Newby original art question

[Snowy-migration]

I have been looking at some original art on ebay and am looking for some clarification.

 

There is a lot of art that appears to be B/W ink, there are also color guides and production proofs. Can someone explain the various stages that these are used in comic production and are there any other stages that would have "original art" items.

 

In particular in the color guide description I have seen it says they are produced by a colorist. Previously I had always thougt that this was what the inker did. What exactly does an inker do to get credited in the comic?

[chrisco37]

What is commonly known as "Orig. Art" is the actual B/W drawing done for a comic. On this page, the penciler and inker (many times same person) do their work. These are larger than regular comic pages (the dimensisons escape me at the moment).

 

A "Color Guide" (and this is only based on the few that I own. I haven't discussed these at length w/ any onthe collectors) is, for lack of better term, a xerox copy of the original artwork. The colorist uses watercolors to color each page, and make notes for the printer (ie. "soft glow from building lights" or something).

 

Color guides are always (in my experience) sold as a set (ie. the entire comic book), where Orig. Art is usually sold individually (although complete issues are available for certain titles/issues).

 

Orig. Art is usually the more expensive of the two, although I've seen color guides get up there in price, and more sought after.

 

To answer the second part of your question, the inker does just that. Provides the ink to a page. Pages are usually drawn in extremely light pencil (although it varies from artist to artist). The inker then receives the page and provides the shading, outline, shadows, etc.... using ink. That's one of the reasons a great inker can make an average artist look great, and vice-versa.

 

Hope that helps.

[Snowy-migration]

Thanks for the info.

 

Does this mean that most original art is basically the combined work of the penciler and inker (if they are different) and that you would never see a pencil original without the ink over the top?

[rob_react]

Thanks for the info.

 

Does this mean that most original art is basically the combined work of the penciler and inker (if they are different) and that you would never see a pencil original without the ink over the top?

 

There are two ways you could see "original" art in pencil without ink. If the book was scanned straight from tight pencils and sent to the digital colorist then there are no inked pages. DH's Conan does this, for example. Then there's the case of pages inked on a lightbox. In those cases the pencils are photocopied or scanned and printed and inked on a lightbox. In those cases there are two separate pieces of original art, the penciled art and the inked art.

 

Most original art you see for sale is the regular combination of pencils and inks.

[FFB]

As an added comment, it is really cool when you can see the penciller's (mostly erased) remaining pencil marks under the inks. It gives you a sense of what the original pencils looked like, and where the inker deviated. One place where I notice a lot of this is when looking at Frank Miller's and Klaus Janson's art on Daredevil. Obviously lots of other examples exist, but I get a special kick out of seeing where Klaus and Frank "disagreed" on something.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Does this mean that most original art is basically the combined work of the penciler and inker (if they are different) and that you would never see a pencil original without the ink over the top?

 

There are two ways you could see "original" art in pencil without ink. If the book was scanned straight from tight pencils and sent to the digital colorist then there are no inked pages. DH's Conan does this, for example. Then there's the case of pages inked on a lightbox. In those cases the pencils are photocopied or scanned and printed and inked on a lightbox. In those cases there are two separate pieces of original art, the penciled art and the inked art.

 

Most original art you see for sale is the regular combination of pencils and inks.

[valiantman]

I do not consider myself an expert on original art...

but I've asked the same questions in the past,

and these are the answers I've been using:

 

Preliminary sketches - the earliest pieces, usually roughly/lightly drawn pencils-only

that show a recognizable placement of characters... like a rough draft.

 

Original Pencils - pencils-only, used as the actual piece (may or may not be inked directly)

 

Original Inks - inked either on the original pencils or on a (different size) copy of the pencils.

These pieces are usually the most expensive version of a page or cover.

(It's possible to start with inks instead of pencils, but not usually.)

 

Color guide (Original Colors) - A xerox of the inks are hand-colored by the colorist.

The colors are "original art" on top of a copy of "original art".

These pages may have transparent overlays for the text of the page.

 

Production proofs (pages) - A copy of the finished inks&colors for a page,

can be on 3M superglossy boards, may have the transparent overlays for the text.

No original markings by artist(s). These are usually one-of-a-kind, but not original art.

 

Production (uncut) proofs (comics) - The comic book before it is stapled and cut.

Two or three might be made, usually none survive.

(NOTE: For one or more older publishers, large quantities of these covers have been found

and used to marry nice "new" covers to older books. The buyer should investigate

scarcity before assuming that production pieces are "one-of-a-kind", "two-of-a-kind", etc.)

 

Other things not specifically mentioned above:

 

Painted original art pages - (self-explanatory) fully painted instead of "colored".

 

Cover (or page) recreations - an artist (possibly the original artist) re-creates an earlier

cover or page at a later date than the original.

 

Commissioned art - A piece commissioned from an artist that was not part of the

normal process of comic book production, that is, it was a "special request" and

not an actual page or cover from an original printed work. Cover re-creations (or homages)

are the more expensive examples of commissioned art.

 

Sketches (not preliminary sketches) - a very quick drawing usually done at a convention

or for a particular promotion (trading cards, limited edition covers, etc.).

In addition to an autograph, artists may draw a quick sketch of the character(s).

[aardvark88]

1.5 times up size orig. comic art standard dimensions are 11 x 17 inch bristol board. An inker can overpower the pencils of the artist & give it life (Austin over Byrne) or (de Zuniga over J Buscema).