Amethyst Princess of Gemworld
on May 15th, 2009Here’s a private commission I am finally boxing off to my very patient patron Darby Watkins.
The pencils are a bit delicate, so I’ve darkened the scan.
Amethyst Princess of Gemworld was my first book assignment at DC Comics (I think), though I had done miscellaneous pin-ups before this. The fantasy series had a nice run, and there are a number of fan appreciation sites on the web where you can learn more about it.
Darby asked for a fully rendered figure at 11″x17″, but I gave him a figure with full background at 11″x14″ instead – background added to make up for the wait.
11″x17″ is a size many fans request: trust me, you don’t want it. That extra couple of picture inches won’t make much difference in the final drawing and it costs considerably more to frame 11″x17″ since that is not a photo standard size.
I wrote an extensive post about matting and framing art, and I hope you will check it out.
My commissions can get expensive, but I hope they are worth waiting for. This pencil rendering technique is laborious, so a drawing like this takes many hours. I usually break the task up into one hour-a-day bits over some weeks while I am working on my jobs for publishers. I always warn my private commission patrons that my commitments to publishers must come first, so sometimes there is a long wait for these drawings.
Now that my car has a brand new engine, I get to take a day to go into the city next week and go see a movie and ship lots of packages like this. I’m really looking forward to going out. I’ve been a tad under the weather this week, and could use a treat! And I’m sure my patrons are looking forward to their packages!
I’ll be posting more private commissions over the next week as I pull them and prepare to ship them, so come back and have a look!
c
Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, © ® DC Comics
Commissions of this quality are well worth the wait. I can’t wait to see the others.
As far as movies go, I guess you have missed Watchmen- so what’s on the agenda – Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels and Demons?
Mik1, you are too kind! And one of those packages is yours!
I am pretty sure Watchmen is gone. If so, I’m for Star Trek!
I spoke too soon! I just found Watchmen in another city. A little farther to drive, but I get to see the big blue peen! Whee!
Um… no comment.
I will be seeing Star Trek next week myself.
LOL! WEll, what I really want to see is…the Owl Ship!
That is an exquisite piece of art and has two of your most distinctive trademarks: crystals and sensational hair!
I must confess to having had the distinct pleasure of knowing Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn during their early days at DC. I bought Cohn’s “Barren Earth” as a backup series for WARLORD to replace “Arion: Lord of Atlantis” when Arion became it’s own DC title.
Laurie, that is awesome! I so enjoy your dropping by and sharing these stories!
And Arion is a book I always wanted to draw! I used to love it!
Arion would’ve been a great book for you — following on the heels of Jan Duursema and Cara Sherman-Tereno.
Lovely piece, BTW.
I always wondered what happened to Cara, and it turns out she died of leukemia in 1996 at the age of 44. A shame!
Pencil renderings are always so amazing. It is mind-blowing that you can do all that with a pencil. The piece rocks, and the wait is a small price to pay for quality of this caliber.
You are so right about the 11X17 issue. In my opinion the extra few inches is nowhere near worth the expense and headache that you go through getting it framed.
I can’t wait to see what pops up over the next week or so. And yes, the Owl ship was awesome, but Star Trek was oh so incredible!
Sorry it took me so long to approve your account. There should be no more delay with your posts! And thanks for dropping in!
I don’t understand why so many people let themselves get talked into odd sizes for art. Many framers and printers play this game to try to upsell the customer into buying expensive frame and mat services. It’s a gyp.
I specifically asked for standard frame sizes from one “printer” ( who deliberately ignored my wishes and printed the art at 13″ x19″) and all he could talk about was the markup.
Can’t wait to see Star Trek as well! And Wolverine! Woohoo!