Fun Sketches and Commissions 0

[alxjhnsn]

I have three daughters and I distinctly remember the day I bought them their first comic book.

The three of us were at a comic shop for me to buy a few. I showed them the Archie books and they jumped on this cover.


Why this one in particular? Because it had their mother on the cover. Yes, I'm married to Veronica.

Years and years later, my eldest was graduating from college and I wanted to give her a present that was something specific to us. Kathy had the normal stuff covered. I though that a recreation of the cover would be a good gift, but finding the right artist was hard - Both Dan and Jim (the original artists) had passed away. I stumbled upon John Sterling Lucas on ebay. John was the artist on the version of Katy Keene that my girls loved. He was willing to take it on and to expand it to include a scene with my daughter, Katy, and Katy's sister on a picnic.

It's awesome. Click it to embiggen and read the full description.

A few years later, guess what I found! Yep, the OA to the real cover. I had to get it and won it for far, far less than I'd have paid for it.

Click to embiggen.


One last comment on this cover. The joke was used twice before. The Additional Images on this cover's CAF contain the earlier versions.

Hope you enjoy this commission and related stories.

 

[Rick2you2]

17 hours ago, alxjhnsn said:

Why this one in particular? Because it had their mother on the cover. Yes, I'm married to Veronica.

I hope for your sake, she doesn't have Veronica's spending habits. 

I have a similar story, but it didn't involve a commission. When my daughter was little, I taught her the words to the Chiquita Banana song (original version) because it's really a great little kids song.  Cut to around 15 years later. When cruising on Heritage Auctions a while ago, I found some cells from a Chiquita Banana commercial. So I bought them, had them framed and gave them to my now-adult daughter as a present. She loves them. 

[alxjhnsn]

15 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

I hope for your sake, she doesn't have Veronica's spending habits. 

I have a similar story, but it didn't involve a commission. When my daughter was little, I taught her the words to the Chiquita Banana song (original version) because it's really a great little kids song.  Cut to around 15 years later. When cruising on Heritage Auctions a while ago, I found some cells from a Chiquita Banana commercial. So I bought them, had them framed and gave them to my now-adult daughter as a present. She loves them. 

She doesn't, but she's very easy to shop for. If it sparkles, she'll like it.

Congrats on the cell find! That's a great gift.

[alxjhnsn]

I like the story behind this one. I won it by losing an auction. Yep, that's the truth.

You can learn more by clicking the image. I think the story is good and there are links to some related material.

 

I liked this enough that I used it as the center piece for a jam layout by Matthew Clark. There's one figure left. I'd like Bob Layton to do it, but after years at seeing him frequently, I've haven't been at the right con at the right time since.

Click the image to learn more about the men of Easy Company!

[Rick2you2]

11 hours ago, alxjhnsn said:

Click the image to learn more about the men of Easy Company!

Stuff like this is what makes OA collecting fun. 

[Rick2you2]

12 hours ago, alxjhnsn said:

She doesn't, but she's very easy to shop for. If it sparkles, she'll like it.

Congrats on the cell find! That's a great gift.

And on a different but related note, I had Amy Reeder sketch my GF, who was kind enough to join me at a convention. Amy didn't think she was good at real people, but she is excellent.

I'm regularly surprised at how many top notch artists don't seem to really appreciate their talents and skills.  What they do is hard, and they deserve all the praise they get.

[Caltex98]

When Bleeding Cool News commented about the cover of Archie & Friends #156 with the headline "Sabrina cosplays as slave princess Leia. Fanboys head to explode" I suggested that Bill Galvan should draw that happening. His pencils were then embellished by my buddy Jimmy Wallin:

Being a Star Wars fan, Jimmy tried to get every detail of Leia's bikini right and I think he succeded quite well. Unfortunately it is all digital. (And BTW, I have 21 of 22 pages from that story in my collection. Bill gave the opening page away to writer Alex Segura but he was kind enough to provide me with a high resolution scan.)

Edited December 18, 2017 by Caltex98
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[alxjhnsn]

Do you know Nick Pitarra? He was the artist on the late, lamented Manhattan Projects. He grew up in Houston before moving to Austin and I've gotten to know him a bit over the years. I have a number of pieces by him, both published and unpublished convention sketches (though they are more than sketches).

I have only one commission though and I think it's a doozy.

