Capullo selling his Batman artwork online

1 1

I love Greg's art but this whole pricing situation is a straight up punking of his fans. I'm sorry danny has also had to price at those levels, it makes me less likely to buy anything from anyone involved at all now

For those who feel the same way described above, you can always stop by my art gallery and buy some lovely original comic art for much more reasonable prices. And we are even open to negotiations (on most things).

http://www.comicartshop.com/ComicArtShopsByCat.asp?GCat=3287

Sean several artists have told me the same thing - when they don't want to sell something but continually get pestered by collectors...they just put a sky high price on it. This is not meant to encourage anybody to pay up, but rather to discourage even ten seconds conversation on the subject. It usually works. Though sometimes doing this invites longer conversations over how crazy an artist is to charge so much (and to their face) or asking them to "justify" it (as if!) So those occasions...it's a backfire

 

No idea if this is what Greg is about or not, just that it is a practice by some artists, all this to me as I was sitting behind the table with them, not necessarily what they would tell fans that walk up and browse the stack of sketchbooks, ya know?

 

I write all this to say...Capullo self-pricing and the Spencer/Miki story (as related anyway) is nutz imo

That's really passive aggressive. If fans are pests perhaps you should go work without fanfare. I wonder how many of these same artists complain about not making a decent living in comics. I'd love to know who these artists are so i can not buy their comics.

Got some new prices, should anyone here be interested. You can contact Danny Miki should something appeal to you.

 

Covers:

#24: $40,000

#26: $25,000

#32: $30,000

#36: $35,000

#39: $30,000

#42: $20,000

#46: $25,000

#50: $50,000

 

Pages:

#36.18: $25,000

#50.7: $40,000

 

As for me,

 

 

. Does David Finch have any batman pages left?

Situation does slightly remind me of when Sal took over selling Sienkiewicz' artwork all those years back (any idea? Mitch?).

Prices tripled overnight from the market value for all the inventory he took from Bill (Stray Toasters pages, leftover New Mutants pages...) which had been sitting untouched for a while (Elektra pages were long gone).

People laughed and scoffed and said he would be stuck with them forever. I have to say though, I think the New Mutants pages he has sitting there are finally worth (ballpark) what he priced them at way back at the time.

Sean several artists have told me the same thing - when they don't want to sell something but continually get pestered by collectors...they just put a sky high price on it. This is not meant to encourage anybody to pay up, but rather to discourage even ten seconds conversation on the subject. It usually works. Though sometimes doing this invites longer conversations over how crazy an artist is to charge so much (and to their face) or asking them to "justify" it (as if!) So those occasions...it's a backfire

 

No idea if this is what Greg is about or not, just that it is a practice by some artists, all this to me as I was sitting behind the table with them, not necessarily what they would tell fans that walk up and browse the stack of sketchbooks, ya know?

 

I write all this to say...Capullo self-pricing and the Spencer/Miki story (as related anyway) is nutz imo

 

What people do and what they SAY they do are usually quite different things.

I'm not talking about people, I'm talking about friends that happen to be artists. Artists that I helped re-price their work when what they had been doing wasn't working well anymore. Maybe your friends lie to you, mine don't. Those that do, are no longer my friends.

Sean several artists have told me the same thing - when they don't want to sell something but continually get pestered by collectors...they just put a sky high price on it. This is not meant to encourage anybody to pay up, but rather to discourage even ten seconds conversation on the subject. It usually works. Though sometimes doing this invites longer conversations over how crazy an artist is to charge so much (and to their face) or asking them to "justify" it (as if!) So those occasions...it's a backfire

 

No idea if this is what Greg is about or not, just that it is a practice by some artists, all this to me as I was sitting behind the table with them, not necessarily what they would tell fans that walk up and browse the stack of sketchbooks, ya know?

 

I write all this to say...Capullo self-pricing and the Spencer/Miki story (as related anyway) is nutz imo

 

That's really passive aggressive. If fans are pests perhaps you should go work without fanfare. I wonder how many of these same artists complain about not making a decent living in comics. I'd love to know who these artists are so i can not buy their comics.

 

Actually this goes somewhat to how a working artist markets their work and themselves (usually the same in the minds of most fans) during convention season.

Typically the best or signature original(s) from the recent past is the prime display piece at shows from April to November. Go to an artist's table -everybody wants to see originals, even if their wallet is only big enough for prints. If it's a big painting (think 18x24, 20x30, even larger) it's a pull from across the hall, draws people to the table. If this is your thing (as an artist, the way you're used to doing con season), you do not want to sell that painting at your second show out of 30 in a season. So you mark it (mentally or with a sticky) NFS. And people ask and ask and ask. (After all -it is clearly your signature piece!) Sometimes it's the same guy all weekend. So then you -in exasperation- quote him a number that sends him packing, say $35k for a 3500 piece. And that's that. A conversation ender. Everybody in this story knows the $35k is not going to happen. But do that a number of times, over a number of con seasons, and it's becomes habit. To the point you don't even think about it anymore, until a young buck (me) comes along and says, "Hey, nice as it is -nobody is going to pay $35k for that. Your market is more like $5k, tops." To which said artist replies, "Yes. Exactly!"

