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Pricing Comic Art - 2023 Edition
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Started by alxjhnsn,

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alxjhnsn

alxjhnsn

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Reason for the new thread: The CGC board will no longer allow me to edit the 2021 Edition of the thread. 

The previous posts are:

These are not the exact titles, but they should be. Since I can't edit the threads, I can't change them. Please note, there is nothing in them that hasn't been updated here. I just list them for historical purposes.

-----

As many of you know, I've collected tips on how to price comic book art for the last few years. The post provides information of use to both buyers and sellers. It includes a brief exploration of pricing different types of comic art, e.g., pencils/letters/inks on a page vs. pencils/inks on a page vs. separate pencils and inks.

Feedback is welcome.

BTW,

  • The latest write-up is always on this post. I edit the material in Spoiler tags and add a new comment on the bottom of the thread. This seems to be the easiest way to find the latest. Of course, it means older versions are gone. 
  • If you'd like a copy of this in an email, just PM me with your email address and I'll send it along
  Hide contents

Whether you are pricing to sell or buy, you might want to explore the following resources

  • The website Comic Art Tracker can help you find art and look at current asking prices for similar pieces.
  • Price Histories - Free
    • The OA auction archive at Heritage Auctions
      • This archive presents the results from all of their OA auctions.. Once you sign-up and get an id, you can search for pieces by your artist and see what they have sold for.
    • Comic Art Tracker maintains an archive of sold art.
      • Accessing it isn't necessarily obvious. Execute a search. In the display that comes up and above the search box, you will see "Available Art" (the default) and "Sold Art." Click "Sold art" to see what CAT maintains in its archive.
    • Ebay’s completed listings. 
      • The data is only 30 days old, but it is a place to find pricing for commonly traded artists.
  • Price Histories - Paid Access
    • The Comic Art Fans site - 
      • CAF Market Data provides more auction results (more than 1,000,000) are available if you join the Comic Art Fans site and pay for Market Data access. This access includes eBay listings that go back further in time, Heritage Auctions, and other auction/dealer sites.
      • Also the CAF has a Comic Art Estimation Tool that can be useful.
  • 2D Galleries
    • The European equivalent of the Comic Art Fans site - https://www.2dgalleries.com
    • Like the CAF it has a selling section that can provide pricing information. It's mostly in French.
  • Artists Selling Directly
    • Buy from Comic Artists - Here's a website listing comic artists and where they sell their wares. This listings on this site (probably) show up on Comic Art Tracker, too.
  • Dealer sites. 
    • Dealers, generally, post their art with fixed prices though there are exceptions. 
    • The best dealer list is available on Comic Art Tracker. You can see it here. 
    • There other dealer lists, e.g., there is a list of dealers on CGC OA board. 
    • The CAF site will search the inventories of several dealers for you. However, the Comic Art Tracker is better.
  • Auction Sites
    • The best Auction House list is found on the Comic Art Tracker site. You can see it here.
  • Art Pricing Services:
    • Terapeek is an ebay service that provides analytics on lots of ebay transactions - well beyond the 90 day limit. The rates are given on the link.
    • AskArt which for a fee will report auction prices for various types of art including comic art. Subscription information can be found here. The tracked sources are: auction houses, art galleries, and museums.
    • WorthPoint which for a fee will report auction prices for various types of art including comic art. Subscription pricing is here. A full list of their data sources can be found here. 
    • Blouin Art Info which tracks sales at major art auctions. It can turn up some Comic OA as well. Look for the “Art Prices” item on the top right of the screen. Subscription information is on the linked page. I can’t find their data sources.

If you are pricing to sell, there are additional resources:

 I do not claim that this information is correct, exhaustive, or useful.

Even with the information above, new buyers and sellers often find that OA is too hard to price. I agree that it is difficult. However, I think that there is a valid reason. Each piece is unique. Uniqueness makes art sales generally and OA specifically non-linear. Examples of how piece can differ in ways that impact pricing include:

  • Content: 
    • Consecutive pages could and do sell for radically different amounts based on their content. 
  • Page Layout: 
    • In general, one might say:

 Covers > 1st Page Splash > Other Splash > 1/2 splash > panel page

However, that's not always true either. The right panel page can be much more compelling than a bland splash.

  • Penciler vs. character: 
    • There are "A-list" artists, but not all of their books/characters have the same value. Kirby FF pages generally go for more than JIM/Thor pages which go for more than Cap pages (2nd run) which go for more than ...
    • There are also "A-list" characters, e.g., Wolverine. A less popular artist might well create an image of Wolverine that would sell for more than a less popular character by a more popular artist.
  • Pencilers/inkers combinations: 
    • Kirby/Sinnott FF pages rank above Kirby and anyone else on FF, but a Kirby/InkerX FF page might be more or less than a Kirby/Stone Thor page. Hard to tell.
  • Production Technique:
    • Classic - pencils, letters, and inks all on the same page
    • Recent - pencils and inks on the same page - no lettering
    • Modern - pencils and inks on different pages - no lettering

In general, Classic > Recent > Modern

When looking at a "split" Modern page, consider what it might be worth if done in Recent style and then split the cost with 60% of the "Modern-style" page going for the pencils and 40% going for the blue-line inks. Why? The penciller tells the story and that's the page (s)he handled. The inked page has the advantage of being the published page, but even so most prefer the pencil page.

