Showing posts with label Original Art Dragnet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Original Art Dragnet. Show all posts

Saturday, 9 July 2022

Please Hold For Dave Sim 7/2022

Hi, Everybody!

Three HOURS. Two minutes and twenty seconds.

Let's hope I can get the thirteen parts assembled as videos before midnight tonight...

Anyway, the "As" get first:


And now the "Vs":

Part 1: we remember Jeff:
And Steve has a Jeff related question:
And everybody else had questions about Steve's birthday gift to me:
And Steve was wondering about Fred, Ethel, and the little fella with the hair:
Part 2: Dan wanted to know:
Matt,
How many of the 6,000 pages and 300 covers exist?
How many of them does Dave possess?
Is Dave “satisfied” with scans or is there a reason to pursue the actual pieces?
If you’d like, you can forward these questions to Dave.
Dan

Part 3: Mike Sewall asks:
Hey Dave and Manly Matt –

On A Moment of Cerebus Blog in 2017, there is a listing for Collected Letters 1990, Collected Letters 2004 Vol 3, and Collected Letters 2006. Do these still exist as digital files or (gasp!) real honest-to-goodness books?

Also - Why was letters 2 so much different than Letters 1 – trim size, no title page, etc.?
Thanks for all you do!
- M J (Mike) Sewall
P.S. – Thanks for the copies of Letters 1 and 2! My Cerebus/Sim bookshelf is pushing out lesser works by those little-known-hacks, Miller, Moore and Watterson. I am busily shoring up from underneath to accommodate the “Sim Wing” of my house.
Part 4: Easton, PA’s resident troublemaker, Michael R. asks:
Hi Matt!
Hope you are enjoy/enjoying the Fourth of July weekend. My questions for Dave.

Hi Dave!
Thank you for the " Quick and Dirty Portfolios " of Cerebus No. 4 6-7/78. Are any differences between the one you sent me and what is being offered on this Kickstarter?

My other question pertains to the last "Please Hold". You and Matt were discussing about video editing and the difficulties of it. Has there been any outtakes on your Weekly Updates which maybe you can put together to make a bloopers segment? It might be fun to watch.

Michael R

Part 5: A guy wants to print Dave's stuff. 
Part 6: Coin Upton said:
Oh yes, I got the letter a couple days ago... It usually takes me awhile to compose my thoughts.

I am most grateful for the cheque and yes, doing a "digest" (could you ask Dave what he means by "digest"? Does he mean a mini-comic - 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 inches? A digest to me is 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 inches.) sounds like fun. I have actually thought a lot about the enigma that is Dave Sim. It would be about my relationship with Dave, starting with the reprinting of my story "Chris" in the back of Cerebus. "Chris" was an attack on Woke culture before it even had that name. It would be in part about how it's possible to fundamentally disagree with someone while remaining on friendly terms, a lost art I'm afraid in these days of cancel culture I fear. I imagine we can find things to agree about. Thank Dave for giving me this opportunity. However, I do consider my abysmal spelling to be part of my comics homey charm... :)

Thank you
Colin
PS I don't think Peter Birkamoe (I don't know who he is) is arranging my trip to TCAF but rather the publisher of Conundrum Press. He will fly me there but I will have to find a place to stay while in Toronto.
Part 7: Nick wants Dave for a podcast (specifically to talk about Tangent), and Justin is a pothead (maybe):
Part 8: and we answer the questions you guys had on Margaret's Notebook post:
Okay, the rigamarole is down below.

Have fun!

Next Time: Fuck, man i just spent all day making THIS post...

Sunday, 1 May 2022

Dave Sim talks to Kim Preney.

Hi, Everybody!

Before Neal Adams went and died on us, Dave sent me this:


In which he talks to Kim Preney of Preney Print & Litho, about the 90 copies of Cerebus #300 that they had on hand and which they've given back to Dave:


Speaking of the dearly departed Neal Adams, David Birdsong sent me Green Lantern/Green Arrow 83 Page 3 that Dave was talking about yesterday:

And speaking of Original Art, The Death's Dark Tread deal just keeps evolving...

The offer still stands at $5,528.11, but a new update has arrived, courtesy of Eddie Khanna:
Hi Matt. We thought this might be something you'd want to post on AMOC and the Facebooks.

