Collecting Original Art......

[BobBretall]

I've been collecting original art for a long time, and the prices with some dealers have been going through the roof in the last few years.

That said, there are still some places where art can be had at reasonable prices. If you find some places post them in this thread. Heck, post pics of cool art you've snagged too!

eBay:
Look in the Collectibles > Comics > Original Comic Art category:
http://collectibles.shop.ebay.com/Origi ... 984/i.html

I recently got a really nice Red Sonja page by Paul Renaud for ~$60

Conventions:
This is one of the best places to get art directly from the artists and not have to pay mark-ups for the middleman.

I got a couple of really nice WildCATs pages with Tim Seeley pencils & Ryan Winn inks from Ryan at the Long Beach Comic Con for $40 each.
I got several (~10) pages from Secret Six by Jim Calafiore detailing Catman's origin for $10-$20 each.

"Art for Sale" web-sites:
This is where you can "shop from your computer". Really good deals get snatched up almost as quickly as they are put up, so if you're looking for something from a favorite artist, keep watching the sites where they post art. You'll get a feeling for some of my favorite artists just by seeing the names I highlight for the various web-sites below.
** If you find a site that I don't have listed here, post it in the thread & I'll add it to this key post **

Albert Moy - Pretty high-end stuff, but some really great artists like Amanda Conner, Darwyn Cooke, Jim Lee
http://albertmoy.com/Artists.asp
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 30 Days" link **
http://www.albertmoy.com/newgalleryroom.asp

Anthony's Comic Book Art - Reps Nrom Breyfogle, JG Jones, Alex Maleev, Esad Ribic, JK Snyder & lots of other art too.
http://www.anthonyscomicbookart.com/
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 30 Days" link **
http://www.anthonyscomicbookart.com/NewItems.asp

Art4Comics - This is a guy's personal collection that has stuff for sale. As such, it's kind of difficult to pick through all the NFS (Not For Sale) pages and stuff that is sold, but there are some hidden gems in here.
http://www.art4comics.com/comicart.htm

The Art of Comics - Brian Hitch, Paul Neary, Paul Renaud, Mahmud Asrar, Yildray Cinar, and others.....
http://www.theartofcomics.com/

The Artists Choice - Spencer Beck's site featuring a massive collection of repped artists including Jim Aparo, Olivier Coipel, Steve McNiven, Marshal Rogers, John Romita Jr., and many many more.
http://theartistschoice.com/

The Beguiling - Some good indie artists (& some who've moved into mainstream like Jeff Lemire & Becky Cloonan).
http://www.beguiling.com/artstore1a.asp

Big Wow Comic Art - Lots of artists, some really nice stuff from 70s comics.
http://www.bigwowart.com/Artists.asp
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 45 Days" link **
http://www.bigwowart.com/newarrivals.asp

Black Line Fever - Lots of great "classic" artists
http://www.blacklinefever.com/contents.html

Cadence Comic Art - Lots of artists that definitely have a following, but not the "big guns". A lot of out of this world prices, too, but some good deals if you dig around.
http://www.cadencecomicart.com/
** Visit their Blog for recent additions **
http://cadencecomicart.blogspot.com/

Catskill Comics: Decent group of artists represented here including Mike Grell, Tom Mandrake, Pat Olliffe, and more!
http://www.catskillcomics.com/index.htm

Comic Art Collective: Some nice Indie guys here like Peter Bagge, Daniel Clowes, Jim Woodring, Tony Millionaire, and many more.
http://www.comicartcollective.com/

Comic Art House: Wide range of artists; Jim Calafiore, Paul Gulacy, Shawn McManus, JK Woodward and more.
http://www.comicarthouse.com/index.html

Comic Art Ink: Renato Guedes, Ig Guara, Adriana Melo & more.
http://www.comic-art-ink.com/

Comic Art Pros: Some BIGGIES here: Alex Ross, Ernie Chan, Bill Sienkiewicz, and more....
http://www.comicbookpros.com/

Comic Art Shop: This is a hub for stuff on eBay & ComicArtFans.com, looks to be run by ComicArtFans.com (where I have my art gallery of stuff I own), it's got the same interface/UI.
http://www.comicartshop.com/

Comic Art Source: Relaunch of a site that's been gone for a while. Art from some big names here (John Byrne, Mike Grell, Phil Noto, Matt Wagner, Lenil Yu & more
http://www.comicartsource.com/
** New Items link **
http://www.comicartsource.com/newitems.asp