  •  Artistic aesthetics and application:
    • The overall assembly of stylistic choices an artist(s) uses to make a work visually appealing including factors such as balance, color, movement, pattern, scale, shape and visual weight to complement the artwork's usability, and enhance the functionality with an attractive layout. Combining those factors within the aesthetic of emotion that the artwork evokes will add to the other intrinsic highlights of the art such as character, story or art team, affecting value. 
  • Scarcity
    • You may ask how it can be scarce especially modern art since pretty much anything drawn for a comic since the late 70s has been saved by someone. Well, that’s a good question and my friend, Rabid Ferret, explores this topic in Francesco Brisighelli’s blog. Rabid’s key point is that if one has specific types of pages in mind, one should do the research to determine how many such pages exist. In his blog post, he poses that question with regard to the Lee/Williams Uncanny X-Men run and the fan favorite Wolverine in the fan favorite action scenes (claws out). You’d be amazed at how few pages there are with the most desired characteristics. He then talks about ranking the pages. The gist is, if you have an idea of what you want, do the homework so when the piece comes up you know whether or not you should jump on it. I found the article to be quite enlightening; it also made me glad that I’m not s super specialist! 

To gain the skills required to properly evaluate comic art, you should join the comic book OA community. 

  • The main points of Internet contact are:
    • Yahoo's comicart-l mailing list has passed because Yahoo has discontinued the service. However, two new lists have risen to replace it. I have joined both and I post to both most of the time.
      • On groups.io, we have comicart-l@groups.io (Sign up by clicking here and look for the word subscribe.) At this writing, there are 98 members.
      • On Freelists, we have comicartl@freelists.org (Sign up by clicking here.) At this writing, there are 307 members.
    • The Comic Art Fans website
    • The CGC OA Board 
    • The Facebook Pages listed above
  • The main points of physical contact are probably:
    • Dedicated Comic Art Shows (dealer emphasis)
      • Comic Art Con (Spring/Fall) - A twice yearly show held in northern NJ (Hasbrouck Heights). The formal domain seems to have lapsed, but the show owner has a page for it here.
      • LA Comic Art Con - Annual art show one week before SDCC to leverage the dealer’s visit to the west coast
    • Conventions with High Dealer Attendance
    • Conventions with a comic artist focus and usually a fair number of dealers
      • Heroes Comic Con (June) - A number of comic art dealers, but a huge number of artists who generally will draw and have portfolios to sell; no celebrities.
      • Baltimore Comic Con (October) - Similar to HeroesCon, but fewer artists and some celebrities.
    • Conventions centered on Comic Art featuring both artists and dealers


One last comment, if you are looking to buy or sell, spend the time to learn the market by studying auctions and leveraging Comic Art Tracker. That might take 6 months, but it's worth the time.

 

I recognize that this is simply a general description and each piece of art and each seller is unique, but I think this information can be useful.

Edited by alxjhnsn
Added the CAF Comic Art Estimator Tool link
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alxjhnsn

alxjhnsn

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Posted (edited)

Updated the section on characteristics that influence the price of comic art and added a new consideration: Artistic aesthetics and application. This topic and the text were suggested by our @Dr. Balls.

Added the upcoming Original Art Expo to be held in Orlando under the auspices of Bill Cox as a new point of contact.

Some minor editorial updates.

Edited by alxjhnsn
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alxjhnsn

alxjhnsn

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On 6/26/2023 at 7:37 PM, Mickey7 said:

Thank you for putting this together.  Lots of good information and resources here. (thumbsu

You are quite welcome. Suggestions for improvements are welcome and appreciated. Just put them on this thread and I'll see them.

Edited by alxjhnsn
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Sideshow Bob

Sideshow Bob

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On 7/12/2023 at 12:59 PM, alxjhnsn said:

@Bronty suggested that the range could be from 3% to 20% with perhaps 5% being a median.

Any more input?

Seems a requirement to have such a wide spread in establishing a FMV ratio. It's such a wide range to evaluate, as you're taking all the esoteric issues of published comic art (character, publication, artist, nostalgia, medium, cover vs interior vs splash) and now you're adding new factors like: tight vs rough sketch, paper type, thumbnail vs layout vs next-to-last draft.

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fenip

fenip

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On 12/29/2023 at 1:26 AM, alxjhnsn said:

Added a link to the European CAF - 2D Galleries. https://www.2dgalleries.com

https://www.2dgalleries.com/premiumoffer?lang=en

With the premium membership in 2DG you get a warning when one of your favorite artworks goes on sale.
Very useful - but dangerous function... (Got this David Petersen Mouse Guard page that way https://www.2dgalleries.com/art/petersen-david-mouse-guard-winter-1152-issue-1-page-1-107579)

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John E.

John E.

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Posted

I think you mean “you get a notification when one of your favorite artworks goes on sale.” But then you follow that with 

“Very useful - but dangerous function…”

So what I think you mean is that you get the notification but your wallet is sent the warning.

🙂🖼️ 🟰⚠️💶

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fenip

fenip

Posted
Posted
On 12/30/2023 at 3:57 AM, John E. said:

I think you mean “you get a notification when one of your favorite artworks goes on sale.” But then you follow that with 

“Very useful - but dangerous function…”

So what I think you mean is that you get the notification but your wallet is sent the warning.

🙂🖼️ 🟰⚠️💶

Yes indeed...

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