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

Prelim artwork is a great way to buy something by an artist that you want but can't otherwise afford. I bought "Menace out of the Myths" prelims from Diamond years ago and it is the prize of my collection.

 

menace_out_of_the_myths_prelim_zps715a8a9f.jpg

Edited by mdktkd2
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Prelims or quick sketches are a great expression of an artists' talent and, IMO, underrated as a collectable.

I bought a dozen or so Buscema roughs/prelims several years ago & ended up selling one a year later. It's still my biggest OA selling regret.

Edited by Hekla
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I'm another big fan of prelims. I love seeing the process ... and some of my prelims are practically finished pieces. I've only ever received one or two as part of a purchase of the final art. Most of them were purchased on their own.

 

I've got this one framed and hanging on my wall.

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=719107

Edited by mrpunch0
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I really enjoy prelims to see the creative process at work and enjoyed viewing the Bolland Camelot 3000 pieces above - lovely stuff!

 

This would have to be one of my fave prelims which I purchased from Adam Hughes some years back:

 

WWPrelim.jpg

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I love prelims, specifically cover prelims. Some are better than others though IMO:

 

Early Marvel and DC cover prelims are really cool. The ones on the official Marvel paper that were used by a layout artist to show the penciler what they want or for the editor to approve

 

Some more current artist have some great prelims out there:

 

Brian Bolland

Adam Hughes

Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows in particular)

 

If you're lucky you can find a one that's well finished and get a nice example. They are much harder to come by now but they are still out there.

 

 

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I believe their collect-ability relies on the artist, cost and as Pete mentioned the state of finish. I only have one, which is a pretty detailed Harley Quinn by Mark Brooks. I have no idea what it is a prelim for, but I got it for a steal compared to what I'd have to pay for his finished work.

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1005608

My only prelim is a Harley too. This should have, could have been the cover to Detective 23.2 Its more a rejected cover than a prelim IMO

DSCN8797_zpsfc4c051e.jpg

DSCN8798_zps810ac888.jpg

Edited by Junkdrawer
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Ahh a painful thread :D

 

There is a piece of production art I have been looking at for over a year, but the person wants to only trade it for Original art. I was hoping to purchase it as it was a rejected page but still is one of my favorite character and would go well with the OA and even the Color Pages from the book I have.

 

I think it is fantastic when a collector gets the Original Comic, the OA from that comic, color page and if there is one a pre-production page.

 

It shows dedication to the art and artists, and a willingness to preserve something that could have easily been lost.

 

Good Luck everyone in this years collecting :)

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I think prelims are a great substitute when you can't get (or afford) the published art. Here are three of my favorites:

 

 

Bolland12p11.JPG

 

Bolland10cover.JPG

 

 

Bolland2p23.JPG

 

As someone noted above, prelims come in all different sizes, and these are about half a regular sheet of paper.

 

 

:applause: that is really cool

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Love prelims! Here's one from CPWII (duh!)

 

photo1_zps07cc0f0a.jpg

 

Dan

 

:cloud9:

 

Some quick snaps of the ones I got.... they were a really nice surprise / addon, although I only own one of the published pages in question.

 

xWNHVKB.jpg

 

YYJCpbK.jpg

 

ih66lTE.jpg

 

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Sweet, Garf! I have quite a bunch of his prelims... will post more later!

 

Dan

 

I only have one prelim, but if I see prelims or color guides to art that I own I always would buy them. It's cool to have them all together. The prelim I have is to one of the Killing Joke pages I own. It was nice to put them together.

 

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As with any art purchase, it's really up to the individual purchasing the piece to establish the value for themselves. Agreeing with many of the statements on this post, preliminary work ranges from very rough works to intensely detailed.

 

I have several preliminary pieces in my Wrightson collection, but if I had to pick a favorite, my "Auntie Social" trading card art pieces would be it for both the detail in the preliminary and the composition of the finished art:

 

Preliminary Auntie Social

 

Finished Auntie Social

 

In this particular case, I purchased the preliminary first from a dealer not realizing there was a completed artwork as their reference was "Old Witch".

 

Then, by nothing more than sheer luck, Bernie and Liz had the completed Trading Card art with them at Dallas Fan Days last October.

 

 

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Unpub art takes many forms:

 

Generally, I prefer a published piece over a prelim or unpublished piece.

 

But

 

I would rather have a page with Kirby or Romita's unpublished pencil than the finished art lightboxed by someone else.

 

I would rather have a full size tight pencil pencil prelim of a classic cover than a finished inked cover with a lame forgettable image.

 

I would rather have a prelim from an artist who is one of the greats than to have a finished piece from an artist of lesser ability.

 

In some cases I might even prefer an unpublished piece that was changed prior to tinkering or inking or due to some editorial decision, if I think the unpub version is better/more interesting.

 

 

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