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Watchmen Color Guide Art for Sale

Started by artdealer,

27 posts in this topic

artdealer

artdealer

Posted
Posted

I literally just found, what I think, are several Watchmen color guide pages. They look to be hand colored reduced xerox copies of the original art. They all have pencil notations for color.

 

Value? I have no idea. This isn't anything I deal with.

 

I can send scans for any interested parties and you can make an offer.

 

Please email me off list at mitkowitz@hvc.rr.com

 

Thanks,

Mitch Itkowitz

Graphic Collectibles

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comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
Posted
Mitch,

 

Splash page art handles John Higgins and has many of the color guides on their site. You could compare and check value there.

 

Sean

 

 

Sean,

 

Mark isn't selling color guides. He's selling prints of the color guides that John did for the 2004 Watchmen Absolute Edition. So the splash page ones aren't from the original printing in the 80's and they aren't hand colored guides that are being sold.

 

They aren't really a good comparison.

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artdealer

artdealer

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Sean,

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Just checked and those color proofs are from the 2004 Watchmen Absolute Book.

 

Mine are from the original printing for Watchmen.

 

Doesn't seem anyone is paying his prices for those. So, in reality, what are mine worth?

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comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
Posted
Sean,

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Just checked and those color proofs are from the 2004 Watchmen Absolute Book.

 

Mine are from the original printing for Watchmen.

 

Doesn't seem anyone is paying his prices for those. So, in reality, what are mine worth?

 

 

Depends on what's on the page, characters, issue #, etc.

The prices will vary a bunch.

 

I have seen them in the last couple years as little as $200-300 for pages without main characters, to somewhere around $500 for a couple of main characters but nothing memorable happening, but a really great page of action or a Rohrschach page might bring you double that perhaps more.

 

The market is tougher to gauge because, for many pages, the color guide was included with the OA for that page when originally sold, and never separated. Over time many were divorced from their line art partner.

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Dumur

Dumur

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https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=860960&GSub=88000

 

This piece "which might be considered 'good'" has sat for $600 and no buyers and I know someone who tried to move a Rorsach colour guide for $400 and couldn't, so I think the $500 number might be a bit high and the $200-$300 would be more in line... but with the covers going on Heritage etc. everything could get thrown all out of whack. I can't offer a confident number.

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comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
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https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=860960&GSub=88000

 

This piece "which might be considered 'good'" has sat for $600 and no buyers and I know someone who tried to move a Rorsach colour guide for $400 and couldn't, so I think the $500 number might be a bit high and the $200-$300 would be more in line... but with the covers going on Heritage etc. everything could get thrown all out of whack. I can't offer a confident number.

 

 

 

It's possible, they're color guides, so it's a shoot. lol

 

Heritage sold a few in 2010 with the best of the group going for $500. It was an ok one.

Another one went for $360 on Ebay the next year.

 

If it's one of the best pages from the series it might get more than $500 but I haven't seen one of those away from it's published piece or sold on its own.

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Dumur

Dumur

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Speedy, to answer your question, I am interested in colour guides, but only the hand coloured one's from books in the 80's that I loved and just want part of the process. For certain pages (like 10 Nights of the Beast Batman covers) it is unlikely I will ever own an original and the book had such an effect on my as a child that I just want part of the creative process... even if it is just the colour guides. Now in terms of The Watchmen, the same holds true however, I also feel like the colour played such a major role in that book... that beyond just wanting a part of the process of one of the most influential comics of all time, I do actually love looking at what the colour added to each scene, but I think I may be in the minority. Watchmen was a big deal for me... including the colours as I felt it really was a major creative part of that book when i read it (and to be honest, I don't like the modern recolouring as much). And yes, I would also have interest in colour guides for DKR (again, the original, not the easier to find proofs for the reprint).

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pkveronese

pkveronese

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The color guides for DKR are actually painted blue lines with an acetate of the line work. They have none of the color notations as the painted art is what they actually used for the book.

They are very nice in person.

MI

 

Do you know how to tell if one has a blue line from the original DKR printing or one of the graphic novels? I've got one, but honestly don't know what it's from - I just know the corresponding page would cost more than a really nice car.

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pkveronese

pkveronese

Posted
Posted
Speedy, to answer your question, I am interested in colour guides, but only the hand coloured one's from books in the 80's that I loved and just want part of the process. For certain pages (like 10 Nights of the Beast Batman covers) it is unlikely I will ever own an original and the book had such an effect on my as a child that I just want part of the creative process... even if it is just the colour guides. Now in terms of The Watchmen, the same holds true however, I also feel like the colour played such a major role in that book... that beyond just wanting a part of the process of one of the most influential comics of all time, I do actually love looking at what the colour added to each scene, but I think I may be in the minority. Watchmen was a big deal for me... including the colours as I felt it really was a major creative part of that book when i read it (and to be honest, I don't like the modern recolouring as much). And yes, I would also have interest in colour guides for DKR (again, the original, not the easier to find proofs for the reprint).

 

I've gotta echo you here. I think that hand-drawn color guides are really, really neat, and a very underestimated part of the market. I've got one on the wall, and it draws more people over to look at it because it pops with Higgins colors:

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=820923&GSub=116282

 

As pen and ink OA gets more and more expensive, color guides will only benefit.

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Dumur

Dumur

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Keith,

 

What DKR colour page do you have? I believe as Mitch said, the original's are actual paint on board with a black overlay of the inks that sit over top. The reprint colour guides are simply printed proofs... though I maybe horribly wrong.

 

And I am not sure colour guides in general will ever be collectable, but colour guides of books and pages (key books etc.) where the pen and ink would cost astronomical figures... Those guides may start to become increasingly collectible, especially in books (such as Watchmen) were the colour played such a major role. Looking at Higgins colour is, for me, like looking at great inks that have influenced the art. His colour palate dictated so much to the Watchmen story... and like a good inker, he also contributed mood and tone through use of different shadowing through colour etc. I think they are quite amazing.

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pkveronese

pkveronese

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Keith,

 

What DKR colour page do you have? I believe as Mitch said, the original's are actual paint on board with a black overlay of the inks that sit over top. The reprint colour guides are simply printed proofs... though I maybe horribly wrong.

 

I don't have it scanned - I'll scan it up in the morning. It's the page with Joker riding the robot doll as he posions an audience,

 

Excellent point again about Higgins - he added a significant amount to the tone of Watchmen, something often forgotten. Lynn Varley as well for DKR.

 

 

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Catwoman_Fan

Catwoman_Fan

Posted
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The color guides for DKR are actually painted blue lines with an acetate of the line work. They have none of the color notations as the painted art is what they actually used for the book.

They are very nice in person.

MI

 

I suspect it was used for the trade paper back version of Watchmen.

 

When batman Year One was republished in one volume, it was completely recolored, where it was hand painted over blueline full sized copies of the line work. It was painted on board that was meant for paints instead of typical paper.

 

 

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