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Buy art you have no connection to?
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54 posts in this topic

Have you ever bought artwork that you don't know the artist, read the comic/series its from or know the characters featured?

Here are three I have bought over the years.

Deadworld (1988) #19 - Emergency Only by Vince Locke.

 

 

Deadworld (1988) #19 - Emergency Only Vince Locke.jpg

 

 

 

Mouse Guard piece for the Baltimore Comic Con book by JK Snyder III

Mouse Guard Attack!!!!.jpg

 

 

 

Odin and Thor, The Mighty Beaver by Jeff Pidgeon. Pixar Auction piece to raise money for CAM.

odin_Thor Jeff Pidgeon.jpg

Edited by Brian Peck
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I try and follow a rule of only buying art from books I've read, and prelims for pieces I already own.  I've definitely deviated from that and bought based on the art being from a favourite artist and then buying the book later.  Most of the time it's worked out well enough.  I'm actually in the process of buying a page currently where I haven't read the issue it's from, but it's a top 3 artist with a DC Trinity character, so the issue can be rubbish and I'll still happily keep it.

Another rule I have is around commissions, just to try and limit what I do there - they should be a published artist.  Sometimes I can't stop myself due to what I see...it's like I have an addiction.

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I've bought a handful of affordable pieces to stories I'd never read... for a few different reasons that are likely unimportant. The point is that after purchasing such a piece, I always seek out the content it was created for and give it a read. So far it has worked out for me personally.

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I have a few times in the past, but the problem is it never stays long.  Whenever it's time to cull the herd to pay for another purchase, it's always the stuff I have no connection to that goes 1st.

So, now I do my best to only buy stuff that are from books I've enjoyed.

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17 hours ago, Brian Peck said:

Have you ever bought artwork that you don't know the artist, read the comic/series its from or know the characters featured?

Of course I did.

As stated in your topic title, we are talking about art. You don't need to read anything to like a painting (or a sculpture) or not. So why should it be different with comic artworks? Some pages I bought were purchased because I like the series and/or I like the artist and I "needed" a piece of art representative from this series / artist. But for some other pages I simply liked the page visually. Of course it's easier if it's not too expensive. Or I'll first try to find some information on it, try to read the comic first.

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1 hour ago, NicoV said:

Of course I did.

As stated in your topic title, we are talking about art. You don't need to read anything to like a painting (or a sculpture) or not. So why should it be different with comic artworks? Some pages I bought were purchased because I like the series and/or I like the artist and I "needed" a piece of art representative from this series / artist. But for some other pages I simply liked the page visually. Of course it's easier if it's not too expensive. Or I'll first try to find some information on it, try to read the comic first.

Well, there is at least a loose connection for us to pretty much everything comic related, even if its just the medium.    Otherwise we should be as comfortable buying a 20th century painting of a field or a modern lightbox installation as we are buying a piece of comic art, yet many of us have never bought a lightbox installation or a painting of a field.     After all, you started Comic Art Tracker, not Pottery Tracker, even thought that's just as valid a medium.    It boils down to the degree of connection you require - whether to simply the medium and/or genre or perhaps to at least the writer or artist, or maybe to the specific title or issue you read.   Perhaps even when you read it (as a kid vs as an adult).    

Point is, the question you are asking "why should it be different with comic artworks" is already kind of a biased viewpoint in a way - if we really feel that image and artistry is all that matters, then we can appreciate 18th century quiltwork just as much as comic pages - but let's face it we don't ;)  - boring! :)   Soooooooooo.......... saying the image is all that matters, well its kind of untrue.    We all have some sort of parameters for what we will accept into our collections, some type of fairly arbitrary boundary to divide the art we want to collect from the art we don't.      Some people's boundaries are bigger than others within comic art, but really that's already a pretty narrow boundary.    So... someone only collecting Hulk pages, its really not that different than the guy collecting only comic art.. yes?

 

 

Edited by Bronty
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I have immediately connected with a piece of comic art that I wasn’t even aware existed in the past. Connection can happen instantaneously in that way and when I saw the splash, I bought it immediately and went and picked up the comic to read. As it turns out, the art exceeded the story but that fact did not diminish my appreciation of the art in any way. It is the exception rather than the rule but it has happened and I am sure it will happen again.

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16 hours ago, Panelfan1 said:

I  saw this piece earlier in the week and was giving it serious thought. Only thing that held me back was too many purchases lately.

 

Felix comic art Nick P art

I see as I post this, that its sold.  Will probably seek out the comic to see if its good. Congrats to the buyer.  

Me too! But, I had to use discipline. I'm actually proud of myself for resisting. Even though it was reasonably priced! I knew someone would buy it, though.

