3 Tips for New Original Art Collectors

The comic original art space can definitely feel daunting if you’re a newcomer. Unlike mass produced collectibles, there isn’t exactly a price guide for one-of-one art. The purchasing process, especially online, can be less than straightforward. Storage and display sometimes cost more than the artwork itself! Without a doubt, navigating the OA game can feel like crossing a mine field.

One article can’t answer all of the questions that you have. However, these three tips will at least give you some general principles to understand and consider before you make purchases that you may regret.

1. Spend money on the specific. Look for deals on the general.

If you dream of owning Jim Lee artwork from the 90s that features Psylocke, be prepared to pay up. The chances of you coming across Jim Lee artwork from that particular time period that has that particular character front and center, are slim. The chances of you coming across something like that at an amazing price point are slim to none. If you want something very specific, understand that you’re probably going to have to pay current market prices and beyond to obtain it.

She’s gonna cost ya.

On the opposite end of things, if you just want original Jim Lee art, time period and character be damned, you have a much better chance of running into a deal.

2. Published original art does a better job of retaining value and is more likely to increase in value.

I love my commissions. Each one reminds me of a very special moment in time that I’m proud to have captured in art. However, my commissions are my own. I can’t expect others to have the same sort of attachment to them.

Published original art is a shared experience. The issue that used it is widely available. Thousands of people have glanced at it, enjoyed it, loved it. When you buy a published piece, you’re buying a small piece of a character’s history, an artist’s evolution, a publisher’s legacy. Lots of people would love to have that very same piece. Therefore, if/when you decide to part with it, chances are that there are quite a few potential caretakers that would jump at the chance to give it a home.

And sometimes the OA costs more than their actual home, but that’s a story for another time.

3. Direct dealings with artists lead to the best deals and the most unlikely treasures.

Comic art dealers, comic art collectors, and comic artists’ representatives want their cut. They also save the good stuff for themselves. The best prices and “crap your pants” pieces of art usually surface when you put the middle folks on the sidelines and converse with the artists themselves. You never knew that you wanted the preliminary sketches for that new character that everybody is talking about. However, that’s exactly what you got after a heartfelt, thirty minute conversation with an up-and-coming artist that shared a booth with your favorite artist.

The collection of your dreams contains pieces you’re not thinking about at prices that you can’t imagine. The only way you can obtain them is by talking to the artists directly.