So Sean, Dave and I have been quickly coordinating with getting useable hi-rez scans of upcoming CEREBUS artwork for sale from a particularly prominent High-End Auction Site, and we have a fan of the work who is willing to actually go to the site and do the scanning for us (for which we are ALL VERY GRATEFUL), since the auction house doesn’t do hi-rez scanning on behalf of others.

However, this does involve buying and shipping a new Sean Robinson approved scanner that can be used for this situation and whenever it arises in the future when more artwork comes on the market through the site.

Total cost of the scanner plus shipping was $1,022. So anyone who wants to chip in and help defray the costs to AV, feel free to help by Paypalling Sean through seanmichaelrobinson@gmail.com and be sure to click on “Friends and Family”, and AV will reimburse for the remainder.

So far we have $600 (!) donated towards the scanner. If we somehow get more than required, the extra money will go towards payment of our volunteer’s expenses and time.
-Eddie
SO, that's a thing. (I've already got my imaginary Mexican talking to the pledge partners...)
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Heritage, pretty much has the best Cerebus Original Art deals available...
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Cerebus in Hell?:
The Uncrucifiable Cerebus Goes To A Gay Bar MAY221082 Order Cut Off May 26, 2022
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Please fill out your surveys so I can get the copy Travis is buying from me.
Also, if you missed out like Al, there's an IndieGoGo.
And if you didn't wanna deal with Kickstarter or the Waverly Press, guess what's in the new previews.
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Sean & Carson have a store with TWO misprinted copies of SDOAR with "Blue Meanie" sketches.
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Oliver's Cerebus movie: The Absurd, Surreal, Metaphysical, and Fractured Destiny of Cerebus the Aardvark is currently available "Plex", "Xumo", "Vimeo On Demand", "Tubi".
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Up to 35% off site-wide:
May 11-15
         26-30
Tell your fans! Remind them that everything will be up to 35% off -- that means $13 tees, $20 phone cases, $30 hoodies, and way more!
Next Time: What's in the Box, Matt WHAT'S IN THE BOX!?!?!?

Saturday, 11 September 2021

Dave WANTS YOU(!)...to find this original art page. And the "deets" on the Cerebus #2 Kickstarter

Hi, Everybody!

Dave Faxed:

This page in case the fax isn't clear:
If you got this page, or if you know who has it, cerebusarthunt@gmail.com.

We found the other one.
_____________________________

Well as I've been saying:
For the next little while, EVERYTHING on CerebusOverload.com is 30% off (with the code: 30OFF).

Offer ends when The Waverly Press launches Cerebus #2! (Like, I wouldn't wait until the last minute, because that's gonna be...Monday-ish)
Tuesday, the Kickstarter for Cerebus #2 goes live.

I got the 411. Wanna "in"?

First, there are gonna be seven covers (there are two more in development that AREN'T going to be part of the campaign.) (At all. I just mention them, because there was the possibility of NINE covers, but 9 covers would just be ridiculous😜 ...) The cover colors are by the usual team of Birdsong, Hobbs and Robinson. 

Here are five of them:




The covers aren't finalized, so the colors on the finished books will look better than these samples.

The Remastered and Expanded Cerebus 2 is 48 pages and features everything from the original edition including the introduction, letters page and advertisements. There are 24 pages of additional material including rarities from the Cerebus Archive. For example, an unfinished 6-page Cerebus story from 1978 (well, it IS finished, but Dave sent the original art to the guy who was gonna print it, and hasn't seen it or heard from the guy since, if you happen to have THAT, Sean and Dave REALLY WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO YOU!). As usual, the books will be printed on premium paper.

Each book will come with a new trading card.
And there are gonna be premium cards that come with some of the premium packages:

Dave Sim autographed card

This is gonna be a glow in the dark card. Of the Demon Klem.

The promise is that this will be a more stripped down campaign that the last couple of Waverly Press offerings...

BUT, they are going to be adding "signed, graded and encapsulated books. Since so many people requested this service the last time out, Dave and I figured it's worth trying out."

And:
There are a few stretch rewards lined up and will consider any suggestions from Dave's collectors.

If there is anything someone would like to see produced that we haven't thought of, we want to hear from those folks.
Pricing starts at $10. And goes up from there. 

