Production art

[suspense39]

I was curious if anyone knows much about comic book production art, I've been seeing a lot of it for sale lately on eBay. In person I've seen black line test prints on white paper and color or black and white acetates....

[Blue Meanie]

I know a little about it because it's what I used to do in pre-press printing. There is one particular seller on ebay right now that has a lot of production stuff up for auction right now...and it is more recent. Withing the last 5 - 8 years. When I was in pre-press from '99 - '04 the majority of the pre-press stuff we were doing was 4 color proofs. Each color in the process was layered upon each other and registered with the cross hairs on the top, bottom, right and left of the image. When I first started we were doing color keys which the colors were layered down over each other...but it wasn't one solidified piece. Look at the last piece I posted...The Thunder Agents piece...that is a color key. It's fun for me because I used to do that for a living.

This guys stuff is from the last 5 years. These are definitely from more recent Marvel Reprints...be it Masterworks or reprint comics:

Jack Kirby Fantastic Four #76 Rare Production Art Cover | eBay

And this is an original color separation from the 80/90's:

COMICO ATTRACTIONS #9 Cover - Four Color Separation | eBay

The ones that are pre 70's actually are printed on paper for each color. I have an original for this cover of Daredevil:



It has each individual color on paper and the finished cover...so 5 total pages. If I get a chance I'll either take a pic or a scan. They are fun to find. It also shows the process.

That being said...I can tell you for 4 color proofs we used to charge anywhere from $500 and up depending on size. Color Keys were a little less expensive...but they still were in the 300 and up price range when we used to make them for customers.

Message me if you have any other questions on them.

[suspense39]

Thanks

That definitely gives me a better idea. I saw an early Thor page proof at a comic convention here, not in great shape but it caught my eye. It was black on white paper and it had a slight emboss to the black lines. It seems that so many (mostly transparencies) are showing up on ebat lately. In the last few years I've started to collect original art and the black and white proofs seem like they might be a less expensive alternative to pages that are now unattainable.

[Blue Meanie]

Here is an original Marvel Proof from the 60's...one of my favorite pieces in my collection. The process colors are Black Plate, Cyan Plate, Magenta Plate, and Yellow Plate. The last pic is the final combinations of all 4 colors. These are printed on paper...the process changed to all film...and they were printed on acetate film. Enjoy the process:

[Operation:Mego]

Dang, if that's just for the cover, then the amount of work for the actual comic must be exhausting!

[emeraldknight47]

Dang, if that's just for the cover, then the amount of work for the actual comic must be exhausting!

Yeah---and just think, they were only charging 12 cents for comics in those days. These days, most everything is done via computer, goes ten times faster and the price per book is 3 to 4 bucks a pop. Anyone else besides me think that, somehow, the math doesn't work...?

[MIB41]

^^^ Yep! ME. The printed page is a dying art form, unfortunately. So to stay in business one can't charge too much. I think comics are destined for the Kindle.

[ctc]

>Anyone else besides me think that, somehow, the math doesn't work...?

It works.... if you take into account the expensive paper and printing, pay for the big names, and exclusive distribution....

Don C.

[emeraldknight47]

>Anyone else besides me think that, somehow, the math doesn't work...?

It works.... if you take into account the expensive paper and printing, pay for the big names, and exclusive distribution....

Don C.

::laffs::

Mostly it's the big names and exclusive distribution that the comics consumer is paying for, Don.

I've been working in the printing biz for 20+ years and while paper is pricey, when you buy it in bulk (like most large printers do), that price drops to a more manageable level. And I can tell you from personal experience that digital seps and the such are waaaay faster and cheaper to do than when they had to do all that stuff by hand....!

[Blue Meanie]

::laffs::

Mostly it's the big names and exclusive distribution that the comics consumer is paying for, Don.

I've been working in the printing biz for 20+ years and while paper is pricey, when you buy it in bulk (like most large printers do), that price drops to a more manageable level. And I can tell you from personal experience that digital seps and the such are waaaay faster and cheaper to do than when they had to do all that stuff by hand....!

Worked in pre-press for 5 years and that is the truth about digital separations. Up until 2004/5 I was still making color proofs and color keys from output film. I also remember how expensive it was for those proofs. For a 13 X 19 proof the cost would be anywhere's from $500 - $1000 for 1 proof. The process became a lot simpler with the Iris Prints. The place I worked for had just gotten a Direct to plate press just before I was laid off...and that thing set them back more than $500,000. I enjoy collecting the proofs because it just shows the amount of work it takes to get from point A thought to point Z.

[suspense39]

That's what I'm talkin about

Thanks for posting those! Those are exactly what I saw, now I know the story!
Chris