I just noticed this cover on CLink, it's up for the May auction:

Interesting to see the market value of that piece. On HA only two Capullo Spawn covers have been sold - the last one was this one - sold in 2012 for 4,2k:

http://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/greg-capullo-and-todd-mcfarlane-spawn-39-cover-original-art-image-1995-/a/7059-92065.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

I never looked at these Spawn covers closely before. Like Joe's the best, the CLink example second and the yuletide HA third. $8k seems aggressive (I remember looking at those sometime in the past), CLink we'll see soon on, and that HA seems downright cheap in comparison to $8k not to mention $30k!

Where is the real active liquid market on these? That is the question everybody is asking. If you want what's available immediately for cash it's $30k...but I do not see the rush to take them down. And if primary is sucking wind, then secondary...oof.

Sean several artists have told me the same thing - when they don't want to sell something but continually get pestered by collectors...they just put a sky high price on it. This is not meant to encourage anybody to pay up, but rather to discourage even ten seconds conversation on the subject. It usually works. Though sometimes doing this invites longer conversations over how crazy an artist is to charge so much (and to their face) or asking them to "justify" it (as if!) So those occasions...it's a backfire

 

No idea if this is what Greg is about or not, just that it is a practice by some artists, all this to me as I was sitting behind the table with them, not necessarily what they would tell fans that walk up and browse the stack of sketchbooks, ya know?

 

I write all this to say...Capullo self-pricing and the Spencer/Miki story (as related anyway) is nutz imo

 

What people do and what they SAY they do are usually quite different things.

I'm not talking about people, I'm talking about friends that happen to be artists. Artists that I helped re-price their work when what they had been doing wasn't working well anymore. Maybe your friends lie to you, mine don't. Those that do, are no longer my friends.

I was agreeing with you. All people do it, it is human nature. Your friends tell people one thing - it is not true but is said just to discourage them.

But I was not referring to lying. I was referring to a lack of self-awareness, cognitive distortions, self-delusion that type of thing. But that example is funny...my friends lie to their fans and customers but not to me!

Sean several artists have told me the same thing - when they don't want to sell something but continually get pestered by collectors...they just put a sky high price on it.

 

I think this is something Dave Sim did way back when. He did not want to

sell CEREBUS artwork but when pressed would set a price where he felt

comfortable letting a piece go.

 

Probably the best tactic to take as an artist if you're not hurting for cash and

really don't care about parting with the art.

For Sim I think that was VERY early on. He reportedly did this for something like issue 2 of Cerebus and his insanely high price I think was $10/page for the whole book. He was stunned when the guy said yes and took them all. I bought some pages from him in 1992 or so at $100 and $125 each, there were stacks of them.

 

What people do and what they SAY they do are usually quite different things.

I'm not talking about people, I'm talking about friends that happen to be artists. Artists that I helped re-price their work when what they had been doing wasn't working well anymore. Maybe your friends lie to you, mine don't. Those that do, are no longer my friends.

 

I was agreeing with you. All people do it, it is human nature. Your friends tell people one thing - it is not true but is said just to discourage them.

 

But I was not referring to lying. I was referring to a lack of self-awareness, cognitive distortions, self-delusion that type of thing. But that example is funny...my friends lie to their fans and customers but not to me!

I misunderstood, didn't see you were agreeing (and I still don't?) I've got a pretty b/w view of lying, I don't cut it with shades of grey as you've described (self-delusion, etc). Of course people can make honest mistakes or suffer bad memory, but all in good faith that what they are saying/doing is true. Maybe allowing for imperfection of humanity is a shade of grey after all, I dunno!

I'm not seeing where the lie is in my story though...? The price IS $35k (in the example), and if somebody wanted to pay that, the art would have sold. Yes it's a discouragement but also a real market price, same as Capullo's, as some pieces have sold for prices most of us consider non-market. It's not like Capullo floated the numbers, to see what would happen, and then when called on it via a ready and willing buyer- backed down and pulled the piece/s back in. Right?

*edited to clean up misquoting!

 

What people do and what they SAY they do are usually quite different things.

I'm not talking about people, I'm talking about friends that happen to be artists. Artists that I helped re-price their work when what they had been doing wasn't working well anymore. Maybe your friends lie to you, mine don't. Those that do, are no longer my friends.

 

I was agreeing with you. All people do it, it is human nature. Your friends tell people one thing - it is not true but is said just to discourage them.

 

But I was not referring to lying. I was referring to a lack of self-awareness, cognitive distortions, self-delusion that type of thing. But that example is funny...my friends lie to their fans and customers but not to me!

I misunderstood, didn't see you were agreeing (and I still don't?) I've got a pretty b/w view of lying, I don't cut it with shades of grey as you've described (self-delusion, etc). Of course people can make honest mistakes or suffer bad memory, but all in good faith that what they are saying/doing is true. Maybe allowing for imperfection of humanity is a shade of grey after all, I dunno!