ComicCon Art - Official rep for Ed Benes and many more up-and-comers. Lots of people here that you can get commissions from.
http://www.comiconart.com/

Dave Karlen Original Art - Some nice stuff at reasonable prices.
http://www.davekarlenoriginalart.com/

Distinctive Original Art - BIG names in my personal list of favorites: John Byrne, Mike Grell, Paul Chadwick, Alan Davis, Steve Rude, Matt Wagner, Mike Zeck, and more.
http://www.doasales.com/curr/high.html

Essential Sequential - Mike Choi, Dave Johnson, Dan Panosian & more.
http://www.essentialsequential.com/

Fanfare Sports & Entertainment - These guys seem to have a really wide selection of artists and some decent prices on classic artists work who are not considered to be "hot" right now.
http://www.fanfare-se.com/Artists.asp
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 60 Days" link **
http://www.fanfare-se.com/newgalleryroom.asp

Fog City Art Exchange - Art Adams & his wife Joyce Chin. While Art's stuff is uber-expensive, there are still some nice deals to be had on pages from Joyce Chin.
http://home.pacbell.net/adbm3/comicart.htm
*** DEFUNCT.....PacBell has discontinued this old prodigy site, if someone finds it's new home, post it in this thread. ***

Golden Age Collectibles - Art from a variety of of artists up thru current day. Some reasonably priced pages.
http://www.golden-age-collectibles.com/Artists.asp

Got Super Powers? - Mike Allred & Toby Cypress.
http://www.gotsuperpowers.com/

Graphic Collectibles - Lots of artists, prices from mid-range to expensive, all the stuff I like on this site is WAY expensive.
http://www.graphiccollectibles.com/category/?cid=3

The Interior Pages - Run by forum member Jason (FrankCastle) Palmer, find work from Joe Eisma, Scott Clark/Dave Beaty, Rahsan Ekedal, Brent Peeples, Steve Bryant, Martheus Wade & more!
http://theinteriorpages.blogspot.com/

KirbyArt.com - Pretty picked over, there are a few good pieces left, though. And only 1 Kirby page left.
http://kirbyart.com/art.html

Kock Comic Art - Some REALLY expensive some, a few more reasonably priced pieces, but some neat stuff to browse through.
http://www.kochcomicart.com/default.asp

Kwan Chang - Reps Lenil Yu & Clayton Henry, but lots of other cool art on the site from artists like Mike Mignola, Jim Cheung, Mike Deodato & Olivier Coipel. Not Cheap.
http://www.kwanchang.com/default.asp
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 30 Days" link **
http://www.kwanchang.com/NewItems.asp

LA Gallery Montreal - Canadian artists (site is in French)
http://www.lagmontreal.com/

Lewis Wayne Gallery - A lot of art from stuff like Archies, Sad Sack, & non-super-hero sources.
https://www.lewiswaynegallery.com/categ ... /comic-art

McConnell Art- Brandon Graham, James Stokoe, Marian Churchland, Marley Zarcone
http://www.mcconnellart.com/

The Mighty Nib - This site reps some good artists like Paul Smith, Brandon Peterson, Brian Stelfreeze, & Frank Thorne.
http://mightynib.com/

NSN Art - This site reps Ross Campbell, Cary Nord, Nick Runge, and more........ Some nice pieces @ reasonable prices.
http://www.nsnart.com/Artists.asp
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 90 Days" link **
http://www.nsnart.com/NewItems.asp

Paradise Comics- On-line comic shop that has a decent amount of art at some reasonable prices
http://paradisecomics.com/original-art-1.html

Red Sector - Lot of European artists, these guys rep Eduardo Risso.
http://redsectorart.com/index.php

Romitaman - VERY high-end stuff, including my "Holy Grail" artists John Romita, Sr. & John Buscema. LOTS of classic old-timers.
http://www.romitaman.com/
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 45 Days" link **
http://www.romitaman.com/NewGalleryRoom.asp

Scott Eder.com - Some really nice indie/underground/alternative art on this site. From Gilbert Shelton to Daniel Clowes to Milo Manara.
http://www.scotteder.com/Artists.asp
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 45 Days" link **
http://www.scotteder.com/NewGalleryRoom.asp

Serendipity Art sales - Mostly up-and-comers with a few old-timers like Rich Buckler & Donna Barr thrown in
http://www.serendipityartsales.net/

