Cover recreations. A quick question.

[Superhero]

I have the opportunity to purchase a cover recreation directly from the original artist, a well known and well respected artist. He told me he light boxed it-- essentially tracing over his original work, then he inked it. Of course, it is not nearly as expensive as the original cover but he still wants a fair chunk of change for it. I wanted to get some opinions on whether it really has any value since anyone could trace a cover and come close to the producing the same product. How much does it matter to the value that it is the original artist?

 

Also, this is the only recreation I'm aware of but he could always make another at some point.

[dhurley]

Artist?

[porcupine48]

[Superhero]

I would rather not say at this point...sorry...but he is very well known and has been around for a while. Also, this is a well known cover. I have never seen the original and the artist has no idea where it is or if it still exists.

[malvin]

There are no rules, and it really depends on what "fair chunk of change is".

 

For example, John Buscema did lots of recreations of Silver Surfer #4 and today they are all worth "a fair chunk of change" but nothing close to the original.

 

I think if you are worried about it not being worth what you paid, perhaps you can compare how much commissions by the artists go for in the secondary market. A cover recreation is worth "a bit" more than a commission, so that should be a good guide.

 

Malvin

[AKA Rick]

...I'd say, if you like the artwork and wanted it for your collection, it depends on what a "fair chunk of change" is in the context of what you could afford or what you think it's worth, I guess.

 

The lightbox by the orginal artist to me is fine, and it's nice and honorable that at least the artist disclosed the process to you. A lot of artists use a lightbox of their own art, working off of prelims in evolution of what ends up being used for publication.

 

It's different than if it were lightboxed by another artist slightly reinterpreting the original artists work, in my opinion.

 

I had George Tuska (R.I.P.) do an X-Men cover recreation that turned out nice. I know Bob Layton does magnificent cover recreation work, as well as reimagined reinterpretations of covers too.

 

I think a recreation of a cover by the original artist, where the original artwork would be too expensive is a great alternative. I was actually thinking of contacting Rob Liefeld to see if he was doing any cover recreations for New Mutants #98, the 1st Deadpool cover, since the original for that one would be way too expensive and probably locked in an unnegotiable collection, not for sale as well.

 

Depending on the artist and complexity, I would say, to me, a cover recreation should cost between $300-$1,000 for he most part. For artists like John Byrne, Neal Adams and the like, of course, their prices I think are way higher.

[Superhero]

This one is upwards of $10K

[groovyedwin]

Interesting thread.

 

Would it change your opinion if one of the popular mainstream artist is known for using a projection system to draw some of their originals or others have use lightboxes to go from preliminary to final versions of their originals?

 

Edwin

[Romain]

This one is upwards of $10K

 

At this price range I wouldn't even buy my favorite cover from my favorite artist ....IMHO way too expensive !!!

You can have the original inker to the cover art do the same lightboxing work for a fraction of what you're about to pay for a recreation ...Or should I be in your shoes and if by judging the price it is a really huge artist like for instance Berni Wrightson ? I'd request he doesn't use the lightbox process and try him on a real recreation ..which should turn great !!!

my !!!

[Terry Doyle]

This one is upwards of $10K

 

To me, that sounds way over-priced.

 

But at the end of the day it's your money and if it's what you really want, and you have no plans on re-selling in the foreseeable future, you should know whether or not to proceed.

 

One of the faults I notice with a lot of re-creations is that if the artist attempts to re-create the logo and lettering, the end-results can often look very shaky. Lettering is a skill in its own right.

[artcollector9]

Without knowing the name of the artist, it's hard to say if 10K is high or low... I'd pay Barry Windsor-Smith 10K in a heartbeat to do a Conan cover for me, or Neal Adams to do a Batman cover, but that isn't going to happen. You really can't get practical advice on only 1/2 the info, leaving out the most important element-- the name of the artist! I would say if the artist isn't TOP SHELF that the price is probably too high.

[Michael (OML)]

I agree with Artcollector9's comments. $10K is far too high. I cannot think of any artist worth that amount for a recreation except for BWS doing Conan; Adams doing a key DC Batman (and even then I'd be worried on the secondary market) and Ditko doing an Amazing Spidey. Any other cover recreation is simply not worth that -- no chance at all.

[AKA Rick]

The only artist I believe would be worth $10k for a lightboxed cover recreation would be STEVE DITKO since he's aged (so I'd assume maybe his freehand skill set isn't as sharp as it was 30+ years ago); he's elusive if not reclusive; and he's an icon who never cashed out in the industry, so to me can command such a fee and rightfuly deserves compensation. And to the point of investment quality grade, yes, I would then think the $10k would be well spent for all of the right reasons.