And it ALL STARTS ON TUESDAY!
______________________________
Which leads to Heritage, and the fact they're gonna be auctioning off the original art to the Cerebus #2 covers (5 of them,) and the NEW Cerebus #1 (just 1 of them.) 
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Get that sweet, sweet Gerhard art, and piano music (but mostly that sweet @$$ Gerhard art...) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrisopperman/still-waters (Ya got a week.)
______________________________

Up to 35% off site-wide:
September 22 – 27
Tell your fans! Remind them that everything will be up to 35% off -- that means $13 tees, $20 phone cases, $30 hoodies, and way more!

Next Time: Oliver and all his variant covers...

Monday, 15 January 2018

For Auction: Wait somebody had THAT?!?

Hi, Everybody!

So back when Dave was auctioning his IDW covers I set up an alert from Heritage Auctions for any "Dave Sim" stuff they had.

Here's today's catch:
Dang man...just dang.
Mike Zeck and Gerhard "Make My Day!" Punisher Illustration Original Art (c. 1990s). Mike Zeck on the Punisher, and Gerhard on the backgrounds... the best of both worlds! Zeck made the Punisher a household word and Gerhard quickly became a fan-favorite for his amazing and highly intricate backgrounds in Dave Sim's long-running Cerebus series. This is a prime example of both men's work and in top-form. Created in ink and watercolor on 20" x 32" illustration board. Signed by both in the lower margin. In Excellent condition.
 It doesn't go up for auction for another 17 days, but dang that looks neat.

And then there's this:
Wait, ALL twenty-two pages! Howdafuq???
Back in August 2008 they had ALL twenty-two pages of issue 6? Did...did Dave know about this? Did Sean get scans? Can Sean get scans? Are they in the latest edition of the first phonebook? How? What? Who?

Next time: ALL twenty-two? How much weed did Dave get for that? What? How? Who?

Wednesday, 8 November 2017

FLIGHT In the Wild


Sean Michael Robinson:

Greetings F.O.C.!

As you may have noticed, Cerebus Archive Number Seven, the Kickstarter for FLIGHT featuring the first ten pages from Flight that the Cerebus Archive still owns along with a 10,000 word illustrated essay by Dave, is live right now!

With that in mind, I thought I'd take a look at some of the original art for FLIGHT that I've seen up close and personal. Although neither Dave nor Gerhard have scanned their pages yet for the restoration effort, as A/V and Diamond still have copies of previous printings, we have received a few pages of original art from "In the Wild", not surprising considering Dave and Gerhard went on tour during the production of the book.

And despite the dour and blood-soaked tone of the first few issues of FLIGHT, the book seems to be a fan-favorite, perhaps owing to the parody elements and the return of several fan-favorite characters.

The Roach and Elrod both show up, contributing some of the same "everything but the kitchen sink" vibe as the early parts of Church and State II. Here's a look at a page from the collection of Michael Ragiel, a long-time Cerebus (and Cerebus Kickstarter!) supporter. You can see from the inscription at the bottom that he purchased it on the '92 tour in New York City.



And here's one of the most infamous (and eminently quotable) pages from FLIGHT, from the same sequence. 


Also from the same sequence, and possibly sold at the same tour stop-- a page from the collection of Dagon James. 


I don't know why this sequence cracks me up so much. Part of it is undoubtedly the lovingly-rendered postcards. The front card and Elrod's descriptions are hilarious, but the feet poking out from the back card push the gag over the edge for me.


Here's a page that's changed hands a few times. Thanks to both owners who've sent it in!


Interesting to see the consistencies and differences in the rendering from the cover we looked at last week.



Lastly, here's a page that was scanned by IDW during their Cerebus cover hunt for the "Cover Treasury" book, and kindly sent to me by Justin Eisinger.


Most of the pages we've looked at so far are in pretty good shape, as they make pretty minimal use of mechanical tone, and thus will require a lot less cleanup. But this page is suffering some from an aged PMT--photo mechanical transfer--which was stuck to the page by a generous heaping of rubber cement, which is now eating away at the page.



Hope to see you all soon on the Kickstarter page, where Dave has been conducting a Q + A with backers, via relayed faxes. Make your pledge and post your question now!


Wednesday, 17 June 2015

On the Hunt-- the Negative Side of Negatives


Sean Michael Robinson:

Before we get to the meat-- we are still actively seeking any and all scans of Cerebus original artwork, from any era of the book. If you have access to any Cerebus original artwork, or know someone who does, please contact us at the above address. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a better idea of why we're looking for as much artwork as we can find, attempting to put this vase back together...

