alxjhnsn Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 On 3/2/2024 at 3:57 PM, grapeape said: "Looming over the contest, we have the evil mastermind of the piece - me! (I've never looked better." ha ha. Just freaking awesome!! You never looked better Alex! Thank you and all credit to Nick! grapeape 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Grant Turner Posted March 3 Popular Post Share Posted March 3 Wally Wood prelims for DD 6 John E., grapeape, alxjhnsn and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevn Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) On 3/2/2024 at 3:47 PM, grapeape said: Kaluta the process. He's one of many artists I would've given anything to watch create at their drawing boards. Thanx for showing this Kaluta was the first comic book artist I met (along with Frank Brunner) when I was a teenager and still contemplating trying to be a comic book artist. He was a real gentleman, and I watched him do some commission sketches (which I sadly couldn't afford). At that time Brunner was THE big deal artist of the moment, and he was not a gentleman. I was so cloistered in the comics I read at the time that I stupidly didn't even know who Mike Kaluta was. Ah, youth is wasted on the young. Thanks for starting this thread. Prelims are wonderful as a collector for a few reasons. It's the pure artistic output of that artist, unmitigated by an inker and an art director's fixes/corrections. As you note, you can actually see the artist's process. In the case of this Kaluta prelim, I actually like some of the original choices better, though I can see the logic of many of the changes when he redrew it and inked it. And they're vastly more affordable. One of my favorite prelims is this set of color studies by Steve Rude for The Next Nexus 4. You really get a sense of the process and creative decision making: Edited March 3 by Kevn cloud cloddie, grapeape and BCarter27 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapeape Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 On 3/3/2024 at 5:01 AM, Kevn said: One of my favorite prelims is this set of color studies by Steve Rude for The Next Nexus 4. You really get a sense of the process and creative decision making: "youth is wasted on the young." I couldn't agree more. Brunner and Kaluta master artists. My man Steve Rude has talent flowing out of his ears. Nexus is a gift that keeps on giving, and I love to watch him work. There's a magnificent documentary about Steve that came out in 2014. I believe it's still showing on TUBI. https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrjW6NZhORlGF4Nm.pXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzYEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1710684506/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2ftubitv.com%2fmovies%2f633889%2frude-dude-the-steve-rude-story/RK=2/RS=xvnx0ZeH3Wi0FY8BnObvyLEdOnM- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapeape Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 On 3/2/2024 at 11:13 PM, Grant Turner said: Wally Wood prelims for DD 6 Yep. The prelim and the printed comic art add up pretty, pretty....good! Grant Turner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshow Bob Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 A couple of great cover prelims/layouts from Ed Hannigan (trying to find the finals...DM me!). And a page 1 prelim from a little book called The Killing Joke. Kevn, BCarter27, John E. and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Grant Turner Posted March 3 Popular Post Share Posted March 3 I also have this prelim sketch by Pasqual Ferry of the first appearance of Kid Loki. i paid $15 for it! grapeape, Kevn, Twanj and 3 others 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapeape Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 On 3/3/2024 at 7:58 AM, Sideshow Bob said: A couple of great cover prelims/layouts from Ed Hannigan (trying to find the finals...DM me!). And a page 1 prelim from a little book called The Killing Joke. You're smarter than me. I saw most of the prelims around $800 and passed them up waiting for a published page I could afford Very cool to see your prelim. Always dug Ed Hannigan's work on Batman. I hope you find what you're looking for. Sideshow Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapeape Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 On 3/3/2024 at 8:52 AM, Grant Turner said: I also have this prelim sketch by Pasqual Ferry of the first appearance of Kid Loki. i paid $15 for it! That's spot on, no doubt! Love that. Grant Turner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Brian Peck Posted March 3 Popular Post Share Posted March 3 (edited) Here are a few prelims I own: Wolverine #1 by John Buscema prelim for the published cover a rejected idea: Mephisto vs #1 by John Bolton: Comics Journal #150 by Mark Schultz Edited March 3 by Brian Peck John E., cloud cloddie, davidtere and 6 others 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotSuperPowers? Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Prelims & finished pieces are meant to be together. Here are some Kevin Nowlan New Mutants pages that got reunited with their prelims a few years back. aaronnear, John E., grapeape and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotSuperPowers? Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Another pairing of page and prelim, but also getting the masterful Stelfreeze signature when getting it. LOVE the botton panel. grapeape 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevn Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 On 3/4/2024 at 3:20 AM, GotSuperPowers? said: Another pairing of page and prelim, but also getting the masterful Stelfreeze signature when getting it. LOVE the botton panel. One thing I love about these prelims is that Stelfreeze is making the word balloons an integral part of the page composition. I have an artist friend who worked as an assistant for Jean Giraud, and he told me that Giraud once quizzed him with, "What do you need to start with when you're laying out a comic book page?" After a few wrong guesses, he answered, "You have to know where you're going to place the word balloons, otherwise you have no control over the final page look and composition." After hearing that I realized that this was another reason I loved Giraud's work so much - the word balloons are perfectly integrated and never detract from the images or the flow of the page. Obviously