Can someone explain sketch covers to me?

[BCarter27]

Can someone explain sketch covers to me?

 

Isn’t the paper awful?

 

Doesn’t it have staple holes?

 

Doesn’t it make an artist feel weird to be drawing on a book full of someone else’s work and with those creators’ names on the cover?

 

…especially an older, established pro with plenty of his own books out there?

 

…or when an artist is not associated with that book’s character?

 

…and draws something completely unrelated to the logo on the book? Is there a paper shortage? :-)

 

How do you display the full cover illos? Do you remove the staples and interior pages and just frame the cover? Or is there an added value of having the book intact as a one-off variant? If yes, is this why people get theirs CGC’ed with signatures verified? (Tangent: Aren’t slabbed books like buying giant comic-sized trading cards? Was CGC inadvertently responsible for the collapse of the comic book trading card market?

 

Why have anyone other than the creators of that particular issue sign it? (i.e. Why have Stan Lee sign a Superman comic? OK, bad example. He is Stan Lee. He gets to sign anything he wants.)

 

I think I understand the charity “event” covers from Hero Initiative such as Hellboy 100, etc. After all, it is for charity. You need a big milestone to build momentum around.

 

What was the first sketch cover ever published?

 

I see some very nice commissions for auction recently that I wouldn’t mind owning. But is this a fad that is going to just annoy me in 10 years when I look back at them in my collection? Would I rather they were just on blank Bristol board? If I display them, isn’t seeing those other creator’s names on the cover just going to drive my neurotic brain crazy? Wouldn’t I rather spend that same money on a published or commissioned piece of that artist’s work? And then spend the CGC fee to ask a graphic designer to put together a logo overlay?

 

Or is this something the artists themselves are pushing? Is it another avenue to gain some side income that has only popped up in recent years, not unlike the lucrative digital con print? (Which I think are terrific and have oodles of.)

 

I am not a judo purist. So please don’t take the above as snark. I really want to hear from those who actively collect in this niche of the hobby and why it excites you.

 

OK, that’s a lie. I am about to spend money and I want your help in justifying it. After all, isn’t that why these forums are here?

 

 

[desertdogg2006]

hi. most sketch covers do have staple holes. but its rare to see a sketch cover with art on the front and back of the book. most just get the drawing on the front. as for the paper. it pretty good stock. so if you had a sketch cover with art front & back you pretty much have to flatting out the book or take it apart to be framed.

 

as for grading the book. I have no ideal why people grade sketch covers unless they just want a cert, for the signature on the book. a mint grade on a drawing in not important to me.

 

 

as for using just plain Bristol board or a comic backing board. for a sketch, that,s your choice. just depends on what your trying to get from the artist. as iam sure the bigger the piece the more money your going to spend from the artist. and iam sure some artist. don,t want to do large pieces are they take more time and if they

have a list they would want to do smaller drawing to handle more request,s.

 

but to me. it much easier to carry around a few blank sketch cover books that to have a big tablet or portfoilio. again it a matter of choice or what your trying to get done.

 

larry

[Meeley Man]

Doesn’t it make an artist feel weird to be drawing on a book full of someone else’s work and with those creators’ names on the cover?

 

…especially an older, established pro with plenty of his own books out there?

 

…or when an artist is not associated with that book’s character?

 

 

I don't really see this as any different from when an artist, who is not the regular artist of a series, does the cover to an issue. The names of the interior artists are on that and the cover artist isn't normally associated with the series. So, I'd see a sketch cover, by an artist who doesn't work on the book, the same way I view comics with published covers, by artists who weren't the series artist of that time. No real difference.

 

And besides, sometimes it's fun to get an artist who isn't the series artist to give you their take on the character.

[BCarter27]

as for grading the book. I have no ideal why people grade sketch covers unless they just want a cert, for the signature on the book. a mint grade on a drawing in not important to me.

