I thought I'd just ask you all about something that's interested me lately, that being commissions. Specifically, which characters you choose for commissions. I know some of you out there are more fervent collectors than I am so I wanted to hear what you think. Do you base it on the artist, or is it just which character is your favorite? Or is it a little of both? Let's say you're a huge fan of Superman, and you're also a huge fan of a certain creator, but said creator doesn't really draw a Superman you're in to. Do you just ask for another character?I know I had to get a Captain Marvel from Chris Sprouse (above) because Cap's a favorite of mine and I've never seen Sprouse draw him. Stuff like that. I've slowly been making a list of characters I'd love to see certain artists draw, even if said characters aren't my absolute top favorites, I think they're well suited to the artist. For the most part, I know exactly which character I'd ask for from every artist on the link list to the right. Maybe I'll save that for a future post.
This goes for artists too. Which characters do you get asked to draw most often, and do they match up to your own tastes? Looking over the last year or so of my own commissioned work, there seems to be 2 major groups: Pulp characters (mostly the Shadow) and characters from DC's Legion of Superheroes. This always strikes me as strange because I don't consider myself a huge pulp fan, and I know so very little about the Legion. Not that I mind, I enjoy finding out about characters I've never heard of, just think it's funny. Are there certain characters you would ask me for right off the bat?
So just leave a comment or what have you, looking forward to hearing what you all think!
6 of these things are not like the others:
He's back! You know which character i would want.. If i had to choose another it would be Mr. Freeze! You already made this happen along with the rest of the batman crew! There's about 5 different artist whom i'd love to see re-create characters in their style. I'll ask them one day... Thanks again for the e-mail Evan, cant wait for more post!
I have to say that while I'll usually choose from a short list of characters (whether mine or established) but generally my request is taylored for the artist I'm asking.
I love to see other guy's take on my original characters, but depending on the artists' style, I'd ask for a different genre of character (of my own) or of someone else's.
Tim Kelly was doing commissions and my absolute first thought was to see his version of "the Guy" and he obliterated it. Guys with dark moody styles will usually get a dark moody request and vice versa for fun cartoony guys.
Once upon a time, I was a huge Firestorm fan, but he went away. So I became a huge Wally West Flash fan. My wife commissioned a Wally West/Flash ink drawing from George Perez for me one year as a Christmas gift. Besides being the most thoughtful Christmas gift ever, I realized no one - NO ONE - would ever be able to match the splendor of that drawing.
Since then I've struggled for characters to accumulate sketches of.
I won a pair of sketches by Rags Morales featuring Hawkman and Hawkgirl from a CBR contest long ago. That kinda hit the pinnacle for the Hawks, in my opinion. Until I commissioned Cliff Chiang to do the cover for the Hawkman Companion. Between Rags and Cliff, I'm Hawked out.
SO I spent one convention collecting Justice League Detroit sketches - Vibe by Phil Hester, Chris Jones whipped up a killer Elongated Man, Dan Jurgens threw down an awesome Aquaman, just to name a few.
Content with that collection, I decided to switch gears and try to collect Animal Man commissions. I got a few, most notably by Tom Raney and Jeremy Dale.
While at the Mid-Ohio con a few years back, I happened to luck my way into Barry Kitson's line, and pressed for a character to have masterfully rendered, I returned to Firestorm. Check it out here.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=326801&GSub=50953
All of that said, I now go to cons with two sketchbooks - one for Firestorm and one will now be for Doom Patrol. The Firestorm one has a couple I managed to scare up at Baltimore last year, but the Doom Patrol book is waiting for this year's cons (if I can figure out how to get to any!) to have the first ink applied.
That said, if I were flush with money, there are certain characters beyond Firestorm and DP that I'd commission. I'd love to get the following done someday:
Vixen by Adam Hughes
Red Tornado by George Perez
Cyclone by Craig Rousseau
Tomorrow Woman by Howard Porter
Animal Man by Kevin Maguire
Cyborg by Matthew Clark
Otherwise, I tend to focus on the characters. What I'll probably do with the DP is have the artist do whichever character(s) strike their fancy.
Firestorm will tend to be whoever, whenever. Jason Rusch seems to be doing well, but DC always seems to find ways to bring Ronnie back into the mix.
Ever drawn Firestorm, Doc?
I get asked for Flash and Batman a lot. I love the Flash and I'm pretty indifferent about Batman. I just don't draw a good Flash. It kinda bums me out.
Whoops, I suck about getting back to stuff here.
Javier--I love drawing Freeze, he's second only to Two-Face in my villain list.
Matt--You know I love working on your original characters, since I've done, what, two now? Tim Kelly was a great choice for a Guy commish.
Doug--Hawkman is one of the guys I always ask for, and I LOVE Rags' Hawkfolks. That's a great list as well. Personally I like Negative Man from the DP. And no, I haven't drawn Firestorm, are you making a suggestion? Ha!
Scott--I can totally see that man, and you draw a GREAT Flash, I was conflicted when I asked you for that Thing.
My first few sketch requests were boring no-brainers that yielded boring no-enthusiasm results. I now try to go out of my way to pick obscure characters that creators have not only never drawn before, but often have never heard of. I'd much rather own the only Humberto Ramos Professor Arnold Hugo sketch in existence than the 1,347th Kevin Nowlan Batman head shot on CAF.
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