Any comic book fans interested in commissions and original art?

Hey guys, I thought I'd put this up and see whether you guys think I should or shouldn't go ahead with this.
So I contacted the guy repping Alex Milne in regards to the possibility of getting a commission. I'm keen to get a G1 Sideswipe piece and perhaps and Optimus Prime piece. For a coloured 11' x 17' piece I was quoted US$320 for G1 Sideswipe with the alt-mode in the foreground, US$295 for an Optimus Prime action shot.
So what do you guys think? Is that too much to pay for a one-of-a-kind original piece of art? I'm undecided, it would be nice to get one but for that price, I'm not getting a household name. If Don Figeuroa did it (pre-movie style) I'd probably go for it.
Let me know what you guys think. Does anyone else out there do the original art thing with other comicbook artists?

Alex Milne is getting quite a reputation though...


I personally would never enven be considering spending that much money on something like that, but that's just me and the fact that that's close to 2 weeks pay for me, which means a lot living as a student.

It is a lot of money isn't it? I tell you what though, some of the big names can command 4-digit figures for stuff that is pencil only. Oh, to have that sort of money to throw around.
Thanks for your thoughts SP.

Yeah... that's money I could be spending on more toys. :p I wonder if Milne is raising money for a good cause like Wildman was when he was auctioning off some of his old art from G1.

Sleeve or TinyJazz might be able to give you some information. Both got some original sketchs done at BotCon from various artists (including Milne) and could probably give you an idea of how much the artists were charging there.

Does he still sign them "Pat Lee"? :rolleyes:

I wouldn't ever pay anything near that much for a picture of Sideswipe or Optimus Prime - particuarly one that might turn out to be crap. You can get original comic pages from better Transformers comic artists for less than that. Sometimes a lot less.

For some fun, read the 'Golden Years' article halfway down this page:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=15620

If I were to buy a picture of Sideswipe, I'd pay about half that price and get an awesome piece of G2 Yaniger Sideswipe (and Broadside, Hound and Blades) - it was the coolest any of those characters ever got:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:WNARL:US:1123

Milne was the only artist I couldn't get a sketch from at Botcon. He had dozens of people lining up, and the one chance I did have to speak with him he showed me the list of his orders and there were about 30 names of it. That was on the Friday. He was very popular.

All the artists charged different prices for sketches. A facial could cost $5 with Andrew Griffith but $15 with Marcelo Matere, or a bust could cost $10 with Casey Coller but $25 with Robby Musso. That was in US$ too, and some used only pencils while others used inks, and it would cost a hell of a lot more for colours.

Nick Roche was by far the best to deal with, he did two facials of movie Bumblebee and a bust of G1 Sludge and wasn't going to charge a cent because it was during his signing session, but I slipped him $15 and told him to buy some lunch, and it all only took him half an hour. Whereas Marcelo was an arrogant tosspot that took $20 and three days of constant asking "Is my sketch done yet?" for a pencilled piece that I could have done myself, and I can't draw for s***. The most I paid was for a an inked full body shot of Sludge with Dan Khanna, that cost me $30.

I spent a LOT of time at the IDW booth. They got to know me quite well. It really came down to how busy each artist was, and how big a name they were. If they were bored and standing around the booth, they'd often offer to do a piece for free just so they had something to do.

thanks for the info Sleeve, that's pretty reasonable pricing for convention sketches. 3 years ago at Armageddon, Bruce Timm was charging AUS$40 for inked headshots and he took maybe 5 minutes to do them. Jim Lee didn't charge for quick marker head sketches as well (I would have been happy to drop a lot of money for a bust piece) and Matt Clarke charged $50 for bust pieces last year.
Full-on commission of course are more expensive, I'm probably gonna pass on Milne this time unless I suddenly come into some money, if it was maybe a hundred or so I'd be all over it. Thanks again guys, always nice to bounce ideas of people I trust in this sort of thing.