 

Any other artist, unless $10k is less than 2% of your annual income so to speak and/or you have a lot of disposable cash, seems like heavy investment type money, not just casual hobby purchase money and I'd think twice about dropping that amount of cash casually if you can't afford it or it puts a substantial dent in your wallet.

 

Artists like Byrne, Adams, Steranko and BWS are, I think still physically artistically skillful enough not to have to use a lightbox and could still do freehand cover recreations, if the rate is $10k.

 

And to that point, I'd say if you're looking for an exact rendering of a cover that is identical verbatim line for line, you're better off just framing the color comic book cover or getting an enlarged canvas print made for under $100.

 

What makes artwork "art" is it's unique "one-of-a-kind" characteristics, flaws and variances and all. Since you probably would never sell the art, nor would you ever try to sell it as if it were the original, I'd challenge that artist to do the rendering free-hand, then you have a more personal piece that probably in the long run will be worth more than a lightboxed version since you will have minor variances, and in some cases maybe improvements, or creative modifications that make your piece stand out.

 

$10k just seems like a lot of money for essentially a tracing job, if that artist is able bodied to put in the efforts to draw freehand, after all, he (or she) did it the first time around when it was originally published, so why not do it again... (unless again, what you're looking for is something verbatim in a replication)

[thethedew]

Such great, thoughtful advice from everyone. Kudos all around!

 

 

A pleasure to read, washes the taste of that *other* lightbox thread right out!

[jeremyslawsky]

we need names!!!!

 

who is this mystery artist who commands such high dollar?

[stinkininkin]

Without knowing the name of the artist, it's hard to say if 10K is high or low... I'd pay Barry Windsor-Smith 10K in a heartbeat to do a Conan cover for me, or Neal Adams to do a Batman cover, but that isn't going to happen. You really can't get practical advice on only 1/2 the info, leaving out the most important element-- the name of the artist! I would say if the artist isn't TOP SHELF that the price is probably too high.

 

I guess because he's been the focus on one of the other threads, but getting Frank Miller to do a recreation of maybe DD 181 or DK 2 would more than warrant a 10k fee. Also, how about Bolland doing a new Killing Joke? All of these unlikely to impossible in securing to be sure. I'm struggling to come up with another artists name to make this cut.

 

Scott Williams

[MattAllen]

If he still could...maybe Jerry Robinson doing a Batman 1 or early TEC?

 

In a case where the originals are not known to exist, I could see a 10k price point.

Other than aforementioned examples, I agree with everyone that's a HUGE chunk of change to throw at a lightboxed copy.

[otherworldsj33]

What recreations would warrent something around 10k or close to it? Certain Ditko Spider-Man, Smith Conan, Adams Batman, Robinson Batman, Romita Spider-Man 39, 40 or 50, Miller Batman or DD, Steranko - many, Anderson JLA 1, Infantino Showcase 4, maybe Flash 105, possibly a Jim Lee cover(?), a Kubert Showcase 34 cover, to name a few off the top of my head, most already mentioned here. And to really try to get a fair idea, the exact cover would need to be named. I would pay 10K for some I mentioned, others, maybe half or around that number for some of the others.

[Romain]

What recreations would warrent something around 10k or close to it? Certain Ditko Spider-Man, Smith Conan, Adams Batman, Robinson Batman, Romita Spider-Man 39, 40 or 50, Miller Batman or DD, Steranko - many, Anderson JLA 1, Infantino Showcase 4, maybe Flash 105, possibly a Jim Lee cover(?), a Kubert Showcase 34 cover, to name a few off the top of my head, most already mentioned here. And to really try to get a fair idea, the exact cover would need to be named. I would pay 10K for some I mentioned, others, maybe half or around that number for some of the others.

 

And you would pay $10K for a key cover you'd know is a lightbox of / by any of these Masters you named ??

 

BTW does anyone knows if Buscema did his cover recreations using the lightbox process or not ??

[artcollector9]

BWS did a few of these in the early 2000s, and he made a point of saying it wasn't a lightboxed recreation but was a 'reconsideration' slightly different from the originals. I'd trust in the artistic integrity of the creator, and I wouldn't worry so much if it were lightboxed (and I don't think BWS, Adams, Miller, etc WOULD lightbox).