 

I agree. In fact, the diminished importance of condition has been an aspect of OA collecting (vs. comic book collecting) that I prefer as the years go by.

 

Generally speaking, I am not sure a sig adds much value to published OA because the attribution is (usually) well-documented. A sig cert does make sense for a commission or non-published work -- especially if the artist on the commission is a big name with big pricing which might attract forgeries.

 

I think those who snap a photo of the artist holding the commission have the right idea. It provides an easy provenance via a free, low-muss solution.

 

So, I'd see a sketch cover, by an artist who doesn't work on the book, the same way I view comics with published covers

 

That makes sense when you put it that way. This is a customized comic book. Maybe you didn't like the published cover? This is a chance to improve on it. Or you love that particular book so much, you can get one "stock" and another custom (and another and another!)

 

A good analogy, might be in car hot-rodding. Or maybe early Italian sports cars. You could buy the chassis and drivetrain and then take it to your carrozzeria of choice for a custom, one-off body.

 

But I think this falls apart when the cover subject strays from the contents of the book itself. Things start to get pretty random. Reminds me of a guy who used to give his friends birthday cards that were titled "To My Uncle on Father's Day", etc.. The absurdity would crack him up. The friends were just perplexed.

[Lucky Baru]

I had a well know artist advise he would not draw on a blank variant cover. He considers them to be a different market and he didn't want to be a part of it. He ended up doing a pretty nice sketch for me - just not on a blank variant. From that point forward I went back to getting convention sketches done on bristle boards.

[JasonDaTwit]

I like collecting and purchasing art created on Blank Covers. I like the way they look and gives it a nice personal touch from an artist whose work you enjoy. I don't have any crazy expectations that I'm going to make tons of money reselling pieces. I just like the artist and their work. Sometimes I ask them to draw something different just to see their take on a character.

 

Although it's not necessary to CGC them, the reason I do is because there is alot of rampant art forgeries & duplications and it's difficult to verify if a piece is original. Only way to do that is to just buy the original art from the original artist and have them take a photo as they hold their artwork in their hands.

 

The key is to like what you collect. Although I don't have many pieces, here's a few I currently have that I adore --

 

WOLVERINE by Art Adams

 

 

BATMAN & ROBIN by Jerry Gaylord

 

 

 

BATMAN by Yannick Paquette

 

 

 

CAPTAIN AMERICA by Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines (before they got an Art Rep who increased their prices ridiculously)

 

 

 

BATMAN by Rob Liefeld (I actually sold this one a few months back)

 

[AKA Rick]

Can someone explain sketch covers to me?

 

Sketch Covers are similar to those "Sketch Cards" which are still popular, but not as hot as they once were.

 

The biggest issue I have personally with seeing Sketch Covers and Sketch Cards are:

 

1) The medium used. As you'd mentioned. The paper is often inconsistent and not great for pencils, inks or colors. Many artists use terms like slick or toothy for the textures they like or want to avoid.

 

2) The size of the medium. Trading cards are portable and easy to store. Sketch covers, the same. However, the rendering is limited to the size / space, and that's where I personally prefer the standard 11" x 17" medium which gives more freedom and flexibility for the rendering. I've seen detailed pieces on cards and comics, but I've seem more failures than successes overall. On a comic book sketch cover, you have to factor in the size of the logos on top and you're looking at maybe a 6" x 8" sized surface space for an artist to draw on.

 

The blank sketch covers cost $3-6 each at least. Keep in mind the 11" x 17" professional art boards, you can get at an art supply store are less than $1 per page (sold in 10 + packs) if not a fraction of that price depending on the brand and quality of the paper.

 

3) Attention to detail and quality. When artists do sketch cards and sketch covers, the majority (not all 'tho) treat them as their namesake "sketch" which is a quicker less detailed rendering than a "commission"

 

4) Artificial hype through marketing.

