How do you decide what art you want?

[Reno McCoy]

I'm just curious what everyone's criteria is for what original art they try to hunt down. Do you simply see a page and find the artist and buy it? Or are you more selective and slow than that?

 

For me, I've only bought art from those artists I've met, and generally only unknown or up-and-comers. Sometimes they'll send me preview art and I'll put dibs on it. Or sometimes I'll see nice art and request a commission.

 

But all my stuff is small potatoes to a lot of the art in this forum. A lot of the art here is immediately recognizable, and a lot of the art is classic stuff, not new.

[Alberto1975]

I'm pretty much like you, I buy mostly from unknown and up-and-comers, since that's the only type of art I really can afford right now.

I like buying directly from the artists at conventions, to me it just makes it cooler, when you buy a page and you see the artists praising that particular page, and giving you details about it...

So far, I've only gotten published pages, I haven't done any commissions yet, but I might end up requesting some commissions soon, I've communicated with a few artists via email recently, so I will probably do that soon.

I'm selling my comic book collection, so I might, in the next month or two, go all out and buy a couple of $1000 pieces, just so I can have some really classic art that I loved as a kid, but I'll mostly stick to recent art...

[Robert Plunkett-migration]

You do have to have a pretty clear idea of what you collect and don't collect, otherwise you go nuts choosing pieces. It's nearly reached the point where I disqualify a piece that doesn't have a woman in it. When I make exceptions, it's typically for pieces with Superman or Batman in them. Anything like that has to be pretty iconic. Naughty bits,even nipples outlined under a blouse are virtually a disqualifier unless it's a mythical figure though I am loosening up on tush shots. No women in danger except if they are in mutual combat and no women being hurt or victimized. No boobs larger than than those I have had in my hands. Clean lines, a clean and healthy look, if it is a girlie picture, preferably it's something a woman or a gay guy would appreciate for its aesthetic value or artistic merit. If it is comic art, preferably something that would be interesting to someone who doesn't care about comics as such. I don't buy anything I wouldn't put on my wall. Don't overpay for anything, there's more art out there than I can possibly own.

[chrisco37]

Naughty bits,even nipples outlined under a blouse are virtually a disqualifier unless it's a mythical figure though I am loosening up on tush shots. No women in danger except if they are in mutual combat and no women being hurt or victimized. No boobs larger than than those I have had in my hands. Clean lines, a clean and healthy look, if it is a girlie picture, preferably it's something a woman or a gay guy would appreciate for its aesthetic value or artistic merit.

 

Your art collecting habits are the exact opposite of mine! You're "Bizzaro Chrisco"!

 

I kid! I kid!!

[Reno McCoy]

It seems easy to collect comics: I collect [insert title]. I want every issue in such and such condition.

 

But art, man oh man. Do I collect one artist or many? One character or many? Anything that suits my fancy? I could be tough to find your niche...

[Alberto1975]

It seems easy to collect comics: I collect [insert title]. I want every issue in such and such condition.

 

But art, man oh man. Do I collect one artist or many? One character or many? Anything that suits my fancy? I could be tough to find your niche...

 

I use the same criteria for art that I used for comics, in a way. I just buy art that I really enjoy looking at and that I can afford. I am not picky about artists, or what characters are in them, or what series they're from.

I do, however, enjoy having a story to go along the piece of art. That's why I like to buy art directly from the artists. When I look at my GLA piece, I just think of the conversation I had with Dan Slott and Paul Pelletier, where he was talking about how much he enjoyed writing GLA, some of the stuff he had to change to please editors, and what his plans are for the future, he had a kick [embarrasing lack of self control] story ready for the JLA! He also told me that the editors told him he could use pretty much any guest star in GLA, and he jumped at the chance to do Moon Knight because it was a favorite of his... Those little stories are, to me, what makes original art enjoyable

[chrisco37]

It seems easy to collect comics: I collect [insert title]. I want every issue in such and such condition.

 

But art, man oh man. Do I collect one artist or many? One character or many? Anything that suits my fancy? I could be tough to find your niche...

 

It is tough. I was on the Risso Bullets kick for awhile (and still am), but it;s hard to stick with just one artist or title when there are so many great books out there.

 

I wanted to stay on the Bullets stuff, but then "Wanted" came out. And I had to have a Planetary page, of course. And something from the 3 Geeks by Rich Koslowski. Then, I'm saving for a Watchmen or Swamp Thing page and my turn for the Risso commission comes up....

 

Extremely frustrating when you're working on limited budget.

[nik]

Its a visual thing for me.

 

If the page screams "check me out" and have cash in my pocket, I buy it.

[desertdogg]

my first ideal of buying art. are the books or artist i grew up on, second is price wise. because iam on a budget. third if the peice is by a new or no-name artist and it shouts out at me and is reasonable. i go for it. larry

[rob_react]

I buy art from books I really like.

