Another Prelim Topic: Bolland WW prelim over 10k?? 3 3

[J.Sid]

This one is very nice, and the published cover is iconic. I think Bolland was the best cover artist of the decade, but I am shocked that someone will be paying 10k+ (including tax) for a prelim.

Thoughts? Is his work so scarce that people will fight for whatever they can get?

Bolland Wonder Woman Prelim

[Kryptic1]

It was briefly up for sale in the CAF classifieds for $2,750 a few months ago.  I don’t know if the seller took it down and sent it to Heritage or if it’s going to be a really profitable flip for someone.

[GotSuperPowers?]

If that prelim is 10k (or thereabouts) all-in, then the final art for the litho of the same/similar image looks well priced:

https://www.britcomicsart.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=16906

[comix4fun]

On 1/12/2024 at 7:08 AM, GotSuperPowers? said:

If that prelim is 10k (or thereabouts) all-in, then the final art for the litho of the same/similar image looks well priced:

https://www.britcomicsart.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=16906

I've been eyeing that one too.... 17"x22"...it has to be really impressive in person. 

[timguerrero]

I'm sure the piece will go even higher before the auction ends. Primo art gets primo prices.

[Dr. Balls]

Not that I'm in the bidding on this, but it'd be great to see auction houses elaborating more on their 'vellum' descriptions for the paper. The transluscent vellum paper does not have the same longevity as vellum finished board for graphite - dependent on the hardness of the pencil being used. I've seen art produced with both, especially prelim stuff.

I'm sure it's nitpicky, because that information is probably long forgotten (at least the pencil hardness), but a little more information on the paper would make sense.

[comix4fun]

On 1/12/2024 at 9:28 AM, Dr. Balls said:

Not that I'm in the bidding on this, but it'd be great to see auction houses elaborating more on their 'vellum' descriptions for the paper. The transluscent vellum paper does not have the same longevity as vellum finished board for graphite - dependent on the hardness of the pencil being used. I've seen art produced with both, especially prelim stuff.

I'm sure it's nitpicky, because that information is probably long forgotten (at least the pencil hardness), but a little more information on the paper would make sense.

I've owned several Bolland prelims. I don't think they are on translucent vellum (tracing paper) at least not what I've always known as tracing paper. I'll have to look at the ones I still have. They weren't even on the type of vellum artists like Romita used to create covers for Marvel. I've owned those too. Now you have me curious. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 1/12/2024 at 10:11 AM, comix4fun said:

I've owned several Bolland prelims. I don't think they are on translucent vellum (tracing paper) at least not what I've always known as tracing paper. I'll have to look at the ones I still have. They weren't even on the type of vellum artists like Romita used to create covers for Marvel. I've owned those too. Now you have me curious. 

I'd have to look through my paper stock to remind myself, but IIRC vellum finished paper is toothier to hold the graphite better, but doesn't work as well for inks, because the wrong type of ink could lead to bleeding. Smooth-finished bristol boards is what we see everywhere in comic art, which holds ink very tightly and dries quickly. You would use vellum finish for a pencil drawing you were not intending to ink, otherwise you'd want it on bristol (smooth) board. And the finish on bristol board also varies - depending on how "cheap" the paper is, it might only be hot pressed smoothly on one side - which is hopefully the side the artwork is on (I purchased a piece of unpublished art that was drawn in pencil on the wrong side of the paper, leading to a difficult inking challenge for the inker - jury is still out, I hope it turns out ok - but it's also in the hands of Joe Weems, who is a veritable Master, so it's probably good.)

The translucent vellum for tracing, repositioning, etc holds pencil and takes a very long time for ink to dry, but the biggest issue with the lack of porousness is that it can cause ink transfer years after the ink has dried (which has also happened to me). I've seen comic art on this stuff, and I've used myself for production art - where I would tightly pencil over rough designs underneath (mostly hand-drawn typography) and then ink it, wait for it to dry, then scan it in on the computer side for vectorizing. If I left it in the scanner bed with the lid down for too long (like if I forgot it for a day or two after I scanned it), the warmth of the light would soften the ink and stick to the glass in spots when I went to take it out.

And, for the record, I don't feel that it's a problem if you use one medium over the other - it's just how the artist intended to produce the final art - I'd just think it would be informational for the auction houses to spend a little time determining the paper stock on valuable pieces.