 

The sketch cards are inserted into trading card packs randomly. They're supposed to be super scarce, some are 1 card per box if not case. My retort to that is BFD. The nature of original artwork is " one of a kind" so chasing a sketch card inserted into a trading card box does nothing to add any excitement or elusiveness to the piece. I'd just the same rather spend the money the marketplace commands on a 2.5" x 3.5" sketch card on a fully rendered 11" x 17" commissioned piece.

 

The whole CGC and Signature Series is fine for autographs. For sketch covers it's a nice way to have a cool looking encased (like a picture frame) archival quality aesthetic display with the substantiation / provenance to the origins and details of the piece as a C.O.A. But, when that comes with a premium price tag, for me it becomes less appealing. Also the grading means near nothing to me whether it's a 9.8 or a 9.2 or any grade. The comic book is the background and the artwork is the foreground. I'd rather have a great sketch by a great artist on a sketch cover graded a 4.0 over a comic book graded 9.8 with a mediocre sketch either by rendering or artist name.

 

5) I've seen many artists take full advantage of the sketch card and sketch cover market. Some lesser known artists have elevated the game by knocking masterpieces out of the ballpark. However, the majority I see out there is very mediocre work by less than notably famed named artists, many are unpublished amateurs. I just find it odd seeing some of the prices that lackluster pieces command in the sketch card and cover market. But, hey... if there's a bidding war between buyers, who am I to criticize and say what's right and what's wrong.

 

 

So, for those who like the overall look of sketch covers, be it encased/graded or not, it's a fun way to be in the hobby, so long as you're expectations aren't for profiteering and you know the marketplace well enough not to buy into any hype (all original art is one of a kind, so scarcity means little - and original art isn't so condition sensitive where grading means much) and overpay.

 

I think as a collector, toting around a few blank sketch covers to a convention and dropping them off to artists is easy (lighter weight and smaller dimensions) and you can get multiples done where with a sketchbook it's constantly being used once at a time. I think they store and display beautifully too.

 

 

 

[BCarter27]

I like collecting and purchasing art created on Blank Covers. I like the way they look and gives it a nice personal touch from an artist whose work you enjoy. I don't have any crazy expectations that I'm going to make tons of money reselling pieces. I just like the artist and their work. Sometimes I ask them to draw something different just to see their take on a character.

 

Although it's not necessary to CGC them, the reason I do is because there is alot of rampant art forgeries & duplications and it's difficult to verify if a piece is original. Only way to do that is to just buy the original art from the original artist and have them take a photo as they hold their artwork in their hands.

 

The key is to like what you collect. Although I don't have many pieces, here's a few I currently have that I adore --

 

WOLVERINE by Art Adams

 

 

BATMAN & ROBIN by Jerry Gaylord

 

 

 

BATMAN by Yannick Paquette

 

 

 

CAPTAIN AMERICA by Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines (before they got an Art Rep who increased their prices ridiculously)

 

 

 

BATMAN by Rob Liefeld (I actually sold this one a few months back)

 

 

Those are really nice. Thanks for sharing. That Art Adams piece is hard to beat!

 

[AnkurJ]

Most people slab them. I prefer having a piece done on a larger board as often there is little to no price difference.

[lotemo]

As an Archie collector, I really like the covers that Hero Initiative commissioned for Archie #600. I thought some of those were really creative. I started watching for other sketch covers on ebay and noticed that the quality of many of them is hit or miss.

 

This is one of the Archie's I bought by Tony Fleecs:

 

This is a piece that Spain Rodriguez did for the same project. His is on Bristol board rather than the blank sketch cover.

 

To a point that was made in an earlier post, it's fun to see another artist's take on a character that they don't normally draw.

[fmaz]

I've seen some really nice sketch covers... some to the point where I've almost been tempted to buy them.

 

But for me, and I think (as with all art) it's just a matter of personal preference, I prefer to have original comic art hang on my wall - so I don't have any use for sketch covers.

 

I can see, though for someone who has a lot of pieces, how they'd be annoyed at having a large portfolio of art they can't easily view or share, while if you collected sketch covers it would be easy enough to set up some sort of display with them, or at the very least a lot easy to flip through them.

