The Yak Shack Forum

What does everyone think of this little beauty! Cant believe it myself!! :o ;D

(http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f232/cvv/topps-lotr-9set.jpg)

 :o :o

WOW, Thats Awesome!

Did you pull it ?

:rofl:

Did you see who the artist was Martyn?? :P

I've got to be honest, I think it's great. I like Aragorn, Leggy and Gandalf in particular. And I love the lava around the ring :D

Great stuff ;)

I cannot make out who the Artist is!  Who is it Roz?  The Aragorn looks almost exactly like my avatar of him fighting at Helm's Deep!   :)  It's not Randy is it? 

There's a better piccy here on Randy's site

(http://www.randymartinez.net/art/sketchcard-lotr/topps-lotr-9set.jpg)

Well I must say that this 9 sketch card set is the ultimate "Fellowship" set that anyone could ever want.  Is Randy selling it or is it just for display?  Please include Randy's web site link for us Roz.  Thanks.   :)   I think this blows away anything done by Kayanan!

I think that is a little extreme.. If Rapheal took as much time on his cards as Randy did on these I think you would eat those words with a pickle and a pint

I just made it up as I wrote that...I may have started something special right here.. just now...it is documented in here forever.. I coined a phrase!!



....runs to the copywrite office

:D

Copyrighting law... oh that's fun that is *snore*

(sorry had to look into it recently).

Kayanans a genius... when we've picked up Ed's jaw from his desk after seeing this and given him a cup of tea he'll remember that

*Roz is still gutted that she missed out on the Kayanan of PJ's daughter for $400 :(*

    I will be honest, seeing this sketch he did, on some level bums me out. I understand about topps being sticky with the rules of how , what, why etc. when it comes to sketch's...AND I UNDERSTAND that artists are only getting paid 1.50 in some cases per sketch card...BUT, if you notice, on the CUSTOM commission sketch's all artists are doing and ebaying, they are all amazing works of art...and whats harsh, is that a lot of time, the artists who are doing these amazing works for themselves, are the artists who (to be brutally honest) you are praying NOT TO pull when you plunk down 70 dollars (or more) for a box.
     They get the point that better is what people want, because they are doing the best jobs of their lives for the commission sales. Thats great! i TOTALLY support that. You DO NEED to look out for number one. BUT, by that same token, it almost shows a type of disrespect to the fans who put the hard earned money into the product, to pull a sketch that took literally 20 secs to complete, and almost as long to sign their name to it. Then , to top it off, most of the artists who did this incredibly simple, churned out (honestly) horrid sketch's, signed them in INK in many cases...because they didn't want em getting erased (which on a side note,to me seems selfish and admitting of guilt , that you know no one wants to see most of those sketch's, so you make it so they cant become someones DREAM commission card down the road). You can tell thats a deliberate act, because in the past they never signed em in ink (hence some amazing worthwhile Star wars sketch's, lol).

I guess what this gets down to, is have a little respect for the fans. If you know the artwork your producing, isn't very good and you are capable of producing WAY better material...then...DONT. Don't take 1000 sketch orders. if you can only do say 500 that look good and worth having, then just do that. I'm not saying each one has to be an actual work of art (god forbid), but guys, don't turn out any more of these sketch's that took longer to SIGN then to draw. AND, if you cant find it in yourself to do that, then please don't sign em in ink to make sure no one ELSE ever does something worthwhile on the sketch card (BTW, ink can be removed very easily without damaging a card. Its a moot point to try and stop that practice by ink signing).

p.s. Every artist got paid different amounts per sketch. I would have to imagine quality was a MAJOR deciding factor in that...probably hurts you in the long run anyway PAY wise to take the 1000 sketch orders, when you see what most artists come out with after 1000 Sketch's (with the possible exception of Hodges, who's work was kinda interesting even at that high printrun).

Oh well, lets get our hate on.

Amen to that.

ditto

Well that may be true Cat but I have not seen any of Kayanan's work of comparable quality in the Evolution set.  He has created interesting and highly sought after work.  Mr. Kayanan gets everyone going with his artwok for this set and then does not accept any commission work.   ???   I don't know about you but I did not have the money to purchase case after case of Evolution.  I could only afford 3 boxes and of those 3 boxes I only received 1 sketch card per box.  Dealers for the most part pulled the Kayanan's and are charging as much as a house mortgage payment for them.  So now you have this demand for his work but it cannot be fulfilled because he is not accepting commission work.  If you know him I would appreciate you asking him why and post his answer here because many of us would like to know and get sketch cards by him.  Will he ever be available to do commission work?  I can understand being under contract and not being able to do side work but that has to end at some point doesn't it?

