Feelings on original art- "figure study" vs "prelim" 0

[phlashphire]

I haven't bought enough OA to formulate a thoughtful opinion on this yet, but I'm curious to hear the community's thoughts.

Let's say you purchased a "prelim pencils" of a published piece from an artist, only to later find that they're selling another "figure study" that basically the same thing later on.

Being that the two pieces look basically identical, would that affect your feelings on owning the "original"?

[Rick2you2]

Not at all. I don’t care much for either one, unless they are very detailed, and I really wanted an example of the artist’s finished work, but could not find it at a reasonable price.
 
Just out of curiosity, did the name “Coolines” ever come up?

[Bronty]

On 1/11/2024 at 1:12 AM, phlashphire said:

I haven't bought enough OA to formulate a thoughtful opinion on this yet, but I'm curious to hear the community's thoughts.

Let's say you purchased a "prelim pencils" of a published piece from an artist, only to later find that they're selling another "figure study" that basically the same thing later on.

Being that the two pieces look basically identical, would that affect your feelings on owning the "original"?

doesn't matter.   Prelims are all different sizes and degree of render.    Some can be tiny and extremely loose and some can be a good size and quite tight and polished.    The main takeaway there being there is a wide variance in what you get so the labels aren't super useful and you have to use your eyes.      

There can also be only one prelim per scene or as in your case several.   Its just what you expect when it comes to prelims and you factor that in.

[Will_K]

It might matter to me.  How much I paid for my piece vs how much is being asked for the other piece.  Beforehand, did I know the artist's practice of using multiple prelims of essentially the same image.   All things being equal, do I like my piece better ?

At a convention in 2005, I paid $50 to an artist who was taking a list for sketches to be delivered the next day.  I received my piece and later on, saw someone with a sketch of the same character by the same artist.  The difference was the poses were the mirror image of the other.  I vaguely remember actually taking out my piece for comparison.  I decided I liked mine better.  He said the same.  Later on, I decided that there was enough similarity in most of his static pose drawings that he probably just had mannequins that he traced and then just drew different costumes.

Edited January 11 by Will_K

[Will_K]

Also my favorite artist, Nick Cardy would do 3 iterations of a character/pose at home to sell at conventions.  Sometimes he actually labelled them 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3.  I don't think he actually had all 3 for sale at the same show. 

But I've found that he didn't always label pieces like that.  I have a couple that were labelled and couple that weren't.  But to me, he put enough work into the unlabelled pieces that I'm happy with them.

Edited January 11 by Will_K

[RBerman]

Several different things being discussed here, in my understanding: None of these are a "problem" unless you think they are something they are not.

 1) "Figure study" could mean "practice drawing," an artist keeping up his skills, just like a musician practicing scales. However, some figure studies are potential poses for specific characters in a multi-character piece.

2) "Preliminary" might be a figure study of a single character but also might be a multi-character layout; these come in a very wide range of detail, sometimes being surprisingly close to the finished piece in attractiveness. Or, not.

3) Art for fans, like the Nick Cardy example mentioned just above. These are a final but simple piece, not a preparatory work. Rather than waiting for fans to request a specific quickie convention sketch, many artists have learned to prepare a bunch of quickly done, lower-priced illustrations to offer to convention-goers (or web site visitors) who just want a souvenir of their time with the artist. The experienced artist knows which of his characters are in how much demand, at what price points. The fan can see exactly what he's getting since it's already done, and should expect there to be numerous similar pieces in the hands of other collectors. Think of all the "profile of woman hero's head" that Adam Hughes makes, or all the Bruce Timm Batman headshots out there. I have a Ramon Fradon piece a few years old for which she did a nearly identical version more recently.

[Dr. Balls]

My take is: a figure study that wasn't utilized as a pose in a final piece of art is just a figure study, and a compositional drawing that wasn't used as a visual template in a final piece of art is just a sketch. If they were used in a final piece of art, I'd consider them preliminaries - with one being older in the stage of creation than another.

[Will_K]

Hey OP, let's see those pieces.  Or can you at least mention the artist ??

[Rick2you2]

On 1/11/2024 at 10:17 AM, Bronty said:

doesn't matter.   Prelims are all different sizes and degree of render.    Some can be tiny and extremely loose and some can be a good size and quite tight and polished.    The main takeaway there being there is a wide variance in what you get so the labels aren't super useful and you have to use your eyes.      

There can also be only one prelim per scene or as in your case several.   Its just what you expect when it comes to prelims and you factor that in.

Not necessarily, unless you distinguish between a prelim and a sketch. I have a (a few) covers which came with 3 different sketches for consideration for the cover.

[Varanis]

I might care, but it would depend entirely on specifics (e.g.; price paid, similarity to final piece, etc).

[phlashphire]

Here's the figure study:

I didn't get a chance to save the prelim, the eBay listing of it sold in October expired this morning  

From what I can tell, it's the same drawing of Falcon line for line, but with the addition of the birds in backdrop.

[Varanis]

On 1/11/2024 at 8:23 PM, phlashphire said:

Here's the figure study:

I didn't get a chance to save the prelim, the eBay listing of it sold in October expired this morning  

From what I can tell, it's the same drawing of Falcon line for line, but with the addition of the birds in backdrop.

Is the final piece published?

If it's an unpublished piece and we're talking relatively small dollars, I think I'd just be happy with the art for what it is.

The only time I'd care is if I bought a prelim / figure study because the provenance was important to me. For example, if I bought a prelim for a published 1st appearance page under the assumption it was the only prelim for that page I would be a bit concerned if a similar prelim was out there that I wasn't informed of when I bought the first. But that's because owning the one and only prelim to an important page has meaningful value.

In this situation, it doesn't feel much different than there being similar convention sketches for a piece. However, I admittedly don't recognize the final piece here.

[Will_K]

OP's image seems to be what is currently being sold by Tom Fleming on ebay (9 x 12, starting bid $100):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/315085759365?hash=item495c932385:g:s1UAAOSwrFplncbf

The final image seems to be published.  Found something on ebay described as:

2022 Marvel Fleer Ultra Avengers Falcon Red Foil Artist Auto 9/63 Tom Fleming

Edited January 12 by Will_K

[phlashphire]

Found the prelim on FB (sold back in 10/23 on ebay for ~$200):

Edited January 12 by phlashphire

[comix4fun]

I know several artists that create multiple preliminary drawings before going with a final image to finish. A 'prelim' doesn't carry the same connotation as a final piece does for being the "one and only".