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Is it ever OK to 'alter' your original art?
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68 posts in this topic

16 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

Speaking of published art only... a few of the artists I purchase from sign their work prior to shipping - I'd rather they didn't do so as it wasn't published with a signature to begin with.

I wouldn't modify anything myself if I could help it, certainly not if another solution is so simple as to buy another portfolio.

I'm fine with them signing it OUTSIDE OF THE ART area, obviously. 

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21 hours ago, theflashunc said:

Always easier at resale to flag for someone it's a weird size rather than explain that it was a weird size but you couldn't be bothered to buy the proper portfolio for storage and instead you cut it down to something you liked. 

 

I only trimmed on piece. And it was a modern page on a slightly larger than normal art page that had not been trimmed down. I trimmed a tony sliver off of it so it would slide into an 11x17 portfolio. I have a lot of pages that don't fit in my portfolio, so I store them individually in mylar sleeves and top loaders in a large artist bag with my portfolio. The latter is now filled up and I need to get a new one. I may by the larger sized one.

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46 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

I only trimmed on piece. And it was a modern page on a slightly larger than normal art page that had not been trimmed down. I trimmed a tony sliver off of it so it would slide into an 11x17 portfolio. I have a lot of pages that don't fit in my portfolio, so I store them individually in mylar sleeves and top loaders in a large artist bag with my portfolio. The latter is now filled up and I need to get a new one. I may by the larger sized one.

You have been damn'd to hell for eterinity! [ominous music sounds in background]

It's your stuff, do whatever you want. 

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4 hours ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

I'm fine with them signing it OUTSIDE OF THE ART area, obviously. 

I never say anything regardless as I'd feel odd telling the artist not to do their SOP.  Now I have has an artist in artist row *ask* me if I wanted him to sign it and I said 'No!' so quickly he found it funny. Clearly I'd been hurt before!

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13 hours ago, stinkininkin said:

Different strokes I guess.  I've had numerous occasions when my art rep Albert Moy has told me that he can't sell the original until it's signed.  He's had customers where a condition of sale is a separate signature.  This includes COVERS which are ALREADY SIGNED in the field of art and published with said signature showing!  Essentially, the cover art now has TWO signatures.  I know.  I just scratch my head and sign the art.

Some people only want you to sign it two times?  Some of us want a show of total dominance if an artist is going to sign a piece. Five times!

58a529e2d81f4274a9e553904befb6bf.jpg

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I am shocked that every answer to this question isn’t a hardcore NO. You should never alter art in any way. This is another of those no-brainer questions and I’m completely shocked and saddened that so many people are like “yeah, I’ve done it because I’m too cheap to buy a bigger frame/portfolio.” What?!?

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I can fully understand why there may be quite a few people out there who like to read the threads but don't want to participate, given some of the replies and posts made...

As the OP I did ask the questions because I genuinely didn't think it was that bad... it's not like I want to add colour or change the art etc...

1. It bugs me that art I own and see every day has a dedication to someone else - so I thought it might be preferable to cover it up discreetly and without ruining the artwork. This seems to be a No-no and OK I accept that.

2. Shaving off some of the paper - it is of course not about the cost of a new portfolio - as far as I know there isn't one with a width of 11.5 inches. To me the pieces I am referring to would still slip around in a 13" as much as a 14" one. Obviously that doesn't bug some people as much as it does me... 

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I think trimming for folder-sake is a no-no.  To remove a personalization (which I know wasn't the OPs original question) is a HUGE no-no.  I'd go to a restorer for that.

The idea of trimming, especially when we're talking about pages (multiple pieces the same size) is just going to create issues down the road.  21 out of 22 pages are 14 by 17, but one is 12.5 by 17?  What?

 

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32 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

The former owner of the X-Men #172 owner offered to have Paul Smith remove the personalization in the UPC box when I bought it (it had been personalized to him since it was a wedding gift).  I declined, as I respect the provenance. 

Absolutely important that provenance. And equally responsible of you to digitally remove that name, upon request I believe, for that individual's privacy when sharing scans online.

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5 hours ago, wincen said:

I can fully understand why there may be quite a few people out there who like to read the threads but don't want to participate, given some of the replies and posts made...

As the OP I did ask the questions because I genuinely didn't think it was that bad... it's not like I want to add colour or change the art etc...

1. It bugs me that art I own and see every day has a dedication to someone else - so I thought it might be preferable to cover it up discreetly and without ruining the artwork. This seems to be a No-no and OK I accept that.