I was only just commenting on the fact that Randy has created some very nice artwork regardless of the time he spent on it and I guess my frustration with Kayanan's work being out of my price range and non ability to get commission work from him entered my writing.

I don;t know Rapheal well enough to speak for him but he has been in the business a LONG time and probably done not take commissions because he does not have time to do them. That would be my guess.. it is not a slight on the fans of the LOTR set. It doesn't make him a bad guy in fact he is quite the opposite. He probably just has a full schedule...believe me when I say this...art is not something that can be churned out on a daily basis, like accounting. The numbers don't always add up. There are days where you just don;t feel like working and it would be a mistake to do so as the end result probably would not be your best(you can see that on a few of my cards). But it is a job that is all day everyday and deadlines don't move very often and they are already too short anyway. Not really many days off in this gig. Check and see if he hits some conventions, like Comic Con...that may be your best chance for a sketch.

I think you are mistaken to believe that's a trait exclusive to artists. Everyone has days like that, usually after marathon days of inspiration and hard work in the previous few days

Ooooh - and don't I know it well! :'(

One thing for sure. Sketches with very little complexity (I am being non-abusive here...be nice.) should fetch a much higher price. Why you ask?
Obvious, it will be easier to erase when you send it in for a commissioned piece for yourself. Not as  much work for the artist and a cleaner finished product with faster turn around to you. Now, now... don't let's all rush out and bid the price up on those simple yet elegant sketches.   :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:   GOTCHA

All oif the artists were paid the same. Whether it was me, Rafael, Cat, Randy, or anyone... everyone was paid the same $1.50 per card from Topps. It was up to the artist as to how much detail to put into their cards...

I plan on doing a lot less from now on so I CAN do more detailed cards.

That's good to know as I found lots to love from your stuff with Evolution - the ones I enjoy looking at the most are obviously the more detailed ones...

Sheesh, that's every day from 9-6 for me!!! :rofl:

I like your cards too ;D

...so kayanan got paid 375 dollars for 4 weeks of work to do sketchs? am i understanding the correctly?

I don't think that Rapheal or any of the artists appreciate discussing financial topics in a public forum like this.

That might be true zhamlau, and if laws in America are similar to here in the UK then Topps would be in serious violation of labour laws ;), but if you look at how well his 6 returns sold you can sleep a little more easily at night, and since he doesn't do commissions I think he does all this for vastly different reasons to most artists. He seems to be doing some concept artwork and design for movies (as far as I can make out), so I think his motivations were different, I don't think making a name for himself with 'little people' like us will do him any harm either :)

You don't know how well his 6 returns sold. He only sold 4 online. Of course I would not know either.  0:)

No, im just commenting on the Hodges comment that ALL artists got 1.50 per sketch to draw for topps. If that is true, then that is what they payed kayanan...im just saying, that really doesnt seem right somehow. That seems unethical. I was merely commenting on the pay scale an artist told us. It just doenst wash for some reason. I mean, its like paying an interior designer 100 dollars to furnish your house with art...and you come back and your walls floors are lined with Chagalls and kandinskys. Its a GREAT deal if you only had to pay 100 bucks...but it doenst make sense when you think about what the final product was worth. Thats why the 375 , for 100,000 in sellable artwork...it just doenst make sense (the average of all his sketchs, averageing 400 dollars per sketch on ebay minimum). Thats seems like , in all honesty, a crime against the artists if its true...it so out of wack, i almost question it.

But it is not Topps that is making the $100,000..............it's the dealers. Topps get less than $35 for a box INLCUDING a Kayanan.

In that vein though they get $35 for a box with a really rubbishy sketch in too

yeah, but...1.50 to spend at least 2 hours MINIMUM per card...that doesnt make sense, does it? i mean, hey probably spent that 375 on materials. thats what seems odd.

Dang Zhamlau you are up late you must have been watching the Red Wings game :-X >:()

OMG< in fact i was, and im watching them now, they just started again, 2nd period, with a 1 goal lead, and they are now on the power play. I am so tired of the oilers. But, at least edmonton stoped booing our national anthem...thank god for small favors. GO RED WINGS!!!!

I love my nonsport cards, but they are put to shame by my hockey card (specifically wings) card collection 8)  Focus on Yzerman.   At least they evened the series up gooooo wings.

lol, i also collect hockey cards, but i focused mostly on my favorite ex wing and flyers captain keith primeau. That was a great game, but god did the refs try to give it to edmonton...then the oilers had the balls to complain they got screwed.