I've seen it on magazine covers and record albums but don't remember it from, say, Spider-Man or Wonder Woman. I like the idea that people are paying big money for paintings that feature giant-headed, creepy-looking kids and I like his work. It looks Vertigo/comic book-ish. But if he made a significant mark in the world of comic books, I missed it.

 

I guess the line is sometimes blurred between 'comic artist' and 'pop culture' artists. Ryden and other artists mentioned on this thread (Kawasaki, Rose Garcia etc) fit into the same 'niche' as JJ is trying to get into. Their work is hung in galleries specializing in this 'genre'.

 

Ryden hasn't done comics so yes, he's technically NOT a comic book artist.

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constant ng-migration

constant ng-migration

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I think most jj fans will be surprised at how different his personal work (the stuff we'll see at the upcoming NY show) will be from his work on Fables.

 

Regarding his early comic cover work (Batgirl, Green Arrow, Machine Teen), I really don't see it appreciating as much or as fast as his work on Fables. While the early covers were nice, they didn't have the same energy or detail as the Fables work.

 

The highest price I'm aware of for a James Jean cover is over 25k. The last time any of his Fables trade covers sold on the secondary market, they were selling with no problem at 10k to 15k.

 

Constant

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DKB

DKB

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As for the next cover artist for Fables, I'm hoping Sam Weber will take over the cover chores. He's doing a knock up job on "House of Mystery", another Vertigo title. Did anyone see the piece he donated for the Totoro Forest Project auction? Simply beautiful!

 

He only did the first few covers ya?

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Frederic9494

Frederic9494

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As for the next cover artist for Fables, I'm hoping Sam Weber will take over the cover chores. He's doing a knock up job on "House of Mystery", another Vertigo title. Did anyone see the piece he donated for the Totoro Forest Project auction? Simply beautiful!

 

He only did the first few covers ya?

 

Yes, he did the covers to #1-5.

 

F.

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