New comic art t-shirt - RUDY NEBRES DOC VS DRAC!!!

Earlier this month I blogged about getting some shirts made from my comic art. Well I need to keep the variety up because I wear them all weekend, every weekend, so far. So I got one from the art that inspired the idea in the first place. Check out the Rudy Nebres Dr. Strange versus Dracula, feasting on the Scarlet Witch no less!

No smartass comments about the model, folks!

Check my other posts for the original (Thanks to Rudy, with isn't online himself in any way, shape, or form - so he will never see this but thanks are due!) and the colored versions (Thanks Gerry!).

I am not sure what is up next. Maybe I will look over the 20 or so designs I have already made and get another one now. In fact I am pretty sure I will. I have 2 or 3 ones that really excite me but they are fall and winter shirts so those can't be next. I think maybe the Zappa by Rick Geary, but I haven't settled on if Lyle Lovett should be on there as well. And if he is, who is front and who is back. Choices are the most fun though, so it is a good problem to have. Maybe I will wait on that then and think it over. Something else then in the meantime? Hmmmmm.....


OH! Since we are here we chould clear something up. One of those other shirts is not pink. It is red. And it came out so much better than was conveyed by my horrible pictures of it. So I took a scan of one side and wanted you to see it in its' glory.

Yeah, it may be wrinkled but it still looks sweet, no?

Not in all its' glory as the other side is awesome as well and you don't know that by the picture, but you get the idea now.

Happy Birthday Molly!

Yesterday was the anniversary of the greatest day of my life - the birth of my first daughter, Molly. The picture above is an old one, but I like it. Molly feels differently. So a slightly belated shout out to Molly Wasielewski on the occasion of her entrance into teenagerdom! You go girl!

And to keep it comic art related, here is a link to Molly's comic art fans page. She only has a few pieces up but she loves comments.

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=46034

In with the new continues...Starman has arrived

This is the piece I was talking about earlier this month. It has arrived, so I feel safe in showing it off. One of the first pieces, and maybe the only piece, that I have bought from someone asking "make an offer". I believe this was drawn, along with a Shade piece owned (for now!) by Mike White, for use as a trading card that was never made. Whatever the reason for its' creation, I am very happy to now own it!

Comic art T-shirts!

Well, when I received the Rudy Nebres commission that I posted about here I was so thrilled with it that I wanted to do something special. So I decided it would be a wonderful t-shirt and set about trying to find out how to make that happen. In other words I asked the comicart-l yahoo group, a wonderful list group of individuals who collect comic art and are generally open to helping each other out. Group members Steve Erwin and Rob Stolzer were kind enough to reply with suggestions (thanks guys!) and I decided to go with Rob's suggestion first. I ended up ordering the Rudy Nebres shirt and another one with art drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz of musician Roger Waters. Rog is touring The Wall right now and I wanted the shirt to wear to the concert I went to last week. Well I put in the two orders, which have to be submitted individually. And while I awaited the results I made a LOT more t-shirt designs. In fact it was the most fun I have had with my comic art in a long while, and I enjoy the hell out of my comic art on a regular basis.

But wait, trouble was afoot! I got an email stating that the company noticed the art had an artist's signature and they wanted permission from Rudy to do the shirt. That was not going to happen as Rudy is off-line, and a few emails later I just cancelled that order. Then I got to photoshop and removed the signatures from the t-shirt designs I had made but not submitted, including Rudy's piece. This was not my first choice as I wanted to give the artist's their due credit but hey, I wanted to wear the art even more. And what do you know...the Sienkiewicz shirt was produced and the order completed despite having Bill's signature right there for all to see. So I was able to wear this shirt to the show.

art by Bill Sienkiewicz

 Now this was my first shirt, and as excited as I was to order it I wanted to wait until it came to see how it came out. Plus there are so many choices of shirts, colors, etc. that I wanted to see how the material was as well. And I had never before tried to use photoshop, although I was familiar with it because my wife is a web designer for Rutgers University and is VERY good at her job. But she don't photo the shop for me too much and I did not want to hassle her with my art - she puts up with enough in that regard. If I had done this shirt now the white on the edges would be gone and the shirt color would flow right into the art. BTW, here is a link to the original piece I used for this shirt. http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=247956&GSub=38471 I only used 4 or 5 colors for the t-shirt and my wife likes how that looks better than the original! 

