TMNT Original Art value question 0

[DaveSFU]

Hey all, question about some TMNT art I have.  Original art collecting isnt my thing so I have no clue on values.   I got these two pages from Mark Bode at the  Turtlecon in Portmouth NH in 1992.   Page 30/31 and Page 32 of the colorized 2nd printing of TMNT 18.    Any clue on values for this stuff?

 

 

[jaybuck43]

First off, really cool pieces.  I don't see Bodé TMNT stuff come up all that often, so valuing it is hard.  What would give me pause on valuation is trying to find out more about the creation process.  I know the original piece was penciled by Bodé and then inked and toned over by Eastman and Talbot.  So theoretically the original pencils no longer exist (except as a xerox if such a thing was done at the time).  We also know that those original pages still exist, so Bodé didn't take the original zip-shade pages and color over them. Thus, it leads me to believe one of two things.  1) Bodé redrew the entire book in pencil, and then painted it with Fitts.  Conceivable given the time frame of completion (almost 2 years after the original printing)  2) Bodé and Fitts took stats of the original Zip-shade pages and painted them.  This is the more likely because of the cost and time associated with having Bodé completely redraw his pencils along with having to try to recreate it as close as possible to the original.  

If number 2 is correct, it will dramatically decrease the value (putting it in the realm of a nice production piece) since there are no pencils nor inks.  

[Bronty]

Agreed that some more info is needed.     

If you lift up the overlay, OP, what do you see?

Maybe you could lift up the plastic overlay and take a pic?

[John E.]

Hey Dave,

Those are really cool pieces. I'm happy to see these pop up. I own two pieces by Mark Bodé which you can see here and here. I've been fortunate enough to make Mark's acquaintance over the years, giving me the opportunity to ask him about his creative process. I really like Jaybuck's answer so I'll just add to it.

Mark traditionally draws a tight pencil prelim and the original is lightboxed over it. It may very well be that he still had the original pencil prelims and this color version was lightboxed. If this is the case, then I think it puts it at a higher plane than just a color guide, especially if it was directly used for printing. Bodé hand-paints (or colors, one way or another) his personal projects, so in my eyes this is a different kind of original art separate from the original black and white art, something in line with Steve Oliffe's Akira color guides. But the coloring credits are split, so two questions are: did each artist contribute to each page or did they split the pages up where each fully colored one. If they split the pages and you bought this directly from Mark, then chances are the coloring is all him. 

A few, but not many, of the original B&W pages from these issues have popped up on eBay over the years on auctions. Depending on the content and the number of turtles present, they range from $350-$650. I just saw one for sale at the LA Ultimate Show for $795, which is high for me, but not so high to discourage anyone who wants one. But what the original b&w pages have going for them is that Kevin Eastman touched them and it's not likely that Eastman worked on the ones you have. Mark Bodé has a loyal following, but despite that, his art is really hard to move outside of an auction with a low starting bid. My conservative value is $200-$300 for each piece. You might be able to squeeze more if you had confirmation from Mark as to his contribution to the coloring. And also, you never know where prices land with auctions.

[DaveSFU]

1 hour ago, Bronty said:

Agreed that some more info is needed.     

If you lift up the overlay, OP, what do you see?

Maybe you could lift up the plastic overlay and take a pic?

Heres how it looks when i lift the overlay.  

[DaveSFU]

1 hour ago, Jay Olie Espy said:

Hey Dave,

Those are really cool pieces. I'm happy to see these pop up. I own two pieces by Mark Bodé which you can see here and here. I've been fortunate enough to make Mark's acquaintance over the years, giving me the opportunity to ask him about his creative process. I really like Jaybuck's answer so I'll just add to it.

Mark traditionally draws a tight pencil prelim and the original is lightboxed over it. It may very well be that he still had the original pencil prelims and this color version was lightboxed. If this is the case, then I think it puts it at a higher plane than just a color guide, especially if it was directly used for printing. Bodé hand-paints (or colors, one way or another) his personal projects, so in my eyes this is a different kind of original art separate from the original black and white art, something in line with Steve Oliffe's Akira color guides. But the coloring credits are split, so two questions are: did each artist contribute to each page or did they split the pages up where each fully colored one. If they split the pages and you bought this directly from Mark, then chances are the coloring is all him. 

A few, but not many, of the original B&W pages from these issues have popped up on eBay over the years on auctions. Depending on the content and the number of turtles present, they range from $350-$650. I just saw one for sale at the LA Ultimate Show for $795, which is high for me, but not so high to discourage anyone who wants one. But what the original b&w pages have going for them is that Kevin Eastman touched them and it's not likely that Eastman worked on the ones you have. Mark Bodé has a loyal following, but despite that, his art is really hard to move outside of an auction with a low starting bid. My conservative value is $200-$300 for each piece. You might be able to squeeze more if you had confirmation from Mark as to his contribution to the coloring. And also, you never know where prices land with auctions.

Thanks!  Ive had the chance to get Mark to do work for my band before and he was great to deal with.   

Like i said ive had these since 1992 and i dont plan on getting rid of them, i was more just wondering what they could be worth. 

I have another similar piece he did that i got two years later where he colored his dads work for Cobalt 60.  

These two are hand painted (watercolor) by Mark on heavy board.   I think the coloring is all him on these as it matches his coloring style.  But from what i remember he had most of the issue sitting there on his table for sale.  

[Bronty]

I would tend to agree with the valuation already given but its hard to say til you try and sell.   Maybe someone would give a touch more with vintage material getting harder to find.

[John E.]

Yeah if it's mostly or all Bodé doing the hand coloring I'd like to think that has a lot more value than a traditional color guide. The value of these is a bit watered down because it's somewhat of a second printing, but I don't think it would be unfair to price them roughly as the B&W originals, which to say $350-$650. The low end would be in the $200-$300 range. If Mark hand-colored the issues to begin with, well, then, we'd be talking double the price. In the hands of another reseller maybe the asking would be $1500+. But would someone pay that? Maybe oui; maybe no. This is all my ballpark figure. All and all it's great to see these resurface and get a little story about them. Best of luck!

[DaveSFU]

1 hour ago, Jay Olie Espy said:

Yeah if it's mostly or all Bodé doing the hand coloring I'd like to think that has a lot more value than a traditional color guide. The value of these is a bit watered down because it's somewhat of a second printing, but I don't think it would be unfair to price them roughly as the B&W originals, which to say $350-$650. The low end would be in the $200-$300 range. If Mark hand-colored the issues to begin with, well, then, we'd be talking double the price. In the hands of another reseller maybe the asking would be $1500+. But would someone pay that? Maybe oui; maybe no. This is all my ballpark figure. All and all it's great to see these resurface and get a little story about them. Best of luck!

Thanks!  I wish i picked up more back then but he didnt put them on his table until toward the end of the convention from what I remember, and i had already blown through my money.  They were pretty cheap too.   Like i said im not planning to sell, i just didnt know what they would be worth

[spracknetch23]

Looks pretty similar to the Steve Lavigne original blue line color pieces I have from the TMNT First graphic novels, which you can see here , here , and here . The original pencils and inks from Eastman and Laird were duplicated on acetate for the overlay, only the color by Steve is original. I purchased these particular ones for $65 to $150 each in 2016.

I have a copy of the issue in question right here. According to the credits: "penciled, colored and co-written by Mark Bode, Additional coloring by Bill Fitts". Like someone stated earlier, if you bought them directly from Bode they are most likely colored by him. You could reach out to him and ask but he may not remember since this book was released in 1990. 

Edited July 18, 2018 by spracknetch23