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2 hours ago, JadeGiant said:

I have immediately connected with a piece of comic art that I wasn’t even aware existed in the past. Connection can happen instantaneously in that way and when I saw the splash, I bought it immediately and went and picked up the comic to read. As it turns out, the art exceeded the story but that fact did not diminish my appreciation of the art in any way. It is the exception rather than the rule but it has happened and I am sure it will happen again.

I do that too. I buy art I like, and then find the published version later in many cases. Probably 2/3 of my pages were from books I didn't own, or read as a kid. I read them later though. And in a couple of instances, I bought another page from that series just because I liked the art and the story so much. I wish I could do that again on some other things, but I am disciplining myself for a few months to get back on budget.

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23 hours ago, Brian Peck said:

Have you ever bought artwork that you don't know the artist, read the comic/series its from or know the characters featured?

Here are three I have bought over the years.

Deadworld (1988) #19 - Emergency Only by Vince Locke.

 

 

Deadworld (1988) #19 - Emergency Only Vince Locke.jpg

 

 

 

Mouse Guard piece for the Baltimore Comic Con book by JK Snyder III

Mouse Guard Attack!!!!.jpg

 

 

 

Odin and Thor, The Mighty Beaver by Jeff Pidgeon. Pixar Auction piece to raise money for CAM.

odin_Thor Jeff Pidgeon.jpg

I enjoy all three of these pieces for different reasons. I'm unfamiliar with the artists, and have never read mouse guard or deadworld. If these came up in an auction I'd wouldn't hesitate to bid on any of these. The deadworld in particular! 

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19 hours ago, bisquitodoom said:

Only if it's really good and stands on its own.

Yes, that. I think if anything it's a better idea to buy something you really like but don't have a previous connection to. Nostalgia isn't transferable, whereas that Mouse Guard piece would get a reaction from most of my friends.

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Most of my pieces are love at first sight - from published comic books I read after buying the pieces. I'd don't like buying my childhood memories or being directly driven by nostalgia, although of course my (subconscious) preferences will play a role in my decision making :-)

If I really like a piece, I don't care much about the artist or the book. Guess most pop or rock bands don't make hits all the time, but only occasionally deliver truly great songs, so far I'd never buy a piece just because a specific artist made it unless a piece really connects with me.

As I've grown older I found that I typically like the modern, darker and more energetic covers more than older pieces, although I rarely read modern comics. I appreciate it when persons who know nothing about comics look at some of my wall-hung pieces and like what they're seeing - or just are fascinated that anyone can draw or paint like that...  

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I started a topic last year that had a lot of overlap (in my opinion) with this one, and I could swear the answers were mostly the exact opposite of most of the answers here. 

I wish I could find it to see if I phrased the question very differently.

I think I did, insofar as I THINK I asked whether anyone had ever bought art from a book where they didn't know or even care for the story inside. i.e. Bought the art strictly for the art knowing, or learning later they didn't actually care for the actual book. Either out of a love of the artist/character combo, or a love of the piece on its own, or because they loved part of the book, but not the whole thing. That's a lot of wiggle room. Especially curious about specific examples.

i.e. if Brian were to read Deadworld and discover the book itself was "lame" in his mind.

or if someone would buy a piece of art knowing the art was magnificent but the story the art is from was mediocre or just bad.

I tried to do a search o the old thread and came up empty.

 

 

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I find the image itself can govern whether or not I'm interested, but other factors like nostalgia/ context whatever, govern the price I'll pay.     It probably works that way for a lot of us.

I love the Deadworld piece for example, but there's only so much I'm going to pay for a Deadworld piece.

Edited by Bronty
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41 minutes ago, Bronty said:

I love the Deadworld piece for example, but there's only so much I'm going to pay for a Deadworld piece.

They were great when Vince was eBaying them about ten years ago with a staring bid of $300 and that's about what they went for. Well-executed cover paintings for $300ish. Too cool. I got too many of them for start or just a bid increment or two above. Occasionally I was even outbid. Don't know what Brian paid for his (or if it came from Vince or somebody else) but somewhere along the way Vince decided that wasn't working, stopped listing them on eBay and put what was left on his site for a thousand or three per. As you might expect they didn't sell well that way.

Somehow, somewhere Deadworld oa will be worth good money. In the same way that generic pre or post code 50s horror is today. But it might be a very long wait.

Vince's ink line on Deadworld is nice too if a low priced opportunity hits you in the face ;)

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Yeah.   And that’s the issue when people start saying that they buy based only on image.   It positions the buyer as having tastes and habits  that live in a vacuum and that’s just not true of anyone.   At 300 bucks, yeah okay, at any kind of substantial amount it’s a different story

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