So when that one came out so well I went to town. I decided I could not wait and ordered two more shirts. I have about 20 designed, but thought that one in particular stood out. Well, the Grendel Prime hoodie looks awesome, but I can't wear that in summer. So I went with art from one of my favorite artists, Andy MacDonald. Andy created NYC Mech with Ivan Brandon and Miles Gunter. Ivan has gone on to well deserved acclaim, mostly while working at DC, but Andy is just as talented an artist as Ivan is a writer and deserves to get more work as well. And he has too, but not enough as far as I am concerned. And with this shirt I decided to go with art on the front and the back. While you can't see the art too well, here is what I did. BTW, I went with a different brand of shirt just to see which one I would like the best.

Bruunhilde, The Valkyrie by Andy MacDonald

Asgardian Storm by Andy MacDonald

Here are links to the originals in my CAF gallery.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=279482&GSub=102726
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=223900&GSub=82376

Last but not least I decided to have some fun. Well, more fun I guess because making these shirts was just a blast. I pretty much went through every Itoya I own and looked over what I would want to wear and what would make a good shirt. Panels from my Mazzucchelli DD page seemed a good idea but I didn't like how they came out on the shirt. I have a great piece by Walt Simonson, a portrait of Alan Moore as Rorschach, and decided that would be my next purchase. I tried a different brand shirt and this time went for something a little more than the basic tee. I got something with color on the neck and sleeves, and while this one has a little bit of sketchiness due to the art being resized larger than the original I still think it came out well.

Alan Moore as Rorschach by Walt Simonson

Alan Moore as Rorschach by Walt Simonson

Man, I can't wait to wear these to conventions. I wore the red Andy Mac one to work today, even though I am a Ph.D. level psychologist working at a major state psychiatric center. Casual Friday indeed. I wasn't out of the house for five minutes today and already got a compliment at Quick Check. The shirts ran me from $20ish to $30ish, and they have all sorts of products to choose from. I expect to ask for these for Christmas and my birthday and better have a whole wardrobe full by this time next year. I have designed all sorts of them, Asgardian Storm shirts, shirts with the same image on the front and back (my wife thinks that is stupid but I want everyone to see the art, coming AND going!), Linsner shirts, Texeira shirts, more Andy Mac shirts, ad infinitum. I expect to get the Nebres shirt soon as well. So if you like these, feel free to make your own at customink.com.

One last thing though. I am a bit afraid an artist will yell at me for these! I have a few more Andy Macs shirts ready to go but Andy and Ivan sell their own line of shirts. Even though I have not used NYC Mech art I hope Andy is cool with it. We'll find out in October at NYCC I guess, because you know I will be wearing these or others all four days. So if you see me there, tell me if you like the shirts...it will make my day!

The Michael Golden Dr. Strange portfolio

In this untitled post here I described how I had the Michael Golden Dr. Strange portfolio plates displayed in my room at college and that I was occasionally having artists do homages/recreations/interpretations of the plates for my original art collection. I have had one or two more completed since then and thought I would post the remaining plates as a nice and easy reference point for future commissions. Plus they look so good nice and big like this.

PLATE 3 - CLEA

PLATE 2 - MORDO

PLATE 5 - ETERNITY

I posted the other three plates (The Ancient One, Dormammu, and Nightmare) in that untitled post I link to above. These are just fantastic pieces of art and I have inquired with Renee and Michael Golden about doing a recreation of one of the plates but the price is not what I am looking for, yet. So I will continue to get ones like this:

JK WOODWARD does Plate 1 - The Ancient One

Tales from Brave Ulises!