[Yorick]

For that particular Bolland, something about those soft pencils and shading creates a more outstanding image (to me) than the finished work.  AND, that particular image is likely one of Bolland's most consistently high-value selling books (except perhaps Killing Joke?).

[Readcomix]

On 1/12/2024 at 2:34 PM, Yorick said:

For that particular Bolland, something about those soft pencils and shading creates a more outstanding image (to me) than the finished work.  AND, that particular image is likely one of Bolland's most consistently high-value selling books (except perhaps Killing Joke?).

I’m in this camp. The composition of that WW72 cover just smokes that litho. 

[Kevin76]

I wonder what Bolland WW covers go for now with her in costume  

[RBerman]

This fits in to what we were talking about in the "figure study" thread. Yes, it's a prelim. Yes, it's small. However, it looks like a finished piece of art, so the price is understandable. Bolland puts more effort into these than a lot of people put into actual covers. If somebody bought it for $2750 recently, they got quite a deal. I have one of these for another issue of that run. It's not vellum, but it is thinner than Bristol. (The red stain is not nearly as visible in person as my scanner made it appear.)

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1815527

[mtlevy1]

$16.8k - record for a Bolland Preliminary I imagine...this one went high in my mind...which Bolland WW cover is more marketable better - any from 63 - 100?

 

GCD :: Covers :: Wonder Woman (comics.org)

[J.Sid]

On 1/14/2024 at 8:34 PM, mtlevy1 said:

$16.8k - record for a Bolland Preliminary I imagine...this one went high in my mind...which Bolland WW cover is more marketable better - any from 63 - 100?

 

GCD :: Covers :: Wonder Wom

an (comics.org)

Don't know if it's more marketable, but I know a lot of people who would rather have #96

 

[Bronty]

On 1/12/2024 at 2:34 PM, Yorick said:

For that particular Bolland, something about those soft pencils and shading creates a more outstanding image (to me) than the finished work.  AND, that particular image is likely one of Bolland's most consistently high-value selling books (except perhaps Killing Joke?).

I would venture you've got a case of jpg confusion!    That prelim might look the same size as a cover on the computer, as a jpg.   In real life, side by side, its going to be much smaller and you're going to much prefer the final. 

[jjonahjameson11]

As prices for Bolland finished artwork continues to climb beyond many collectors budgets, it’s only a matter of time before we see his prelim artwork cracking the $10K barrier constantly.  I’m thinking about Killing Joke prelims in particular, but some of his other cover prelims aren’t that far off, IMHO

[J.Sid]

On 1/15/2024 at 7:39 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

As prices for Bolland finished artwork continues to climb beyond many collectors budgets, it’s only a matter of time before we see his prelim artwork cracking the $10K barrier constantly.  I’m thinking about Killing Joke prelims in particular, but some of his other cover prelims aren’t that far off, IMHO

What's the story with his Killing Joke Prelims?

And by that I mean specifically, did Brian do multiple prelims per page for that story?  (I've seen a bunch over the years each flushed out at very different levels of detail.)

[jjonahjameson11]

On 1/15/2024 at 10:59 AM, J.Sid said:

What's the story with his Killing Joke Prelims?

And by that I mean specifically, did Brian do multiple prelims per page for that story?  (I've seen a bunch over the years each flushed out at very different levels of detail.)

Never seen any examples of multiple prelims of the same page.  Looking through HA's archive's there are some prelims with significantly more detail (i.e. pages with nice Joker images) vs other prelims that do not have the Joker on them

[Yorick]

On 1/15/2024 at 6:42 AM, Bronty said:

I would venture you've got a case of jpg confusion!    That prelim might look the same size as a cover on the computer, as a jpg.   In real life, side by side, its going to be much smaller and you're going to much prefer the final. 

Spoiler

Not me that mentioned dimensions.... 

I've never owned an original Bolland (prelim or otherwise), but from the images I've seen it looked as if he works his prelims on 8.5 x 11".

 

[comix4fun]

On 1/15/2024 at 9:59 AM, J.Sid said:

What's the story with his Killing Joke Prelims?

And by that I mean specifically, did Brian do multiple prelims per page for that story?  (I've seen a bunch over the years each flushed out at very different levels of detail.)

For some pages, if he was working out posing, sequencing, small details he would create several prelims, in increasing levels of detail until he was satisfied and there would be a final most details prelim. In some cases he did just the one, but I've seen a couple of pages with three. They are easy to tell from one another, usually on level of detail alone.