Here we review original, pro, comic book art that has recently traded hands. These images are high resolution photos of the original artwork, not prints.
Click on the header link to learn more about each piece.
Mike Mayhew
Mike Mayhew is a professional comic book artist who happens to have about 780 original works of art up for sale inside his online gallery at Comic Art Fans. Mayhew's piece stole the show last week with his Jean Grey cover that brought him to attention here. Many of the pieces below have been on the market for years, so let's take a closer look at what else Mayhew has in store for us!
JENNIFER BLOOD: FIRST BLOOD #6 B&W Cover Art
I have not read this book, nor have I ever heard of it, but this cover piece easily caught my eye in Mayhew's gallery. It carries a nice light source detailed with many subtle gradients of gray from some sort of ink washing technique. Hard to tell exactly how he achieves this look, but the shadows on her fingers, face, and neck show off a unique, color toning style. The sense of perspective in this image works perfectly with those guns by complementing the composition as a whole.
This piece is currently listed for sale at $700.00 from Mayhew directly!
I looked up the colored cover and it may not be a fair or accurate representation but regardless, I think I would be really happy owning the black and white version!
Original Captain America Color Sketch
The captain is in fantastic form here looking cool as ever! Painted in watercolor over inks, there is a simple sort of minimalism that makes this piece great. Looking at the confidence in those strokes makes me wonder if he even penciled this piece in first! I don't see any remnants of pencil left behind but one thing I have noticed about Mayhew's pencils, is that they are very clean. If he doesn't want you to see them, you probably won't.
VAMPIRELLA #11 Pencil Recreation
This is a really neat example and easy case study on line quality. Notice how Mayhew does not appear to use much of smudging technique. Rather, we get confident strokes of pencil in nearly every portion of shading. There is a very nice light source here and I love the way her feet cut through the fog.
This piece sold for an undisclosed amount.
Spawn #179 Cover
Spawn #179 was a very special book illustrated by Mayhew over a decade ago. The delicate, soft, timeless art was directly complimentary to the gruesome, horrifying, evil that is the Hell Spawn. This cover is clearly on the darker side fusing spawn style evil and death within a clever World War I timeline. This one seems to be done in all pencil again, so we see more of that fantastic line quality everywhere.
The perspective of his gun seems off, as if it were cheated a bit, but I get the feeling that was still intentional. Just to make that gun blast look a little more wicked and punishing.
A strong light source as always with lots of little details. The piece carries a really cool composition using the foreground with the wheel and all those bullets, barbed wire in the background, and fire raining down from the sky! Pretty hard to beat, no wonder it has sold as the cover to Spawn #169 for an undisclosed amount.
Spawn #179 Page 08
Spawn 179 was bursting with fine art. These pencils define the deeply romantic part of this book using very, soft shading for the facial details, and a set of very dark pencils for the trees in the distance as well as on the shady side of that haystack. Overall the page tells a story with a blended set of scenes that over lap one another in a very dreamy way. The composition as a whole is fantastic, carrying three miniature compositions within. Top, down and left to right, this story reads perfectly.
This piece is for sale sporting an unlisted price. You must contact Mike Mayhew directly to talk about buying this piece. Good luck with that, and let us know if you do!