Yesterday morning I spent a bit of time on something I thought you all might be interested in seeing. At long last, the Church & State I solicitation will be in Previews, scheduled for the August 2015 catalog, available at your local stores October 2015-



There's a lot to talk about regarding the actual volume--mainly a discussion of the improving printing methods and paper and how much difference that will make in the quality of the finished book-- but that can wait for another post. We do, after all, have several months between now and then. 

So for today I wanted to concentrate on the images in the ad.

First off-- man o man, is that a great panel or what?


This is a great example of Dave and Gerhard really clicking together, the figures and the backgrounds integrated perfectly with each other. The way the window and wall tear away from the giant stone hand, the fragments of debris flying across the picture plane. It's also relatively rare at this stage in the series for there to be sustained physical action, so when it happens, and is carried out so well, it's extremely gratifying.

Anyway, we were lucky enough to be working from an original art scan for this page, which meant a lot of tone cleanup, but also meant an incredible amount of detail present, not just in the fine lines of the floor and white detail in the dense cross-hatching, but in the tone as well.




This is, as far as I know, the first time that Gerhard (or Dave) used etching on the surface of the tone, here used to indicate the transparency of the shattered glass. Many mechanical tones (though not all) could be etched with a very sharp exacto knife, taking off the printed surface of the tone but leaving the acetate carrier intact. Gerhard would go on to use this technique to great effect in at least three other books, for very different purposes (anyone care to guess which?).

There's a hint of this in the previous editions of Church & State I, but most of it was eliminated by the photography and newsprint paper. 

Speaking of "eliminated by photography," here's a better look at the bottom images in the ad.

It's a fragment of a panel from issue 74 page 3, a page that's all but ruined in the initial printings because of the amount of art that simply isn't present. Here's the bottom of the page, directly from the negative--



And here's a shot of the same area of the cleaned-up original art page. Click either one to embiggen.


So what's happened here?

There were most likely a few factors working against a page like this. Firstly, the ink in the background cross-hatching on this page, at least looking at the unadjusted scan, is more watery than might be ideal. More importantly, though, at this point the printer seemed to be experimenting with spiking the exposure significantly in order to anticipate the amount of gain they would have when printing as dark as they were on newsprint. That combined with the slightly weaker gray of the ink lines just wiped out a huge amount of information.

It's easy  to imagine the dialogue that might have led to these decisions. Dave calls the printer. "You know, the last two issues really have weak blacks." So they print darker, with, inevitably, more gain. Next phone call. "That last issue was really plugged up." So they photograph much lighter so they can preemptively catch some of the gain. Next call. "You know, there were a lot of blown-out lines in that last issue." And so the see-saw swings again...

Regardless of whether conversations like those were actually happening, the see-saw effect during this period of the book is real, and it's why I have to take a good look at the surrounding negatives each time we get another original art scan. How will this fit in with the rest? 

This will be less and less of a consideration as we get further into the series, and the negative scans will represent a lower percentage of the finished book.

One last observation about the panels above-- notice the dense cross-hatched areas of the negative, and how much plugging there is than the original art scan below? Any guesses why that might be? My best guess involves optics...

Please, please, please do keep those original art scans coming! Dave will be receiving, signing, and sending out the first round of Art Dragnet certificates sometime in the next week, and we would love nothing more than to send out another 150 or so to all you contributors out there. Have a lead on a page or pages? Own one yourself? Please send us an email at cerebusarthunt at gmail. Happy hunting!

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Brian Coppola: Cerebus Art Dragnet

Cerebus Art Dragnet (2014)
by Dave Sim
(Click image to enlarge)
BRIAN COPPOLA: 
(from Comic Art Fans, 14 November 2014)
There is a digitization project underway (2014) to gather original art pages that are "out in the wild" (e.g., the 200 or so pages that I possess) and get high-res scans of them for future digital versions of the Cerebus books (as opposed to trying to scan the crappy printing done on newsprint, of the printed books). The restoration project, being run by Sean Michael Robinson, has been dubbed "The Cerebus Art Dragnet". The original art for the "badge" logo and an illustration of Jack Webb (Dragnet!) as a Aardvark, above a couple of 2014 head shots of Cerebus, was auctioned. For my inscription, I asked Dave to be creative with the classic noir intro narrative motif used in the Dragnet series: "This is the city... we wear badges..." This is what came back. Pretty cool. 

