Original Art, how did it all begin..

[Royd]

Mentioned this before in a previous thread but here it is again ..... It was 1987/1988 and I walked into a comic shop in Sydney called "The Land Beyond Beyond" and saw my first original comic art pages including a Marshall Rogers Daughters of the Dragon splash page from "Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu" and a splash from the "Sabre" book illustrated by Paul Gulacy.

I was stunned to find that it was possible to buy the original pages to comics which I collected!

I agonised over buying the Marshall Rogers splash and returned to Canberra without buying it. However, a day or so later, I called the shop and arranged to purchase it and have it delivered to my home. That was the start of a 25 year hobby of collecting original comic art!

Here's the Marshall Rogers "Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu" splash page which cost me $150.00 at the time -
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryP...795&GSub=65022

[Agent Zero]

All excellent stories, thanks for sharing.

[risingstar]

I remember walking in to comic shops in NY in the 80s and seeing original artwork displayed in those wall-poster-type racks. John Buscema Kazar pages were selling $8. I'm not sure what's more amazing -- the idea that artwork sold for next to nothing for decades or the idea that prices have skyrocketed to the point where pieces going for a half a million is no longer surprising.

[Agent Zero]

If we only knew then what we know now. Who knew McFarlane's, artwork would mean hitting the jackpot in 2012.

Originally Posted by risingstar

I remember walking in to comic shops in NY in the 80s and seeing original artwork displayed in those wall-poster-type racks. John Buscema Kazar pages were selling $8. I'm not sure what's more amazing -- the idea that artwork sold for next to nothing for decades or the idea that prices have skyrocketed to the point where pieces going for a half a million is no longer surprising.

[ReplicantSavior]

Originally Posted by MrYac

i was pretty into collecting animation cels for a few years never thought much of comic art, then i randomly saw a page on ebay of Detective Chimp for pretty darn cheap and have gone from there

Remember any good animation cel dealers? Good cels seem really hard to find. I keep hearing that in the 90s the stuff was everywhere.

[oceans11]

Originally Posted by MONSTER

I started going to the San Diego Comic Con as a teenager in the early 90s. I was in line to get a few Silver Surfer comics signed by Ron Lim and noticed he was taking commissions. The idea of having an original drawing by Ron was too cool to pass up so I blew over half of my comic con budget ($100) on a 2 character pencil and ink piece. That was the beginning for me.

I was going to SDCC as a teen in the late eighties (living in San Diego helped). Unfortunately I was chasing after movie stuff (posters, shirts, pins, etc.) at the time. Never thought about meeting comic book artists.

Did I mention hindsight?

Don