How to start a jam... some help please

[yellow954]

So I have a few ideas for some jams and I want to know how do I go about starting one. One of my ideas will be spread across three 11x17's ... Do I need an artist to map it out first and if so cam anyone recommend an artist to do so? Any thoughts would be a big help

[joel mangrum-migration]

I am doing my first jam piece now but I talked to a lot of other collectors before I started. I was told it was essential to get a rough layout of figures or the proportions of the various characters could be wrong (i,e, The Wasp being bigger than Captain America for instance).

 

In my case I am having a Fantastic Four piece done and I started with Chrissie Zullo. She's doing the first character (Invisible Woman) and rough body outlines for the others to follow.

 

I don't have any recommendations for who to do the layout but like anything it comes down to price. Go to comicartfans and do a search for jam piece and take a look around, most of the people on there are very helpful.

[Greedo]

I would have an artist do layouts. I think the ones that are planned out are better than when everyone just draws stuff at random.

 

if you do more than 1 board I would not have to much crossing over boards. This way you can have multiple boards with multiple artists out at the Same time.

 

You should also search "jam" on the CAF website for ideas

 

All that being said I am starting my 1st jam in 2 weeks at WW New Olreans. It will be a multi year project. I will share it and my experiences and lessons learn here on the board when I get back from the show.

[Speedy-D]

I am doing my first jam piece now but I talked to a lot of other collectors before I started. I was told it was essential to get a rough layout of figures or the proportions of the various characters could be wrong (i,e, The Wasp being bigger than Captain America for instance).

 

In my case I am having a Fantastic Four piece done and I started with Chrissie Zullo. She's doing the first character (Invisible Woman) and rough body outlines for the others to follow.

 

I don't have any recommendations for who to do the layout but like anything it comes down to price. Go to comicartfans and do a search for jam piece and take a look around, most of the people on there are very helpful.

(thumbs u Good choice! She did a Mary Marvel for me a little while ago that's pretty sweet.

[groovyedwin]

There are several types of jams that I am aware of.

first type - sequential story or one pager/splash where the artist pass the art around and fill in as they desire (example, Zap Jam in pretty much any issue of Zap Comix)

second type - group of characters or scene that is drawn individually but when finished looks like a posed scene or crowd (for lack of a better term) (what I suspect you could find on CAF)

 

Sounds like you could be seeking the second type. In this case, isn't most superhero (example, marvel and dc) artwork already a jam since two or more artist touch the finish product?

 

Edwin

[yellow954]

thank you for the input, its much appreciated

[AKA Rick]

There are 2 types of Jam Pieces, one is multi-character by the same artist, usually coordinated as a project over the course of time rather than an "at once" commission; and the other is various characters by various artists

 

My advice is:

 

If you don't want to get a piece influenced too heavily by one artist who would do the layouts, and wanted to use multiple artists to create the piece in their own style then:

 

1) Pick your artists wisely to the degree that it's both reasonable in price, expectation and reliable delivery (even at shows, you want to make sure you get it done there and not half-done or an offer to "take it home" which usually will result in having to chase it down)

 

2) Select your characters wisely, otherwise it can look a bit "random" and don't pick too many characters, unless you wanted to use either a larger art surface or multiple pages.

 

3) Become the art director to ensure the proportions are the same, if a full body piece or whatever, basically what you're looking for to ultimately have

 

4) I'd say, if possible pick artists who use pencils only or pencil/ink, but not inconsistant artists who some use markers, others refuse to ink, etc. So, I'd say Greg Horn, Jim Lee, Greg Land, David Finch, and Mike Debalfo are compatible as pencil commission artists. Whereas Adam Hughes, Budd Root, Stephane Roux, and Mark Brooks are more compatible as artists who ink and add tones.

 

5) When completed, create a blue line of the pencils, then commission the inked by a known inker like Norm Rapmund, Danny Miki, Scott Williams, Matt Banning, etc. who you know will be reliable to complete the project. Also, that artist can add backgrounds to the piece.

 

6) Then commission a colorist like Nei Ruffino to do the coloring digitally, and you'll have a great cover quality masterpiece.

 

If you don't want to be so formalized and more free flowing, the one thing I've noticed with some convention jam pieces (as the mail-in style is dangerous if your work in progress piece gets lost or damaged or held hostage by any slow artist), is that they're disproportionate and use different medums. To remedy that, I'd say both art direct the piece and provide the same pencils and ink to all of the artists so it has a more consistant look, otherwise you may get sharpie markers, light pencils, brown wash, thick lines, thin lines and all sorts of styles that may clash... unless you like that style, which isn't necessarily bad, it just looks a bit more busy.

 

It can be quite expensive depending on your goals. In one breath, maybe you test it out and try to get the free sketches from certain artists and build your initial jam that way. There's lots of artists who do draw at conventions for free still. You just need to remind them to save room for other artists on the paper otherwise, they'll assume to draw in any proportion they want to on the page.

 

But if you're spreading a jam piece across three (3) art boards (11 x 17) it sounds like it could be a very big project, so one wrong unplanned or incompatible move can ruin the entire piece.

[yellow954]

[Par2ch]

[AtlasFan]

 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/canning-101-and-strawberry-jam-part-1/

[miraclemet]

I've had a jam piece in mind for a while with an eye towards dealing with these different approaches/formats by the different artists.

 

My plan:

 

1. Get artist #1 to do a layout for a design that allows for multiple smaller sketches. I'm thinking about a layout of someone looking at a big computer bank (say Batman at his computer in his Batcave).

 

2. Then have the smaller sketch area divided up. In my scenario it would be various computer screens, with one per artist to do a different character.