 

I'm not seeing where the lie is in my story though...? The price IS $35k (in the example), and if somebody wanted to pay that, the art would have sold. Yes it's a discouragement but also a real market price, same as Capullo's, as some pieces have sold for prices most of us consider non-market. It's not like Capullo floated the numbers, to see what would happen, and then when called on it via a ready and willing buyer- backed down and pulled the piece/s back in. Right?

 

*edited to clean up misquoting!

Again, I can assure you that people do not really do what they tell others they do. Not 100% of the time. It is not lying in any manner and is inaccurate and overly simplistic to categorize it as such. Lying is a conscious active act and I am talking about other aspects of cognition. But that is all OT really and we may just be arguing semantics.

The market supply is really small for these since McFarlane is not selling his ones (it seems) Capello is not selling his ones (it seems) the only way to get one was through Miki.

There were actually two others I would have liked to have got via Artist Choice but since I already had 2 this was way low priority...also the OFFER starts at 8K - that was not the price, it was throw out a number but don't let it be below 8K and by the way it won't be 8K !!!

Equally you might think that people who were big Spawn fans in the 90's have not yet hit the right ingredients of income level / nostalgia pain / anger at parents/life to make the right ingredients for an OA smoothie costing the same as a car...another 10-15 years then maybe.

Its supply and demand and resources to purchase...all I know is supply is tight, demand is unknown, resources are unknown.

the one on HA was not very exciting, the one on Comiclink is more so...may be interesting to see.

But that is all OT really and we may just be arguing semantics.

Yup agree, probably just semantics.

That's nice. Will it reach $30k?

That's nice. Will it reach $30k?

Will it even reach 6-8? Judging by how many years the other covers sat at these prices (until yesterday), it's unlikely. It'll be interesting to see nevertheless.

I just noticed this cover on CLink, it's up for the May auction:

 

Interesting to see the market value of that piece. On HA only two Capullo Spawn covers have been sold - the last one was this one - sold in 2012 for 4,2k:

 

http://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/greg-capullo-and-todd-mcfarlane-spawn-39-cover-original-art-image-1995-/a/7059-92065.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

 

And those were fully inked by Todd Mcfarlane. Interior pages went for less than 150 each at HA also inked by Todd and Romitaman listed those interiors for around 300. I think they went low at auction

That's nice. Will it reach $30k?

 

Will it even reach 6-8? Judging by how many years the other covers sat at these prices (until yesterday), it's unlikely. It'll be interesting to see nevertheless.

Personally I think it will reach $10k

Sean several artists have told me the same thing - when they don't want to sell something but continually get pestered by collectors...they just put a sky high price on it. This is not meant to encourage anybody to pay up, but rather to discourage even ten seconds conversation on the subject. It usually works. Though sometimes doing this invites longer conversations over how crazy an artist is to charge so much (and to their face) or asking them to "justify" it (as if!) So those occasions...it's a backfire

 

No idea if this is what Greg is about or not, just that it is a practice by some artists, all this to me as I was sitting behind the table with them, not necessarily what they would tell fans that walk up and browse the stack of sketchbooks, ya know?

 

I write all this to say...Capullo self-pricing and the Spencer/Miki story (as related anyway) is nutz imo

 

That's really passive aggressive. If fans are pests perhaps you should go work without fanfare. I wonder how many of these same artists complain about not making a decent living in comics. I'd love to know who these artists are so i can not buy their comics.

 

Actually this goes somewhat to how a working artist markets their work and themselves (usually the same in the minds of most fans) during convention season.

 

Typically the best or signature original(s) from the recent past is the prime display piece at shows from April to November. Go to an artist's table -everybody wants to see originals, even if their wallet is only big enough for prints. If it's a big painting (think 18x24, 20x30, even larger) it's a pull from across the hall, draws people to the table. If this is your thing (as an artist, the way you're used to doing con season), you do not want to sell that painting at your second show out of 30 in a season. So you mark it (mentally or with a sticky) NFS. And people ask and ask and ask. (After all -it is clearly your signature piece!) Sometimes it's the same guy all weekend. So then you -in exasperation- quote him a number that sends him packing, say $35k for a 3500 piece. And that's that. A conversation ender. Everybody in this story knows the $35k is not going to happen. But do that a number of times, over a number of con seasons, and it's becomes habit. To the point you don't even think about it anymore, until a young buck (me) comes along and says, "Hey, nice as it is -nobody is going to pay $35k for that. Your market is more like $5k, tops." To which said artist replies, "Yes. Exactly!"

You don't see what's wrong with that mentality though? These artists at a convention marketing their work to fans and potential fans. They are actually in a marketplace setting getting annoyed by being asked if something is for sale.

may be a conversation ender but it's a good way to lose the respect of the people who support your work and I'm sure that tact, unless this artist is some childhood hero, sends people packing, away from supporting their work in any fashion and moving onto a different artist.

I'm not saying they need to sell, plenty of artists I love don't sell but they also don't insult their fans.

Either way, this is not the situation with Greg, he's offering select pieces. If you ask about something not for sale, he'll tell you it's not for sale.

may be a conversation ender but it's a good way to lose the respect of the people who support your work and I'm sure that tact, unless this artist is some childhood hero, sends people packing, away from supporting their work in any fashion and moving onto a different artist.

Oh, how I WISH that were true.