SEAN MICHAEL ROBINSON:
(from Costly Continuing Contributions, 19 November 2014)
The Cerebus Original Art Dragnet suffered a pretty serious blow this week when we heard definitively from a prominent art collector who owns several hundred (!) originals. No, he would not be contributing scans of any of his originals to the art hunt, nor will he be selling any of these pages in the foreseeable future. This was particularly hard news as this person's collection represents a significant chunk of "in the wild" Cerebus art pages, pages that will now never be scanned for this project, will now forever be represented in print by second, third, or fourth-generation images rather than the pristine reproduction possible when sourcing from the original art...

Monday, 27 October 2014

Auction: Cerebus Art Dragnet

'Cerebus Art Dragnet' Certificate
by Dave Sim 
Description:
Certificate original artwork 11"x14" (inches) india ink on 140 lb. cold press Strathmore water colour paper created as an award for individuals assisting in obtaining high resolution scans of CEREBUS original artwork for the on-going restoration/digitization of the 6,000-page graphic novel. Includes digital print-out of the DRAGNET image Sim worked from, signed by Sim.

The art can be personalized to the winning bidder and includes a 20-MINUTE PHONE CALL WITH DAVE SIM (on Dave Sim's nickel). 

ALL proceeds will go towards the on-going restoration / digitization (50%) and the development / promotion of glamourpuss art auctions to help finance the completion of Dave Sim's THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND.

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

WANTED: The Cerebus Art Dragnet Begins



WANTED: Have You Seen These Aardvarks???

The hunt is on!

Aardvark-Vanaheim is currently seeking high resolution scans of Cerebus original art, to replaced aged, destroyed, or otherwise inadequate negatives. These scans will be used to produce new, digitally restored versions of Cerebus volumes, “Legacy” editions that will honor and illuminate the innovative art that garnered the long-running series its reputation.

Greetings! My name is Sean Michael Robinson, and I'm heading the current Cerebus digital restoration.

Although it's rarely been used to full effect, the past decade's revolution in CTP (Computer to Plate) technology has made it possible for printing to be more faithful to original line art than ever before. Because of this, new editions of books sourced from original artwork can have more detail present than any previous printings.

In the case of the early volumes of Cerebus, the difference isn't subtle, not even on a screen.

Below, left: scans of existing print sources.
Below, right: scans from original art, adjusted for the Cerebus Archive restoration project





If you personally have access to any Cerebus original art, with special emphasis on the first 80 issues, we're looking for you! Or more specifically, 600 ppi color scans of your Cerebus artwork. 1200 ppi scans are even better, if your scanner is capable. If you don't have a scanner with a large enough bed, most office stores with print facilities should be able to help you.

Aardvark-Vanaheim will happily reimburse you for any expenses incurred during the scanning, including de-framing. In addition, every scanning contributor will be thanked by name in the resulting Cerebus Legacy Edition printings.

If you have scans for us, or any leads, please contact Sean and Mara at –


We're happy to announce that we'll be assisted in this dragnet by Heritage Auctions' Managing Director of Comics Lon Allen, who has agreed to supply us with high-resolution scans of any future pages that come through their auction house. Special thanks also to our most recent contributor, Calum Johnston, owner of Strange Adventures Comix & Curiosities, who was kind enough to take a page down off display to be scanned at a local office store.

Lastly, you can help us by spreading this banner image, and links to this article, far and wide. Help us in the hunt to make the best Cerebus volumes possible!

Update, day one, 7/24: 

Special thanks to illustrator Dean Reeves, our first day donor! He's brought a whopping ten pages to the table. Many, many thanks to Dean, and all of you that linked, and please keep them coming!

Update, 7/25:

And we have our second donor! This time it's Trent Rogers, owner of Future Pastimes, a Cerebus-friendly comic store in Sarnia, Ontaria, Canada. Trent says, "The page hangs in my shop where I can proudly show everyone a piece of my favourite comic series." Thanks so much Trent!

Update, 7/26:

And today we have contact with donors 3,4, and 5! Special thanks to TK, the first person to actually deliver files, of a wonderful-looking three pages! TK also had this to say: "Best of luck in reassembling that shattered vase." Thanks! Will do :)

Update, 7/30:

Our sixth donor is Gregory Kessler, who has sent us a record-breaking 13 pages! We now have a total of 25 high-res original art scans, with 4 more on the way. Keep spreading the word!