[matewan1990]

I picked a prime period in my comics reading youth, when comics held the most fascination for me and that's what I mainly collect. Of course, there are other pieces I have in my collection that are from my childhood, like the Super Team Family 9 cover, which was the first comic my Granddad bought me. Then, there's art like the Scooby Doo cover by Dan Spiegle. Since I'm not able to purchase any of the Marvel Scooby Doo art (has anyone ever seen any of that for sale?) by Spiegle, I snatched this cover up as soon as I found it because it is by my all-time favorite Scooby Doo artist.

Nearly every piece of art I own goes back to my childhood in some way or another. Like, I had the greatest Phil Jimenez X-Men cover with Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler on it. The image was iconic and the art was beautiful. However, it was a new cover and when I was able to trade up for a Frank Miller Batman (Dark Knight was great when I read it as a young boy), I jumped at the chance.

Looking at some of the art in my gallery, I'd have to say that nearly all of it was bought because it brought back some nostalgic feeling when I looked at it.

Some pieces I have were bonuses in trades I've made, but, usually those have some connection to my childhood, too, like the Suicide Squad series was one of my all-time favorite reads.

No one can tell you a right or wrong method of buying art. If you like it, and have the cash, then go for it.

But, remember, after that first piece, you'll be addicted and will want more and more and more ... like me taking out a loan this week to buy several sweet covers... plus, I'm still looking for more... arrrgh... got to find an Art Anonymous meetings..."Hello, my name is Mike B. and I'm an art addict..."

[mister_not_so_nice]

After I found the original art section on ebay and got my first page (Preacher03 pg16 for a measly $125) around 1986 or so, I was buying everything I thought looked "cool". Well I soon discovered there is more cool art out there than money in my pockets. So I have set my criteria for original art to only buy from books I read. A dynamic splash is nice to have, but unless I know the story behind it all its just more lines on paper. I can appreciate it for what it is, and if the pic on the auction is good enough I just save it to my comic art folder and enjoy it whenever it pops up on my screen saver for free. The lesson here is only use good scans in your auctions folks, because I'm not rich (that goes doubly for CGC books. I've got quite a run of high grade books thanks to these boards )

 

Mike

[Reno McCoy]

There's an original comic art section on ebay? I'm doomed.

[wrightsoncollect-migration]

Also there's the fact that you have different kinds of art. You have pencil prelims which sell for less. You have B&W inks. Then you have colored or with lettering. Then you have the expensive covers. Might as well include paintings that were used as covers also!

To me the difference in art vs comics is selection. I'd rather pay premium price for a couple premium pieces to display framed. Comics and mags I store in long boxes and only see when I look on my web site. Remember that with original art there's only that piece, it's not like a comic that's mass produced. I'd sooner save my cash and spend a couple grand on a prime display than buy 25 - 30 pieces that I'm going to "file"away. So I'd say quality over quantity.

Since I collect Bernie Wrightson, pages and covers go for a good price. I've got my 2 pencils and now I'm saving for a good page and a painting. I think if I was going to collect general artists though, I'd look at covers. I really think they display nice by themselves and are great pieces to have.

 

www.wrightsoncollector.com

[Reno McCoy]

That's true. A lot of times with my comics, I go for quantity. Or rather, if you look at all the books I have, you'd think I did that.

 

I like the idea of having only a hand full of original art pieces, but they all are awesome instead of having a bunch stored away somewhere. Then again, I should take that into consideration for my comics. Why have 1000s of good comics when I can have 20 really awesome, old, HG comics?

[Robert Plunkett-migration]

I believe in having a variety. In investment terms this is called diversification. When I'm dead, my estate will probably do well having over a hundred artists represented than it would be if I just collected a few primo pieces because the risk of them falling out of favor is concentrated. Besides, how often can you look at the same piece and be thrilled over and over compared to a hundred carefully chosen ones?

 

I NEVER buy a piece to put away. Some pieces are in cold storage, but that's because they were mistakes (like commissions I thought would be great but came out not so good) or no longer meet the standard. If I don't plan to put it on my wall, I don't buy it.

[delekkerste]

I believe in having a variety. In investment terms this is called diversification. When I'm dead, my estate will probably do well having over a hundred artists represented than it would be if I just collected a few primo pieces because the risk of them falling out of favor is concentrated.

 

From a pure investment standpoint, I believe that it is actually much better to have "a few primo pieces" than 100 middle-of-the-road pieces. Your estate will find it hellish to try and dispose of the latter type of collection - the OA market is a mile wide and an inch deep. Oftentimes there may only be a handful of buyers for a particularly piece (the flip side of all the "OA is one-of-a-kind" propaganda). If liquidity, resale and estate considerations are important to you, it is nearly always better to go for primo, well-recognized pieces that there will always be a market for. I will add that one thing that the slabbed comic market has going for it is that there is much better liquidity than in the art market.

 

On the other hand, if you are buying OA just for enjoyment and resale/estate considerations are distant secondary or tertiary factors, pursue any strategy you like.

[Kevin76]

I don't really collect original art but I'd collect by artist Todd Mcfarlane being the priority followed by Jim lee,then Bolland.