Ulises Farinas sent along my newest commission. I caught him at a good time and he was great enough to do the piece not once but twice. We shall never see the one that made Ulises unhappy, but here is the one he was satisfied enough with that he sent it along to me! And I am so glad that he did!

Asgardian Storm as envisioned by ULISES FARINAS

Thank you to Ulises for the great work. I am selling tons of art to finance a few bigger pieces but this won't be going anywhere. Ever. Soooo good.

New art : A classic Dan Adkins Nightmare page!

image courtesy of romitaman.com

I was able to pay off the page above today, and the wonderful Mike Burkey is going to send it out before he leaves for SDCC. I loved these late 60s issues, and this page is a great example of just why that is so. Freaky effects for a freaky story. Check out that last panel with Doc's cloak attacking Nightmare. Crazy stuff. So thank you to anyone who bought some art recently (still selling stuff on ebay, see the link in the upper right corner of this blog) as it has enabled me to purchase this page and one or two other things. But this one is special.

In with the new...Starman by Tony Harris

I really love Starman, the DC series that ran for 80+ issues written by James Robinson with art primarily by the team of Tony Harris and Wade von Grawbadger and then Peter Snejbjerg after Tony's head got big. (Yes I said it, he knows it and admits it now.) There were fill-in issues by the likes of Matt Smith, Mark Buckingham, Steve Yeowell, Russ Heath, Mike Mayhew, Richard Pace and others. I got into Starman when I was living in Muncie Indiana. My wife and I moved there 3 days after getting married, no honeymoon, so I could attend graduate school at Ball State University. I had little to do and there was one comic book store in town. but there was also a used bookstore, and they had comics with price stickers on the cover. I had read The Golden Age somehow, it is not like that type of book was ever on my radar. But read it I did, and I fell in love with it - I was drawn in by the work of Paul Smith, PMS, which was wonderful but that story by James Robinson made me a fan for life. I still read it every 2 or 3 years and it is a wonderful take on the end of what is now referred to as the golden age of comics.

So when I came across Starman issues 0 (Zero Hour!) and 1, and maybe even 2, with a 25 cents orange sticker on the covers I took them from their boxes arranged on the concrete floor under the tables of other comics and books, got off my hands and needs, paid them off, and scraped the sticker off ever so carefully but ever so completely in my car. Only I could tell you it was ever there, and I can see the light residue immediately on those books to this day. I bought a lot of comics there, recently released books with an orange sticker on them, and even bought a few softcover graphic novels for $1, sticker on cover as well. Roy Thomas Conan GNs; Elric by P Craig Russell and Michael Gilbert; Maximortal by Rick Veitch. All worth a buck. So when I got into Starman it was fairly early in the series, although not at the very beginning.

It was also around this time that I got into comic art in a BIG way. I somehow bought a wonderful Jill Thompson page in college or in my Masters program years, and I remember getting the notification in the mail that my bid of $125 had been the highest and that payment was expected post haste. Somehow the money was acquired as was the page. But I know I was in Indiana when I travelled to Detroit for a comic convention because Tony Harris was going to be there. This would be around, oh, 1998. Tony was there next to, and palling around with, Tim Bradstreet. They were there late the first day and I got on their list. It was their list because they had no individual lists, they were going to do pieces together and only 4 characters were available. I do not remember them all but I do recall I went with Abe Sapien. Well nothing was drawn that first day and they were mucho hungover the second day and eventually Tim started his own list when I wasn't around and I got bupkiss from them both. Well that isn't really true, because I got a few Starman pages from Tony. Including this one.

Starman 43 art by Tony Harris / Wade von Grawbadger

I remember my wife buying this page for $40 and giving it to me for my birthday around he same time.

