What started with other people asking me to do commissions for them was actually not a cover re-creation but a re-imagination of The Death Of Superboy from Legion of Super-Heroes 38 here in 1987.
(This is a clickable link straight to my CAF page of the image)
I have a nice childhood memory of this story, but the cover by Bill Sienkewicz really bothered me. This is his cover:
The cover had absolutely nothing to do with the story where Superboy dies in action absorbing all the energy of the Time Trapper's machine in order to save him Legion teammate but lose his life in the process. Here is an interior page from the story:
So I told myself - the cover doesn't reflect the amazing action of the issue. The characters are just silhouettes, and there is even a winged character not part of the story. So fast forward to 2012, or 25 years after the story was originally published, I did my own pencils and layouts for the story here:
I sent it to the original inker of the series from 1987, Mike DeCarlo, to ink. It was like a dream come true for me - to finally have the better cover of the issue that I imagined in my mind for these 25 years - and have the original inker ink over my pencils.
Upon seeing my layout, even Mr. DeCarlo himself said: "That [original] cover is really a lazy short-cut by Bill Sienkewicz; I like what you propose much better...". Then he said that my pencils were "nice" and that he has worked with professionals "worse than me" so they were pretty good for an amateur.
So finally the finished product was here:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryP...77&GSub=129595
This got noticed by one of the most prolific Legion of Super-Heroes commissioner from CAF and he commissioned me for a piece. At that time, I didn't know what to do or what to charge since I am not a professional. I just told him I will do it, but this DeCarlo collaboration he will have digitally colored by a professional, and that he will also send me a super hi-res scan of my pencils once inked (which he is having a professional do also). That deal worked for me and him.
Then my second commission, which was actually my first ever to get paid for, was that Captain America cover recreation. It was a very difficult and detailed one because of the pencils tones.
Let me know if you guys have any other recreation suggestions - and no it doesn't have to be commissioned. Just something you think will be fun and nice to work one because the original art doesn't probably exist. That is why I did the GL 76 because someone suggested it.