this doesn't work for the Marvel-style workflow of figuring out the dialogue after the pencilling is done, and there are plenty of pages where that works just fine, but for an artist to really be in control of what the finished pages look like, it's a hard concept to beat. I think in general when we look at a comic page the word balloons become somewhat invisible, that our visual system "deprioritizes' them as we're taking in the images, but there are lots of cases where those pesky balloons are crowding or confusing the drawings. And thinking about this made me realize I actually prefer OA where the word balloons are hand-inked on the page. Pasted on word balloons look distracting on the surface of the art, and pages look 'naked' to me when the words are on a physical or digital overlay and not part of the displayed art. John E. and grapeape 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alxjhnsn Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 (edited) On 3/2/2024 at 8:47 AM, grapeape said: Kaluta the process. He's one of many artists I would've given anything to watch create at their drawing boards. Thanx for showing this The following came from the Harry Palmer Starstruck or Old Proldiers Never Die Kickstarter from many years ago. Okay, they aren't prelims because Mike didn't use for commissions at least; rather, he told me he does his prelim work on the final board and just builds on top. The images below are progress scans that he sent me. This was what I originally pledged to get: Later they need more cash and offered "some background" if we provided more cash. I said sure! That caused Michael a problem since, as seen in the prelim, there was no room for background. So, he turned the page over and started building an entirely different scene. These are the progress shots that he sent me: Here's the final image (I got more than I paid for, I think) Edited March 4 by alxjhnsn aaronnear, Kevn, grapeape and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post aaronnear Posted March 5 Popular Post Share Posted March 5 I only have one prelim, and it's not that big, but it's my pride and joy. James Jean's variant cover pencil prelim to Sandman Overture 6. James came out of comic book retirement to do this amazing piece for Neil. James is by far my favorite artist and I never thought I'd be able to own something made with his own hands, but here we are. The birds from the final piece showed up on Heritage I think it was last year, but it went for more than I paid for this, so I couldn't contend. Hopefully someday I'll bring the two together. Prelim: Final: All framed up before going up in the living room: Twanj, fenip, grapeape and 4 others 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapeape Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 On 3/4/2024 at 9:16 AM, alxjhnsn said: The following came from the Harry Palmer Starstruck or Old Proldiers Never Die Kickstarter from many years ago. Okay, they aren't prelims because Mike didn't use for commissions at least; rather, he told me he does his prelim work on the final board and just builds on top. The images below are progress scans that he sent me. This was what I originally pledged to get: Later they need more cash and offered "some background" if we provided more cash. I said sure! That caused Michael a problem since, as seen in the prelim, there was no room for background. So, he turned the page over and started building an entirely different scene. These are the progress shots that he sent me: Here's the final image (I got more than I paid for, I think) You most certainly did! Wow! Just...Wow!!! alxjhnsn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapeape Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 On 3/4/2024 at 7:12 PM, aaronnear said: I only have one prelim, and it's not that big, but it's my pride and joy. James Jean's variant cover pencil prelim to Sandman Overture 6. James came out of comic book retirement to do this amazing piece for Neil. James is by far my favorite artist and I never thought I'd be able to own something made with his own hands, but here we are. The birds from the final piece showed up on Heritage I think it was last year, but it went for more than I paid for this, so I couldn't contend. Hopefully someday I'll bring the two together. Prelim: Final: All framed up before going up in the living room: Outstanding. I hope one day you can unite them. This is a prelim treat:-) aaronnear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alxjhnsn Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 On 3/5/2024 at 5:29 AM, grapeape said: You most certainly did! Wow! Just...Wow!!! That was my reaction. I was shocked. grapeape 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alxjhnsn Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 (edited) Here's another. Late in life, Sprang started doing commissions - all were good a few were flat out great. This is a preliminary for one of those great commissions. Click the image for more details including a few of those other commissions. BTW, if you ever see a copy of The Art of Richard W. Sprang by Bob Koppany, buy it. You will be glad that you did. The link is to discussion of the book and picture from my copy. Edited March 5 by alxjhnsn Loading... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alxjhnsn Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 (edited) As many (most?) of you may have noticed, I'm a fan of Sheldon Mayer's work. Though not all that well known today, Sheldon is the man who pulled Superman from a stack of submittals and got him placed in Action #1. He went on to be involved in the creation and editing of much of the All-American Comics (later DC) line-up including Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Flash. When he stepped down as an editor, he continued as a writer and artist on a variety of DC humor books including Sugar and Spike. He worked on S&S until his eyesight failed ending with issue 98. Later, he received cataract surgery and with restored vision resumed working. He produced new S&S stories for the overseas market. Many of those stories have never been reprinted in the US. He also contributed to mainline DC line by creating The Black Orchid. I suspect that this piece may have been used on one of the non-US S&S stories, but, if so, it's unknown to me. It's fun though. Click the image to learn more. Edited March 5 by alxjhnsn Loading... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
