Repped Artist Websites (best / worst) 1 1

[sfilosa]

As a collector of mostly Silver-Age and Bronze-Age art (and lots of paintings), I have started to look at (and purchase), new art from some of the repped artist websites.

Assume I am a novice at this (which is not a very far off assumption).

So in terms of the websites where the dealer reps for new artist, which ones do you feel:

* Price new art at reasonable values vs. ones that everything seems to be overpriced.

Would really like a lot of different opinions on this so while I realize that Felix Comic Art has art drops that sell out (or almost sell out) immediately, which would be a good sign the art is reasonably priced, is some of that "speculation" (e.g. everyone buying hoping this is another Tradd Moore). Obviously, great marketing, which is his job.

So what repped artist sites do you like and which ones either don't have any interesting artist or at least not in a price range that makes sense buying when the art is new (and not on the secondary market). 

Also, if you don't want to put something out in the public, just shoot me a private message as I really do want to get a lot of input. 

[Blastaar]

Not sure if turning this forum into yelp is a good idea. 

[Nexus]

48 minutes ago, sfilosa said:

Would really like a lot of different opinions on this so while I realize that Felix Comic Art has art drops that sell out (or almost sell out) immediately, which would be a good sign the art is reasonably priced, is some of that "speculation" (e.g. everyone buying hoping this is another Tradd Moore). Obviously, great marketing, which is his job.

Thanks for the mention. I just want to note that things were selling out on the site long before Tradd became so hot. We opened up the site in 2014; our first drop was for Bryan Lee O'Malley and 100 pieces sold out in 48 hours. That also includes Tradd's work, before SSB. Three years ago, for example, I put up his UNPUBLISHED issue of SUICIDE SQUAD...and yes, it still sold out, despite being unpublished:

http://www.felixcomicart.com/ArtistGalleryTitleDetails.asp?ArtistId=587&Mag=SUICIDE+SQUAD

We're around 90% sell through overall. Scroll down the last three months of newly added art, for a snapshot:

http://www.felixcomicart.com/newitems.asp

Note that Tradd's work only shows up once. Everything else has still sold very well. To whatever degree there's speculation going on, I'll just say that commissions also sell out, and NO ONE speculates on commissions. We'll take long lists, too, upwards of 60 requests. Also, most of what we sell is not Big Two. My observation is that fans appreciate the high level of craft from our artists, and our art is still priced low enough (in the vast majority of cases) that it's relatively affordable. Fans can still collect for the sheer pleasure of it, without having to get too caught up in values.

I regularly host chats with collectors on the site:

http://www.felixcomicart.com/chats.asp

The conversations there are VERY different from the ones that happen here. Almost no talk of vintage art (perhaps not a surprise), but also very little (if any) talk of values. It's really just about the art. The fans are excited by the art and also by the artists. I believe a lot of OA collectors here collected slabs, first. So much of their collecting ethos is informed by that. Whereas there don't appear to be too many of our customers who care about slabs at all. Some do, but I think the majority don't. They read books, discover artists on social media, and then buy the art as a result of that. The idea of speculating/flipping slabs isn't part of their DNA, so then it doesn't factor into their OA collecting.

Another four cents from me, sorry!

[sfilosa]

Thanks for all the information. Once again, understand my collecting interest is mostly older OA (what I grew up on), but I have found an appreciate for new art that I enjoy. I did very recently purchase a piece from a drop on your site simply because I liked the art. That said, I do not read (nor have read) comics in decades, I just like the art. In terms of valuation, I would absolutely assume that if your art is selling quickly it because it is price reasonably. 

This post was, in some ways, meant to see what other websites/reps people really like with yours being the "gold standard". To me, to meet a high level like yours, it would need to have art drops that:

* Had unique art by high quality modern artist

* Priced at a point whereas there is a desire to purchased the best pieces quickly

There appears to be at least a dozen or so sites with many artist, but a lot of times it seems that little to no art is purchased when the art is dropped. In some cases, I actually like the art, but pricing doesn't make sense if no one else is buying the art. Regardless of what anyone says about value/investment, no one wants to spend $5k on a piece if no one else in this world thinks it is worth more than $200. Yes, if I love the art, I will easily pay more than the $200, but grossly overpaying for a piece will actually make me like the piece less. Doesn't seem like it should matter but I can't find one person who likes to pay more for something. I have a really nice car with killer options, but when people ask me how much it costs, I say list price was $x but I was able to get it for $x-. Even the richest people in the world (and I have worked for some of them), still want to think they got a good deal.

Once again, appreciate all your input.