Sketch Maven - Mostly older, less know art at some good prices with a few expensive pieces in the mix. Some great "hidden gems", though. Worth a look.
http://www.sketchmaven.com/

Splash Page Art - Some very popular / well-known artists with prices that reflect this. Some deals to be had, but few & far between.
http://www.splashpageart.com/

Will's Comic Art Page - REALLY wide variety of artists with some classic & hard-to-find work (priced accordingly). A decent amount of reasonably priced stuff too.
http://www.comicartpage.com/Artists.asp
** This site has a handy "New in the Past 30 Days" link **
http://www.comicartpage.com/newgalleryroom.asp

My experience with sites from above:
I picked up a nice Mike Grell/Gray Morrow Green Arrow page from Anthony's Comic Book Art. I also got a nice Superman page by Bob McLeod from him. I made a subsequent purchase of a really nice Superman page by Bob McLeod.

I've picked up several pages from The Artist's Choice. Spencer's a good guy, but is a bit slow on responding and does not take electronic payments so you need to send checks/MOs, which takes a long time to finish off a transaction. I've gotten a Kevin Maguire Metal Men page from him, as well as a page from Scorpio Rose by Marshall Rogers, and a few more pages.

I picked up my absolute favorite page from the Living Corpse series by Buz Hasson & Ken Haeser from Cadence Comic Art. I also got a nice Mike Norton Green Arrow page that has GA, Green Lantern & Flash on it.

I followed in Trev's steps & got a Renato Guedes Superman page from Comic Art Ink. Really nice!

I got a Conan page by John Buscema from Kirbyart.com, very easy transaction & quick shipping.

I got a 6-page Veronica story by Dan Parent from the Lewis Wayne Gallery for a really reasonable price.

I got 2 Charlie Adlard "Walking Dead" pages from SplashPageArt. Charlie's prices on pages w/o zombies were very reasonable.

......More examples posted farther down the thread as they occur.

[Trev]

Comic Art Ink: http://www.comic-art-ink.com/

I got a Renato Guedes page from Superman from them for $40 or $50 dollars.

[BobBretall]

Here's what I picked up from Cadence Comic Art:

"The Living Corpse" Issue #1, Page 13 - by Buz Hasson & Ken Haeser
1st appearance of the character Lilith



"Green Arrow/Black Canary" Issue #15, Page 7 - by Mike Norton
A nice "half-splash" of the silver age GA, with an inset of Green Arrow, Green Lantern, & Flash battling some bad guys.

[BobBretall]

Here are the Walking Dead pages I got from Splash Page Art.

As you can see, I like the pages with people, particularly when Rick is happy...... and the pages where Rick is happy are few & far between!

[Frank Castle]

Anyone looking for Tony Moore WD art, read this:
http://boards.collectors-society.com/ub ... 16&fpart=1

[BobBretall]

Anyone looking for Tony Moore WD art, read this:
http://boards.collectors-society.com/ub ... 16&fpart=1

I generally follow the credo that if they don't list prices on art & I have to write to inquire, then it's going to be more than I want to pay.

[Trev]

Picked up a page from Chew (issue 13, page 9) last night at the Wizard show here in Austin. Got that one from the artist direct -- Rob Guillory. Super nice guy.

Wish I had a scanner big enough for OA.

[80sJunkie]

I picked up a couple of pieces from long-time Mad artist Tom Richmond. Got the head's up from Mark Evanier's web site.

Total was less than $200 for a piece commenting on the government bank bailout and one for American Idol.

[mikemclarty]

Hey all,

I just recently wrote an article about my experiences with collecting art. Some of it definitely applies to this discussion thread.

If you're interested:

http://www.majorspoilers.com/feature-co ... ommissions

Thanks!

--- Mike

[BobBretall]

http://www.majorspoilers.com/feature-co ... ommissions

Cool article, Mike, and some good advice.

I added this comment over there, and reproduce it for the benefit of our forum:

Great article Mike, and good advice. I have one piece to add on getting commissions. Having reference art is REALLY important (as you point out), I'd also suggest you bring your own pad of Bristol paper along too, just in case the artist does not have paper of the quality you like (or does not have a size that you like).
An alternate to having paper is if you have a sketchbook that you want the artist to draw in for you. The drawback here is you will often need to leave the book with the artist (so make sure your name/address/phone# is in the book) and this prevents you getting a couple of commissions in parallel at a con.