2. Shaving off some of the paper - it is of course not about the cost of a new portfolio - as far as I know there isn't one with a width of 11.5 inches. To me the pieces I am referring to would still slip around in a 13" as much as a 14" one. Obviously that doesn't bug some people as much as it does me... 

Honestly, I don't think it's that terrible. The outer edges of the page really are not part of the artwork in most cases (that is, no bleeds). You could also probably send it to a restorer to remove the dedication, if you wanted.

But, as I have learned here, those portfolio's are not made of the type of plastic which is best for long term storage. I am now dropping them into mylar sleeves (where possible), and dropping that into a larger portfolio.

Regarding the comments, this is not a particularly rough audience, IMO, particularly if someone is clearly new to the hobby.

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21 hours ago, delekkerste said:

I HATE HATE HATE this practice of people removing personalizations on original art.  You'd never do it for a piece of fine art or a first edition book (personalizations are actually valued HIGHER than just a simple signature there), so why is it OK for OA?  

I say leave the provenance alone.  You're not the first owner of the art, and you won't be the last.  

Someone removed the personalization but left the Jack Kirby signature in the UPC box of a '70s cover I once owned.  I thought it looked terrible - because the personalization had been whited out, the remaining Kirby signature was not well-placed in the UPC box and looked stupid, because no one would ever sign just the signature in the UPC box that low. :facepalm: 

The former owner of the X-Men #172 owner offered to have Paul Smith remove the personalization in the UPC box when I bought it (it had been personalized to him since it was a wedding gift).  I declined, as I respect the provenance.  

This is where I land on the subject for the most part (possibly less on the HATE factor). I am a fan of the history of the comic medium and the provenance of the art adds interest and intrigue to me. Plus, anything done to alter it almost always looks worse than leaving it alone and casts question onto why it was done.

 

For anything published, I say leave it as is with the exception of restoring a word balloon, etc. I have a few pages with balloon issues and I haven’t done anything because I don’t trust myself to do it … and getting it replaced is not a high priority to me.

 

I have seen a few commissions/sketches that the artist did on wonky sized paper – maybe a scrap, an odd-sized piece of paper, etc. that I think might benefit by being balanced (art/page) but I just can’t bring myself to cut up art in any way. Cutting art to fit a portfolio falls squarely into the category of “Not a good reason to do it” and the points of disclosing this when selling it a good one.

 

Speaking of cutting art, there is an ironic dichotomy in how I perceive cutting up a production page – I hate it if done outside of the production process (ie by a collector, etc.) but I find it fascinating to see how/why it was done by the artist/production team when it was being created for the comic. I own a lot of Sal Buscema pages and many of them are considerably smaller than 11x17 due to them being trimmed during the production process (I presume). Weird curved slices off the top, trimmed edges all around, etc. really makes me curious as to when/how/why it was done.  So, if Joe Blow cuts up the art I am outraged but if Joe Sinnott does it – that’s awesome!

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On 7/29/2019 at 6:51 PM, dichotomy said:

Somewhat related to this topic, this popped up on my twitter feed today. The beauty of OA is, that’s it. It’s still the only copy of that thing. Unlike this guy...  

 

 

Some modern artist is going to figure out that this could be an art installation piece.

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2 hours ago, JadeGiant said:

I have seen a few commissions/sketches that the artist did on wonky sized paper – maybe a scrap, an odd-sized piece of paper, etc. that I think might benefit by being balanced (art/page) but I just can’t bring myself to cut up art in any way. Cutting art to fit a portfolio falls squarely into the category of “Not a good reason to do it” and the points of disclosing this when selling it a good one.

 

Speaking of cutting art, there is an ironic dichotomy in how I perceive cutting up a production page – I hate it if done outside of the production process (ie by a collector, etc.) but I find it fascinating to see how/why it was done by the artist/production team when it was being created for the comic. I own a lot of Sal Buscema pages and many of them are considerably smaller than 11x17 due to them being trimmed during the production process (I presume). Weird curved slices off the top, trimmed edges all around, etc. really makes me curious as to when/how/why it was done.  So, if Joe Blow cuts up the art I am outraged but if Joe Sinnott does it – that’s awesome!

I get it. People in this hobby can be very suspicious. So, even if all you did was trim a 1/10" sliver off the right edge of an art board that had nothing on it, someone who buys it after you would be suspicious that you cut something important, (or derogatory) off if it. Still, it's no biggie from the standpoint of the art itself. You're not touching anything important. 

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