Here are my Top Five entries for the Lowry Gallery for 2020:
Unpublished Sketch Covers/Convention Sketches - Adams, Neal - Pencil Portrait
of Bernie Wrightson
[ https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1659051 ;|
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1659051 ] ;
Neal had drawn Bernie Wrightson's likeness as a character in his story "Night
of the Reaper." written by Denny O'Neil in Batman #237. I had suggested that
Neal take one of those panels and use it as the basis of a pencil portrait of
Bernie. I received an email from Neal's son, Jason that said, "Neal was unhappy
with the Bernie Wrightson image to draw from so came up with a much better
one." Neal indeed created a wonderful portrait
In the attached additional images, you can see the panel that i had originally
suggested, prior to Neal's "upgrade."
Published/Unpublished Other - Stevens, Dave - Jill, The Bare Witch
[ https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1686107 ;|
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1686107 ] ;
A December 2020 jewel for my collection.
In June 2019 on the Life and Art of Dave Stevens (Illustrator) Facebook group,
Keith Domonkos asked "So, how many poses are there of Jill as a witch? Any idea
why Dave chose those looks for her?" Jill Mahoney-Banks responded "As far as I
know, there are 2. One sketch and one painting. He knew how much I love
Halloween. It's a great representation of my personality."
I assume that the charcoal on newsprint version (see the Additional Images) was
the first of these that Dave drew. That version of "The Bare Witch" is found in
Dave's Sketches & Studies, Volume 4, as well as IDW's Complete Sketches &
Studies on page 34.
However, there are actually two paintings of Jill as the Witch, based on the
same modeling session.
One of the two appears as "Jill -- Witch" which is published in BRUSH WITH
PASSION: THE ART & LIFE OF DAVE STEVENS, page 260 (see the scan in the
additional images). At first glance this appears to be merely a cropped version
of the larger painting, but if one looks at the eyes, one can see that in the
smaller painting both eyes are more clearly evident, while in this version the
hat comes down further on Jill's face. In addition her arms are in a different
position, and one can notice other differences upon examination.
Travis Banks (Jill's husband) said in the same Stevens Facebook group, "Dave
used to email me works in progress when he was working on sketches and
paintings of Jill Mahoney-Banks. He was such a great guy, it never seemed weird
to have him sending me nude pictures of my wife. I really miss him."
One of the versions of the painting in progress is also in the Additional
Images.
My thanks to Joseph Melchior for making this deal happen. The painting is 12" x
24" on stretched canvas.
Upon my posting this, Jill commented "Well, Congratulations, Ray! *blush* I
wish Dave and I had more time to work together! This made my day! Thank you!
It's a deeply heartfelt honor to have worked with him (Dave), and to know so
many appreciate his work."
Travis Banks added: "I can confirm that they are indeed from different photos
from the same shoot."
Published/Unpublished Commissions/Recreations - Dorman, Dave - Recreation of
Frank Frazetta's A Princess of Mars
[ https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1685171 ;|
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1685171 ] ;
During his teenaged years Dave Dorman did some recreations of Frank Frazetta's
paintings in order to learn his craft.
In the past year or two, Dave has been approached by a number of collectors to
give new attempts at recreating some of Frazetta's classic paintings. Dave has
taken on this challenge, and I approached him about the possibility of
recreating this particular version of Frazetta's A PRINCESS OF MARS. Dave was
amenable (he is only willing to do one or two such recreations per year, since
he has his own work to do).
A couple of weeks after I had approached Dave about this commission, Heritage
had that very Frazetta original up for auction. Dave does videos on Facebook
under the "Dave's Dugout" title, and one can watch the entire process of Dave
painting this original in the archives of his Facebook page.
Dave has taken "in process" photos of his developing this recreation which I am
awaiting his sending to me, and may be able to post a few of these in the
additional images at a later date.
Dave's attempt was meant to mimic Frazetta's painting as closely as possible
and I think he did a commendable job with this.
Published/Unpublished Comic Book Pin-Ups, Illustrations, Trading Cards - Adams,
Neal - Sue Storm & Reed Richards Fully-Rendered Pencil Commission
[ https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1668068 ;|
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1668068 ] ;
Neal was very pleased with the critical reaction to the first issue of his
recent 4 issue mini-series on the FANTASTIC FOUR, so he made a special offer to
folks on Facebook on 18 September that he would draw the reverse image of the
one that he presented in the comic book - this time from Reed's point of view.
Neal showed a pencil layout of the piece and quoted a special price for the
period between the the 18th and midnight on the 20th for an inked version of
these commissions. I inquired on the 19th whether Neal would do a
fully-rendered pencil version for me. The answer was "Yes," but for 50% more
than the special price. I agreed and this was the result. You can see how the
printed version appeared in the "additional images."
Published/Unpublished Media artwork (Music, TV, Movie) - Adams, Neal - Horror
of the Blood Monsters (1970)
[ https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1657479 ;|
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1657479 ] ;
In 1970, Director Al Adamson was behind a movie entitled "Horror of the Blood
Monsters" starring John Carradine, Robert Dix, Vicki Volante. The IMDB plot
summary of the movie says that "In the near future with a intergalactic vampire
plague threatening earth, an expedition is sent to a distant galaxy in hopes of
discovering the plague's source. Landing on a mysterious planet they discover
that Spectrum radiation has turned the atmosphere into a one-color tint.
Exploring further, the group discovers living dinosaurs, a race of vampire
cavemen, and other strange creatures."
Neal Adams did the poster for the movie and this drawing was used for
promotional purposes and is a vignette from the movie poster. The art is on 11"
x 14" art board.
A copy of the movie poster can be found in the additional images.
I hope you'll enjoy taking a look!
Best wishes!
- Ray Cuthbert