Starman 12 page 9 Tony Harris and Wade von G...again

So with the new purging, taking place now on ebay so check my link in the upper right corner of this blog please, and new philosophy come new acquisitions. I recently made an offer for a swell piece of art, just swell. And after some negotiations we agreed on a price and I have sent out a money order today and I look forward to finding the package on my doorstep, or perhaps the orange slip in the mail. I won't show the piece until it is in my hands. Besides, the groovy Starman pages in this post deserve there own time to shine. The next piece can wait for its' time. It goes in the same portfolio as these pages above, that is for sure.

-S

Out with the old, in with the new!

For the longest time, I bought comic art and convention sketches and commissioned commissions and never considered selling anything. Never even considered it. Then slowly the pieces accumulated, and I mean accumulated. I made my much-talked-about decision to have a collection, and not an accumulation, and I culled the herd. Once commerce enters the equation feelings change. Pieces previously viewed for aesthetic reasons alone were viewed with new eyes and the herd thinned and many did not make it through the night. Some are mourned still. The Sienkiewicz painting of a woman swimmer, one arm slightly longer than the other. The Corben Hellboy page. The John Buscema/Sienkiewicz page with a full figure Silver Surfer on it that I traded for something I cherish to this day. The Tony Harris What If cover. The Tony Harris Chronos 9 cover. The 2 Tony Harris Jack Galaxy pinup pieces that I traded to...TONY HARRIS...because he wanted them back and who can resist an artist who wants their own art back. Anyway, he don't have to worry...Tony can have anything he wants that I have, all he has to do is ask.

Anyway.

Batman Grendel I (Hunter Rose) art /story by Matt Wagner

At one point many moons ago I decided to focus on 3 things: Starman, Dr. Strange and Grendel. The remnants of Grendel remain, although perhaps not for much longer as I shall discuss below, but Starman and Dr. Strange have indeed come to dominate my collection in the sheer number of pieces (over a hundred pages and fifty drawings of Starman and related characters and over one hundred drawings and fifty pages of Dr. Strange and related characters) and probably in total amount of money spent. Convention sketches of Dr. Strange dominated my art budget for many years. And selling things has become a part of how I collect my art. For a certain price every item I own is available. The best and my favorite pieces would require crazy money, as it were, but some number would suffice. I have sold over 200 pieces in the last decade and have spent all that I reaped and more on acquiring new pieces. Many of the pieces I have sold have lost me money. many more than I would like to admit. But that too is okay. Many pieces break about even in the cosmic "even Steven" of comic art collecting and some sell well. I started 5-10 years too late to really get in and acquire the pieces that bring big dollars now and never kept anything giant in all that time.

The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo by Mike Allred

But I have come to see that this course requires further correction and refinement. Blind ambition has again proven reckless, and I must cull the herd again and refocus and refine my ambitions. The higher one climbs the more sights one can see, and more so are the heights and ambitions that one can aspire to reach. But old ways and habits must be shed in order to develop new ways and routines. And in the spirit of that shedding I have put a very large chuck of my colleciton up for sale. 60+ pieces were/are on ebay, some others are in an thread asking for offers, and those and more are in a similar link in my CAF gallery. My ebay link is at the top of this page on the right. I have 3 pieces on the way into my collection and have already shipped out 6 or so in the last week. 5 pieces end tonight - July 6 - and 17 more end tomorrow. then the rest end in the next week or so. I may put 15 more up, but they may just be relisted things for the most part. I really haven't decided.

STARMAN 73 painted cover by ANDREW ROBINSON

So look for some wonderful new art in the coming weeks. And look for me at the Roger Waters concert tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium, I will be wearing a piece of comic art on my chest! I made a shirt of a Bill Sienkiewicz portrait of Roger Waters that I purchased from Bill. It came out fantastic! I will try to post some pictures later next week.

Oh, these pictures in this post? Those are all pieces in the "taking offers" thread. Anyone want to make an offer?

4 issue 2 page 2 STEVE MCNIVEN, MARK MORALES

Take care everyone!
S