You can get a pad of Bristol at any art supply store, or even a craft store like Michael's (I'll usually get it at Michael's when they have a coupon in the Sunday paper). I use the 11x14 size:
http://www.michaels.com/Strathmore%C2%A ... ristolpads

To augment your paper, get also an Itoya art portfolio that you can put the sketch in to protect it afterwards. Buy a portfolio that matches the size of Bristol you choose. Also, put your name/address/phone # in the portfolio!!! I use the 11x17 portfolio, it holds my 11x14 sketches and also most original art I buy:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XI ... 6DHDRZV8D9

[Trev]

Great article Mike, and good advice. I have one piece to add on getting commissions. Having reference art is REALLY important (as you point out), I'd also suggest you bring your own pad of Bristol paper along too, just in case the artist does not have paper of the quality you like (or does not have a size that you like).
An alternate to having paper is if you have a sketchbook that you want the artist to draw in for you. The drawback here is you will often need to leave the book with the artist (so make sure your name/address/phone# is in the book) and this prevents you getting a couple of commissions in parallel at a con.

You can get a pad of Bristol at any art supply store, or even a craft store like Michael's (I'll usually get it at Michael's when they have a coupon in the Sunday paper). I use the 11x14 size:
http://www.michaels.com/Strathmore%C2%A ... ristolpads

To augment your paper, get also an Itoya art portfolio that you can put the sketch in to protect it afterwards. Buy a portfolio that matches the size of Bristol you choose. Also, put your name/address/phone # in the portfolio!!! I use the 11x17 portfolio, it holds my 11x14 sketches and also most original art I buy:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XI ... 6DHDRZV8D9

I'll second on reference. At first I shied away from this bec. I thought the artist would simply copy what was there, but now I know better. One of my favorite commissions is by Cliff Chiang of Saturn Girl. In particular, I love the silver age of Legion. The styling, the goofiness, the teenage drama -- all awesome stuff. So I wanted a 60s era Saturn Girl, and what Cliff did was discover the essence of what that costume was about and then produce his on interpretation on it. Awesome stuff.

In my experience, with commissions the artist supplies the paper. They usually have a brand and format they are comfortable with. This produces uneven sizes, but I would think artists do better work with supplies they are comfortable with, wouldn't they? And I assume that if I pay you properly for a commission, that you don't do it on crappy paper.

Anybody have a different experience?

oh yeah, here's my saturn girl commission:

[/img]

[Trev]

I finally got my OA frames, so next project is finishing that wall in my office/comic book room. Then pics are coming.

I recently bought what will be the centerpiece of the wall, I think. A double page spread from JL: Generation Lost number 18 (I think) by Aaron Lopresti that features full body shots of Supes, Batman, Supergirl, Firestar, and GL (Hal) along with Beetle, Booster, Fire, Ice, and a head shot of Power Girl.

I won't be able to scan it, but if you have the issue you can identify it and relatively soon I should have pics up of the room and my art in it.

[BobBretall]

In my experience, with commissions the artist supplies the paper. They usually have a brand and format they are comfortable with. This produces uneven sizes, but I would think artists do better work with supplies they are comfortable with, wouldn't they? And I assume that if I pay you properly for a commission, that you don't do it on crappy paper.

Anybody have a different experience?

Yes. This applies to con sketches more than something I commission an artist to do back home. I've had cases where the artist does not have any decent paper, my commission from Terry Austin is on really flimsy paper. This is not so much a problem for artists who make a regular business of churning out con sketches, they usually are very set up with their own stuff, but there are other artists who are not so organized.

That's what got me to decide to start bringing my pad of Bristol to cons with me. I've never had an artist say "NO! Don't want to use that paper", but if they have their own that is good quality They can use it too, this goes mostly for artists who maybe do watercolor and have paper that works better for that media.

[BobBretall]

I won't be able to scan it, but if you have the issue you can identify it and relatively soon I should have pics up of the room and my art in it.

Take a digital photo before you put it in the frame......Once it's framed it's hard to get a good angle w/o glare & reflections in the glass.

[ninjapirategear]

I don't technically collect comics anymore (there may or may not be a warehouse with 100,000 comics in it that would disagree), but I have started collecting art. I generally go for value, I get prints that I can get deals on or original art from artists that are more or less unknown. I like to commission works that I wouldn't normally be able to find a print of, like Adventure Time or Freakazoid!

This weekend I think my son and I are going to put up some of the art in my office, maybe I'll take some pictures of it and post it.

Bob, you've got some crazy cool stuff!