The story is simple enough. J. Scott Campbell came to my LCS for a signing. He was willing to do commissioned pieces for $1500 before the signing, but I couldn't think of anything I wanted him to do. I even thought about buying a slot and flipping it, but you know flipping is ugly. So, I let it pass. Some time later, I realized that I could have had him do Caitlin Fairchild arm-wrestling Supergirl. I've been a Supergirl fan for a long time and he would draw her well and Caitlin is a character for which he is known (my main theme). Of course, it was too late. 

I liked the idea though and thought it would make a good sub-theme if I was stuck for an idea.

Later, I worked a trade with Aaron Lopresti and got the GA Wonder Woman arm wrestling Supergirl

 and then Jamal Igle with his Molly Danger vs. Supergirl.

I now had a real sub-theme.

On one of the FB art groups to which I belong, we have a Secret Santa and guess what I got? Yep, me vs. Supergirl. I handled the situation is style!


Seriously, I'm so impressed with the likeness that Anthony Carpenter captured. He must have scanned my FB page.

Anyway, one day Nick decided to take up arm wrestling and I had a great idea which I put on my list for Kathy as a potential gift idea - Nick vs. Supergirl. 

She went for it. Nick got a little carried away (in a good way for me). He added some of his artistic influences, favorite characters, and actors to back him and he added most of the JLA to back her. Over them all is an evil mastermind that shall go unnamed.


I think it's terrific and it is one of my favorite commissions.

More recently, my wife, Kathy, got this one for me. It's a treat. I really think a lot of Matthew Weldon and his work. This is me vs. the Overground Comics character Plus+Ultra in uniform, but without her blond wig. 

Matthew is kind and drew me about 30 years younger and 50 lbs lighter. 

One more, like Matthew's, it was a Christmas present. It's by Dave Aiken who worked on some of the Rankin Bass toys and such. I love it.

 

I hope you enjoyed my sub-theme.

As usual, you can click the image to see a bigger picture in the CAF.
 

 

Edited December 21, 2017 by alxjhnsn
Forgot to examples

[SquareChaos]

3 hours ago, alxjhnsn said:

Do you know Nick Pitarra? He was the artist on the late, lamented Manhattan Projects.

Every time I ask Felix about it, he swears it ain't so!  

[alxjhnsn]

15 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

Every time I ask Felix about it, he swears it ain't so!  

Well, if it's not dead, it is certainly late.  How'd you like the commission? I never looked better.

 

[alxjhnsn]

I forgot two others! I'm getting old. I've updated the original post.

 

[SquareChaos]

14 minutes ago, alxjhnsn said:

Well, if it's not dead, it is certainly late.  How'd you like the commission? I never looked better.

 

It's great! I see it pretty often digging through CAF after Pitarra MP pages 

[Nexus]

21 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

Every time I ask Felix about it, he swears it ain't so!  

Well, I don't *swear*...but from all indications, from the parties who matter...it's still very much in the plans. They're going to take their time to make sure they get it right. I think they learned their lesson from the last year or so on the book; they should have taken a break, rather that try to force it. The book suffered as a result. As a big fan myself, I don't want to go through that again. I'm totally OK with waiting, if it increases the odds they return to previous heights!

[SquareChaos]

51 minutes ago, Nexus said:

Well, I don't *swear*...but from all indications, from the parties who matter...it's still very much in the plans. They're going to take their time to make sure they get it right. I think they learned their lesson from the last year or so on the book; they should have taken a break, rather that try to force it. The book suffered as a result. As a big fan myself, I don't want to go through that again. I'm totally OK with waiting, if it increases the odds they return to previous heights!

Hey Felix, I didn't mean to put words in your mouth, I was speaking more colloquially - my apologies.

[Nexus]

1 minute ago, SquareChaos said:

Hey Felix, I didn't mean to put words in your mouth, I was speaking more colloquially - my apologies.

No worries!

[alxjhnsn]

10 hours ago, Nexus said:

The book suffered as a result. As a big fan myself, I don't want to go through that again. I'm totally OK with waiting, if it increases the odds they return to previous heights!

I agree. I hope they come roaring back. It was a fun book. Now, if only Nick Spencer would finish writing the last 50 (!) issues of Morning Glories. Grrr...


BTW, I hope the OP and other that read this thread enjoy my commission stories. If I'm boring you guys, let me know.

[alxjhnsn]

Okay, here's another.

