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Preliminary Art - What's your take?
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53 posts in this topic

As a general rule, I don’t get prelim’s due to my lack of interest. But, I actually like Doug Sneyd’s prelim’s better than the finals. They are supposed to be gag cartoons, and I think his excellent artwork detracts from the jokes, by calling attention to the art. By way of example, Peanuts would not be nearly as good if the gang looked like real kids.

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Awesome JSC piece! I’m a big fan of prelims, great way to get cool art at affordable prices. My latest prelim is a Tim Sale sketchbook cover.

10 hours ago, exitmusicblue said:

Resurrecting this cool thread -- let's share our prelims.

 

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22 hours ago, Catwoman_Fan said:

I love them, they’re often tight and drawn full sized, and cost a fraction of the published art ( 5-15% ) . So that fits my budget lol

 

Here are are some of my favs

 

 

 

 

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That's a very sweet Sale prelim.

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Very iconic prelim from Miller. 

 

 

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Apologies and dredging this back up days later. It was a busy week, and I’m just getting around to responding to some of these threads... :)

 

My take on art prelims is that it is the origin. In many cases it is where the heaviest creative lifting is performed. As a fan of art, and the process of creating art, of course I would find prelims of value. 

Every artist makes marks in their own way. Some scribble and sketch away, and erase and dig in. Some thumbnail, and plan ahead

No matter the approach, the prelim is the seed from which for most, an idea/image is formed. The skeleton onto which the muscle is later placed upon. They are the also very often more dynamic and show more urgency than their finished pieces. Artist’s and anyone who has ever spent much time drawing will tell you, very often the sketch is “better” or more dynamic than the fully fleshed out final.

People tend to start off with one thing in their mind, but as they work on refining that sketch, the line work dies eventually. It becomes stiffer. More rigid, and less energetic and carefree.

When one draws a figure for a sketch, they don’t take as much care with the exactness of the line, and that looseness often is embedded with energy. And the exactness of reworking for precision often robs the line of that energy.

So sketches, loose drawings, thumbnails, prelims and studies often have a dynamic and a profound capturing of an idea, or action, or figure that the final, polished “perfected” product has lost at the end. It is the bane of many an artist. Don’t believe me? Ask one. 

And to me that is the magic of the prelim. Creative lightning in a smaller cheaper bottle.

It’s not a mistake that I have more than 50 drawings by Phil Hale posted in my CAF. I’ve probably amassed 3 times as many and will never get the time to scan them all. To many who just glance at them, they look like pointless squiggles. For folks with a sharp eye and taking the time to truly look, Hale manages to use contour drawing to capture so much visual information about figures in the fewest lines possible. Like a roadmap to a finished idea, it’s a zen exercise in imparting a “complete” image in a few squiggles, rarely lifting the pencil/pen. Like a Jeff Jones drawing simplified to its more core basic forms.

For me, it’s like watching a master magician performing trick after trick, and every time being astounded.

 

Edited by ESeffinga
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I really enjoy pre-lims. I've received a few for my commissions. In each case below, you can double click on the image and learn more about the piece.

D**k Giordano - JLA, he did every DC character at one time or another so I asked for some something I could afford with as many as he would do. I think I over art directed it a bit, but I like it. Classic Giordano. Found the preliminary drawing on Anthony's site after D**k passed away. Never thought to ask for it.

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Nick Cardy - Bat Lash, there are three books that I just love Nick's work on Bat Lash, Teen Titans, and Aquaman. I managed to get commissions for two of the three before he retired for good. Again, I didn't think to ask about preliminaries and, again, I found it on Anthony's site.
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Nick Pitarra - Leviathan, Manhattan Projects, etc. - Love Nick's work and ask for Nick, an amateur arm-wrestler vs. Supergirl. He went way, way above the call of duty. 

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Edited by alxjhnsn
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Absolutely love prelims. Echoing the common sentiment, for me, it helps paint a picture of the creative process and in some instances, the more finished pieces can act as replacements of covers I wouldn't be able to own. 

Here are a few Nick Bradshaw prelims I've picked up. The Spider-man/Kingpin one is especially nice since they're quite finished and lets us see what Nick's other idea was for the Deadpool cover option A eventually becomes.

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