 

3. Then go around at a con and get whomever you like to do a sketch in their particular area.

 

This means proportions dont have to be consistent, styles can change and you've still got a nice concept piece at the end.

 

Another way to accomplish this is to have someone first do a cover layout on your board a'la the 80s Justice league of America (with the character headshots along the left and right edges with another image in the center) and have different artists do the head shots.

 

Anyone have another good approach that nicely breaks up a page into smaller sketch areas for an organized jam piece?

[resnbike-migration]

i've doen many of these:

here is my latest batman jam:

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=826738&GSub=104441

 

here are some others:

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=88020

 

some are organized as in boxes and some are a montage. i didnt get any layouts doen beforehand. just need to explain and edit the artist.

 

doug

[Greedo]

I've had a jam piece in mind for a while with an eye towards dealing with these different approaches/formats by the different artists.

 

My plan:

 

1. Get artist #1 to do a layout for a design that allows for multiple smaller sketches. I'm thinking about a layout of someone looking at a big computer bank (say Batman at his computer in his Batcave).

 

2. Then have the smaller sketch area divided up. In my scenario it would be various computer screens, with one per artist to do a different character.

 

3. Then go around at a con and get whomever you like to do a sketch in their particular area.

 

This means proportions dont have to be consistent, styles can change and you've still got a nice concept piece at the end.

 

Another way to accomplish this is to have someone first do a cover layout on your board a'la the 80s Justice league of America (with the character headshots along the left and right edges with another image in the center) and have different artists do the head shots.

 

Anyone have another good approach that nicely breaks up a page into smaller sketch areas for an organized jam piece?

 

I really like your idea

[joel mangrum-migration]

I've had a jam piece in mind for a while with an eye towards dealing with these different approaches/formats by the different artists.

 

My plan:

 

1. Get artist #1 to do a layout for a design that allows for multiple smaller sketches. I'm thinking about a layout of someone looking at a big computer bank (say Batman at his computer in his Batcave).

 

2. Then have the smaller sketch area divided up. In my scenario it would be various computer screens, with one per artist to do a different character.

 

3. Then go around at a con and get whomever you like to do a sketch in their particular area.

 

This means proportions dont have to be consistent, styles can change and you've still got a nice concept piece at the end.

 

What a great idea! I love it. I think I am gonna steal it from you. And best of all it would be cheaper to do because it's just head shots.

[doughnut42]

All that being said I am starting my 1st jam in 2 weeks at WW New Olreans. It will be a multi year project. I will share it and my experiences and lessons learn here on the board when I get back from the show.

 

I'm getting/starting my first one at that show as well! It will be a JLA jam piece with just the big 7.

 

I e-mailed Derec Donovan about laying it out and he's going to finish a character of his choice. Andy Kuhn will be staying with Derec at the show and he's going to finish a character as well. They told me they plan on having their parts done before the show starts on Saturday morning so I have more time to try to get more characters finished at the show.

 

I'm gonna try to get as many different styles as I can for it, and don't really want to get a lot of artists who have similar styles.

[miraclemet]

I've had a jam piece in mind for a while with an eye towards dealing with these different approaches/formats by the different artists.

 

My plan:

 

1. Get artist #1 to do a layout for a design that allows for multiple smaller sketches. I'm thinking about a layout of someone looking at a big computer bank (say Batman at his computer in his Batcave).

 

2. Then have the smaller sketch area divided up. In my scenario it would be various computer screens, with one per artist to do a different character.

 

3. Then go around at a con and get whomever you like to do a sketch in their particular area.

 

This means proportions dont have to be consistent, styles can change and you've still got a nice concept piece at the end.

 

What a great idea! I love it. I think I am gonna steal it from you. And best of all it would be cheaper to do because it's just head shots.

 

steal away! Not only headshots, but relatively small ones at that!... and in the past I've seen people do this type of jam work for free/super cheep just cause they want to be part of the page (specially if you can get a couple of good big name anchors)

[Greedo]

All that being said I am starting my 1st jam in 2 weeks at WW New Olreans. It will be a multi year project. I will share it and my experiences and lessons learn here on the board when I get back from the show.

 

I'm getting/starting my first one at that show as well! It will be a JLA jam piece with just the big 7.

 

I e-mailed Derec Donovan about laying it out and he's going to finish a character of his choice. Andy Kuhn will be staying with Derec at the show and he's going to finish a character as well. They told me they plan on having their parts done before the show starts on Saturday morning so I have more time to try to get more characters finished at the show.

 

I'm gonna try to get as many different styles as I can for it, and don't really want to get a lot of artists who have similar styles.

 

Cool, I hope to run into you and check it out!

[joel mangrum-migration]

 

I e-mailed Derec Donovan about laying it out and he's going to finish a character of his choice. Andy Kuhn will be staying with Derec at the show and he's going to finish a character as well. They told me they plan on having their parts done before the show starts on Saturday morning so I have more time to try to get more characters finished at the show.

 

I'm gonna try to get as many different styles as I can for it, and don't really want to get a lot of artists who have similar styles.

 

Andy Kuhn is on my list to get. Good job.

[WiseGuyX]

i've doen many of these:

here is my latest batman jam:

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=826738&GSub=104441

 

here are some others:

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=88020

 

some are organized as in boxes and some are a montage. i didnt get any layouts doen beforehand. just need to explain and edit the artist.

 

doug

 

WOW...That is amazing!

 

Hell, I think I need to start a Jam!

[groovyedwin]

thank you for the input, its much appreciated

 

The following is an example of the first type:

 

http://www.undergroundcomixart.com/drawings/main.php?g2_itemId=3608

 

You can hit the next button to see the other page and extra panels.

 

Edwin