[awayne83]

14 hours ago, sfilosa said:

As a collector of mostly Silver-Age and Bronze-Age art (and lots of paintings), I have started to look at (and purchase), new art from some of the repped artist websites.

Assume I am a novice at this (which is not a very far off assumption).

So in terms of the websites where the dealer reps for new artist, which ones do you feel:

* Price new art at reasonable values vs. ones that everything seems to be overpriced.

Would really like a lot of different opinions on this so while I realize that Felix Comic Art has art drops that sell out (or almost sell out) immediately, which would be a good sign the art is reasonably priced, is some of that "speculation" (e.g. everyone buying hoping this is another Tradd Moore). Obviously, great marketing, which is his job.

So what repped artist sites do you like and which ones either don't have any interesting artist or at least not in a price range that makes sense buying when the art is new (and not on the secondary market). 

Also, if you don't want to put something out in the public, just shoot me a private message as I really do want to get a lot of input. 

I don't mind sharing my experiece dealing with certain reps. I'll just generalize, but if you want more specifics feel free to PM me. Two categories for me when considering communication, turnaround times, flexibility, shipping etc. Also keep in mind, when buying new to market pages from reps, you're paying a premium for initial access. I would bet the majority of pages that sell would not realize the initial price paid at resell/auction. Which I'm completely aware of and ok with (to a certain extent). The market will dictate price, unless you consider other circumstances (like the impulsive hivemind Felix has managed to create over at his site ).

Again, these are in my experience over the last few years being in the hobby. Some I've dealt with multiple times, others only once or twice. (Not including dealers or artists themselves, only reps)

1. Good/Great overall experience: 

Kirby's Comic Art

Albert Moy

Felix Comic Art 

Kirk Dilbeck

Black Diamond

Comicon Art

Splash Page Art

Artcoholics

Stuart Immonen/Greg Land's old rep? (can't remember his site, maybe someone can remind me, but he was a pleasure to deal with. Wanted to give a shout out)

2. Mixed Bag (for a variety of reasons)

Kwan Chang

Cadence Comic Art

Essential Sequential

MGA

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by awayne83

[PhilipB2k17]

I think Felix also reps a lot of particularly in demand artists right now, who are working on hot books or storylines. This helps sell their other less well known art, and drives traffic to his site. Plus, the art is really good. He does an A+ job of promoting his artists as well. But there are some other hard working reps out there. 

 

[PhilipB2k17]

1 hour ago, awayne83 said:

I don't mind sharing my experiece dealing with certain reps. I'll just generalize, but if you want more specifics feel free to PM me. Two categories for me when considering communication, turnaround times, flexibility, shipping etc. Also keep in mind, when buying new to market pages from reps, you're paying a premium for initial access. I would bet the majority of pages that sell would not realize the initial price paid at resell/auction. Which I'm completely aware of and ok with (to a certain extent). The market will dictate price, unless you consider other circumstances (like the impulsive hivemind Felix has managed to create over at his site ).

Again, these are in my experience over the last few years being in the hobby. Some I've dealt with multiple times, others only once or twice. (Not including dealers or artists themselves, only reps)

1. Good/Great overall experience: 

Kirby's Comic Art

Albert Moy

Felix Comic Art 

Kirk Dilbeck

Black Diamond

Comicon Art

Splash Page Art

Artcoholics

Stuart Immonen/Greg Land's old rep? (can't remember his site, maybe someone can remind me, but he was a pleasure to deal with. Wanted to give a shout out)

2. Mixed Bag (for a variety of reasons)

Kwan Chang

Cadence Comic Art

Essential Sequential

MGA

 

 

 

Fanfare Comic Art, is the former site for Land and Immonen. I’d add TDArtGallery, run by Tatiana Dykes, as another in the good/great category. 
 

And the times I bought from Cadence, it went well. Can’t speak for others, though. I do know that Ryan Stegman used to be at Cadence, then moved to Felix’s group. 

Edited August 24, 2020 by PhilipB2k17

[sfilosa]

Great information so far. Appreciate the input. While I understand the concept of "paying a premium for initial access", I would think that getting a chance to buy the quality pieces first could offset some of that "premium". If I look on a lot of repped websites, it seems that the best pages might only be priced at 2xs what a second or third tier piece (might not even have the hero on the page) is priced at. Dud page $150, great action page $300, splash $600-800, cover $1,200-2,000. Just an example. Yes, the dud page would probably not sell for the $150 (maybe a lot less or never), but it seems to me I can usually get a good action page for a reasonable price. Plus watching a few drops from various websites somewhat proves that to me, as if I wait more than 2-3 minutes, I start to see those better page show HOLD or SOLD very quickly.