It was the summer of 1964. I was 8 years old (summer between the 2nd and 3rd grades). My parents decided to take a driving vacation to Mexico. So, they loaded up the 1958 Plymouth Station Wagon. This car had two rows of bench seats, no seat belts until my dad installed some later, no A/C, and a storage area in behind the second row.

Here's one like it:

 So how many people did we place in that vehicle for the 10+ hour drive to Mexico? 9. 

Yep, my dad, little sister (3 almost 4), and mom in the front. 

My mom's sister, her eldest daughter, and my grandmom in the 2nd row.

My brother, my aunt's younger daughter, and my brother in the back (no seats).

The luggage was in a box that my dad had mounted on the top of the car. We called it the coffin.

Have you ever driven around Monterrey and Saltillo? No? Well, it's mountainous and the road are about 1.5 lanes wide and they have semis on them. We sometimes had to back down the mountain to find the widespot to allow the others to pass. Scary. I sat on the passenger side and looked down - I have vertigo to this day!

Anyway, we got there safely. Spent time at the local sites and markets and had  a grand time. We also spent almost all of our cash. Credit cards didn't work in Mexico and the only ones with money were my g'mom and me. We pooled our resources (I think I had a couple of dollars) and were able to buy enough gas to get us to Brownsville, TX. Whew! That was close.

We stopped at a HoJo (Howard Johnson's for you young folks. Used to be the biggest and nicest chain around) for lunch. After we ate, my brother and I decided to explore and the first thing we found was a comic book vending machine. I'd never seen a comic book before, but I knew who Superman was from re-runs of the TV show. Thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, I know what was on the Newsstands that month, but the only cover that I remember was this one. The cover to the first comic that I ever bought.



I was imprinted. I ran to my dad and asked if I could have 15 cents (of my money!) back to buy a comic. Yeah, the book was 12 cents, but the machine didn't take pennies. I got the money, ran back with Bill and we bought it. We spent an hour looking at it and trying to figure it out. The splash page was especially awesome since it had the names of all the characters.



We really had no clue when we started, but this was a big help.

Well, that was 53 years ago now. I still buy these silly things, have virtually everyone that I have ever bought, and have moved into the original art, too.

Kathy, my wonder wife, bought me a page from that first comic (Thanks to Will Gabri-el for the assist and easy transaction.) Here it is:

So, how does this relate to commissions? Simple, I've had the cover recreated twice.

The first is a 3D Shadow Box by Todd Reis. You really should look at his work. If you click the image, there are other links including a video of my piece disassembled. 

It is so cool!

I also had Scott Shaw! do a version with his characters (for DC):
1) Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew in the JLA role and
2) The Justa Lotta Animals in the JSA role.



Yeah, I am a comicholic.
 

Edited December 20, 2017 by alxjhnsn

[alxjhnsn]

On 12/19/2017 at 3:12 PM, alxjhnsn said:

I forgot two others! I'm getting old. I've updated the original post.

 

Make it three others. The post is now update. Sigh... 

[Rick2you2]

I wish I remembered the first comic I read, but I sure remember the first Justice League I saw. I still have it, too.

 

 

[▫️]

On 12/8/2017 at 12:12 AM, alxjhnsn said:

I have three daughters and I distinctly remember the day I bought them their first comic book.

The three of us were at a comic shop for me to buy a few. I showed them the Archie books and they jumped on this cover.


Why this one in particular? Because it had their mother on the cover. Yes, I'm married to Veronica.

Years and years later, my eldest was graduating from college and I wanted to give her a present that was something specific to us. Kathy had the normal stuff covered. I though that a recreation of the cover would be a good gift, but finding the right artist was hard - Both Dan and Jim (the original artists) had passed away. I stumbled upon John Sterling Lucas on ebay. John was the artist on the version of Katy Keene that my girls loved. He was willing to take it on and to expand it to include a scene with my daughter, Katy, and Katy's sister on a picnic.

It's awesome. Click it to embiggen and read the full description.

A few years later, guess what I found! Yep, the OA to the real cover. I had to get it and won it for far, far less than I'd have paid for it.

Click to embiggen.


One last comment on this cover. The joke was used twice before. The Additional Images on this cover's CAF contain the earlier versions.

Hope you enjoy this commission and related stories.

 

I remember this cool story but did not know you actually found the original later which makes the story even better.