 

Again, it all comes down to personal preference.

[mister_not_so_nice]

I understand the appeal

[kzzza]

Not a big fan of the Marvel NOW blanks because of the red boarder on the bottom. The DC ones are okay. I know Batman 0 and Amazing Spider-Man #648 and Marvel Project Blank variants are more expensive.

 

I use them for quick sketches/doodles from artists if I don't have a sketchbook on or me if I want to use up a blank.

[Silver Surfer]

For me they are affordable and fun as you can take a fresh take on an old classic image:

[H0RR0RSH0W]

I was also wondering about sketch covers.

 

I buy moderns sometimes and (obviously) sketch covers are a Modern phenomenon. What I am thinking about though is as I shop for back issues I see 3 or 4 covers available if you include the variants. Sometime I will see a blank sketch cover as the only thing available. What I am wondering about is should I avoid these if I have no intent for the book to be anything other than a reader?

 

The thing is that although I realize I am posting in the OA threads I am really strictly only a comic book collector. I love comic books for the medium that they are. A complete work as an artist means for me to see it. I love the completed comic book aspect of collecting so I am not sure if I would really enjoy them.

[mister_not_so_nice]

I buy moderns sometimes and (obviously) sketch covers are a Modern phenomenon. What I am thinking about though is as I shop for back issues I see 3 or 4 covers available if you include the variants. Sometime I will see a blank sketch cover as the only thing available. What I am wondering about is should I avoid these if I have no intent for the book to be anything other than a reader?

 

I don't think they need to be avoided. In fact, if you aren't going to get it sketched on it will probably hold it's value better than the surrounding issues, especially if it is found that the paper used is preferred by artists.

 

A couple of my books:

[JoeRock]

Ha that's awesome, AL meets ASM 50

[Get2TheChoppa]

I've moved more towards using 11x17 (or whatever size board the artist prefers) over sketch covers, but I do get them on occasion (just not as often as I did early on). I would say early on I did it because it was a decent price for entry on an original piece of art, but now I get sketch covers only if the price is a very, very good value for what you get (versus paying for say an 11x17) or I'm trying to have a little fun. Some examples of fun ...

 

1) Front/back view in a graded slab, like this Die Hard homage ...

 

2) Celeb autographs ...

- Caity Lotz (Canary on Arrow)

- Erica Durance (Lois Lane on Smallville)

- Peter Weller (Buckaroo Banzai)

 

3) Sometimes it is a genuinely awesome take on a character ...

 

That said, I still prefer to not use sketch covers, but I will dabble in it from time to time.

[BCarter27]

I

1) Front/back view in a graded slab, like this Die Hard homage ...

 

This is a very, very clever use of what I keep thinking of as a limitation -- the unseen, difficult to display back cover.

[Dark Prime 0]

for me to get a sketch cover CGC is for the yellow label that i see as a CoA only, grade doesn't matter as i'm paying for the art. wouldn't care if CGC started NG'ing sketchs

 

at the start of the blank covers there was maybe 2-3 and if you wanted say wolverine done but there is no wolverine blank then you used what was avalible, same goes for DC as DC only started doing blanks iirc 2-3yrs ago where marvel has been doing it since 03 i think (fallen son was the 1st blank i think)

 

the book doesn't even matter, if i get say joker on a marvel book i have no prob. when i go to a con i have a list of 90 chacter i want done and let the artist choose, problem is i take maybe 10-15 blanks and if the artist wants to do X and i don't have that book i don't stress, hell i hand the blanks to the artist and let them choose that too as some like to work on certin books and not others

 

think i currently have a little over 100 sketch covers done and i'd say the majority of them are decent/amazing with only 3-5 i don't really care for.......i'd say i'm doing great as far as like vs don't like is conserned

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=99388

 

really need to take pics of my OA and add that too at some point