Hence, if new art goes up and no pages (except maybe the cover) sell in the first few days, very easy to assume that all pieces are somewhat over priced.

So of the repped sites that have been mentioned, regardless if there is hype or not, which ones seem to have at least some sales at drop time, and which ones don't. And as one person pointed out, some times you can negotiate on price, and if that is the case, what time frame would/could you start. By that I mean, I'm not going to email and ask for a discount on a piece that just went on the site that day, but what about after the 3rd day, a week, a month, etc. Any experiences on that?

 

[Twanj]

2 hours ago, awayne83 said:

2. Mixed Bag (for a variety of reasons)

Kwan Chang

Essential Sequential

Kwan Chang - Had a great experience. He lives local to me so we met up in person. Can't recommend highly enough!

Essential Sequential - He ignored emails about a 5 figure deal. I proposed a different near 5 figure deal that he agreed to (not "let me check if that's in stock, if so yes"). Later he realized the piece (which went up in the last day) was already sold. Whoops. Kinda a rollercoaster & temporarily turned me off on the artist for a bit, who I'd gotten heavily into and was ready to pick up a lot more.

[FuzzyDunlop]

Being relatively new to the hobby, I’ve yet to have a bad rep experience. I’ve had painless, professional transactions with Albert Moy, Graphic Collectibles, Essential Sequential, and BritComicsArt. 
 

My purchases have also mostly been of the “thing was in stock, I clicked buy, it shipped” variety, so I’m sure I’ll start to have more “mixed” experiences as my requests get a little more involved. 

[ShallowDan]

I say this having never bought anything from Felix before, but I think that one thing that makes him somewhat unique is that he seems to truly approach things as a rep.  That’s to say that he sees his role as getting artist’s work sold and into the hands of collectors (and in the process, growing the market for that artist’s work). 

Other reps sometimes seem to take the approach of a dealer, where they mark things up for an absolute maximum return, swinging for the fences on each and every piece, even though this means that only a small handful of pieces may sell.

Felix’s approach may occasionally result in something being slightly under-priced, relative to demand, but with him dealing with active artists, there’s always new art  being produced, so that sweet spot will eventually be found. 

[jaybolt14]

Twanj:

My apologies for the bad experience you encountered. We try very hard to reply promptly but sometimes its just not possible.

When art gets double sold or when you're trying to made an offer on a piece, and it gets sold it sucks. It doesn't happen very often and I try to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen but sometimes just out of my hands. And then sometimes its just me making a mistake. It happens, I'm also human.

To address to email situation: I noticed many emails weren't getting delivered and my inbox frequently was crashed due to too data overages. I've recently purchased a higher capacity email to avoid these issues as well as now investing about 15k into a new inventory platform and website that should help avoid future issues with double selling. These should be ready later this fall.

I'm usually available on facebook, skype and social media about 8-15 hours a day (usually 7 days a week to my GF unhappiness) to answer questions. I'm always happy to chat on the phone (my cel is posted on the site) so please feel free to reach out if email doesn't seem to work.

I'm sorry i don't recall the specifics of your deal/offer but am always happy to try to make both the buyer and the artist satisfied. If its not done on a current piece then on a future one. I def take pride in selling a piece a fan loves and will cherish. As a fan and collector myself, i know that feeling of missing out on something I really wanted.

I hope you give us another shot if something strikes your fancy.

In the meantime, please stay safe.

Sincerely,
Jason Schachter - Essential Sequential.com
 

Edited August 24, 2020 by jaybolt14

[Rick2you2]

2 hours ago, ShallowDan said:

I say this having never bought anything from Felix before, but I think that one thing that makes him somewhat unique is that he seems to truly approach things as a rep.  That’s to say that he sees his role as getting artist’s work sold and into the hands of collectors (and in the process, growing the market for that artist’s work). 

Other reps sometimes seem to take the approach of a dealer, where they mark things up for an absolute maximum return, swinging for the fences on each and every piece, even though this means that only a small handful of pieces may sell.

Felix’s approach may occasionally result in something being slightly under-priced, relative to demand, but with him dealing with active artists, there’s always new art  being produced, so that sweet spot will eventually be found. 

I’m not sure I follow, or agree, with that distinction. A rep acts as the artist agent. To maximize the artist’s cash flow, if that is what the artist wants, it can make sense to keep the price “competitive”. But set it too low, and the artist, as well as the rep, leave money on the table. And, it can set the market price low which impacts further income from sales. Since some people just want one example of an artist’s work, that is a limited strategy, too.
A dealer acts solely in his interest. But, with one apparent exception, needs cash flow, too, to buy and sell more art. Sitting on high priced inventory for a long time isn’t typically a good way to make money (exceptions noted). 
That Felix has found a sweet spot is a credit to him, but he isn’t doing it out of beneficence—just smart work effort.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Rick2you2

[exitmusicblue]

I like this thread idea.

[bernoulli]

4 hours ago, Twanj said:

Kwan Chang - Had a great experience. He lives local to me so we met up in person. Can't recommend highly enough!

Essential Sequential - He ignored emails about a 5 figure deal. I proposed a different near 5 figure deal that he agreed to (not "let me check if that's in stock, if so yes"). Later he realized the piece (which went up in the last day) was already sold. Whoops. Kinda a rollercoaster & temporarily turned me off on the artist for a bit, who I'd gotten heavily into and was ready to pick up a lot more.

+1 regarding Kwan Chang. 

[Will_K]

1 hour ago, exitmusicblue said:

I like this thread idea.

A handful of the artists reps have been mentioned in other threads.  At least one of them has their own topic related to delivery times and/or communication.  I'm not sure if it make sense to lump all the reps into a single thread.

And just to contradict that, I'll add Catskill Comics (Scott Kress, catskillcomics.com).  He had good communication with past commission requests.  My latest experience was to make a request that the artist declined.  I think it required a mental leap that artist didn't want to take.  But I appreciate that Scott passed along my request. 

Edited August 24, 2020 by Will_K

[exitmusicblue]

47 minutes ago, Will_K said:

A handful of the artists reps have been mentioned in other threads.  At least one of them has their own topic related to delivery times and/or communication.  I'm not sure if it make sense to lump all the reps into a single thread.

And just to contradict that, I'll add Catskill Comics (Scott Kress, catskillcomics.com).  He had good communication with past commission requests.  My latest experience was to make a request that the artist declined.  I think it required a mental leap that artist didn't want to take.  But I appreciate that Scott passed along my request. 

I guess we'll see about the thread's utility in the coming days/weeks.  But in general I enjoy reading others' feedback, and more outlets for (hopefully) more accountability.

[sfilosa]

Getting a lot of feedback which is a good thing. My original post was more about the artist they represent and if the art on their site (be it a drop or just available) seemed to be reasonably priced or over priced (with maybe a dose of overhyped). That said, great comments about customer service, working with artist on commission pieces, etc. This is all information that can provide valuable insight to all chat members. 

Any an all input is welcome.

[GotSuperPowers?]

7 hours ago, Twanj said:

Kwan Chang - Had a great experience. He lives local to me so we met up in person. Can't recommend highly enough!

Essential Sequential - He ignored emails about a 5 figure deal. I proposed a different near 5 figure deal that he agreed to (not "let me check if that's in stock, if so yes"). Later he realized the piece (which went up in the last day) was already sold. Whoops. Kinda a rollercoaster & temporarily turned me off on the artist for a bit, who I'd gotten heavily into and was ready to pick up a lot more.

Posting on Jason at Essential Sequentials behalf as he's having issues accessing his dormant account here:

 

Twanj:

My apologies for the bad experience you encountered. We try very hard to reply promptly but sometimes its just not possible.

When art gets double sold or when you're trying to made an offer on a piece, and it gets sold it sucks. It doesn't happen very often and I try to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen but sometimes just out of my hands. And then sometimes its just me making a mistake. It happens, I'm also human.

To address to email situation: I noticed many emails weren't getting delivered and my inbox frequently was crashed due to too data overages. I've recently purchased a higher capacity email to avoid these issues as well as now investing about 15k into a new inventory platform and website that should help avoid future issues with double selling. These should be ready later this fall.

I'm usually available on facebook, skype and social media about 8-15 hours a day (usually 7 days a week to my GF unhappiness) to answer questions. I'm always happy to chat on the phone (my cel is posted on the site) so please feel free to reach out if email doesn't seem to work.

I'm sorry i don't recall the specifics of your deal/offer but am always happy to try to make both the buyer and the artist satisfied. If its not done on a current piece then on a future one. I def take pride in selling a piece a fan loves and will cherish. As a fan and collector myself, i know that feeling of missing out on something I really wanted.

I hope you give us another shot if something strikes your fancy.

In the meantime, please stay safe.

Sincerely,
Jason Schachter - EssentialSequential.com

[Varanis]

Inky Knuckles is great to work with. They have some incredible artists as well. 
 

I’ve bought from Felix and Cadence as well. Felix is obviously great. Cadence is good but can be slow to respond.