Commission Artwork Price List, Fall 2023

Update: For the time being, I am only entertaining commission assignments from collectors wanting to own a piece of original comic art. I am NOT doing pinups, covers or variant covers, collaborations, freelance assignments, or renderings other people's IP for publication at the present time, including creator-owned IP, small press, big press, crowdfunders, etc. It is true that I have done such work in the past and may still have one or two pieces coming out from various third parties in the months ahead, but I have been turning down all such work for several months now. This is because of a very poor batting average I've had in recent years with various schnooks and some particularly terrible experiences in 2023 (I intend to blog about some of these soon). Nothing personal to all you creator-publishers out there; best of luck to you and stick with it! -- August 23, 2023.

Recent Commissions Fall 2022

2022 was a strong year for Don Simpson personalized commissions! Thanks for your support! Hope you'll contact me throughout the holiday season and into 2023 with your requests! Here goes:

Megaton Man Rejects from Savage Dragon Team-Up!

 This are four pages I created on oversized Marvel bleed Bristol (13.5" x 21") for The Savage Dragon vs. the Savage Megaton Man #1 (Image Comics, 1993) but were rejected by Erik Larsen. I was going for a more simplified, Kirby-esque style at the time (evident later in my self-published Bizarre Heroes, made possible by the generous proceeds from this and Splitting Image). Erik wanted the more elaborate Neal Adams-ish inking style of the early issues of Megaton Man, so I took another shot at it. Some panels included Erik's headshots of the dragon, but one splash was left unfinished (apparently, that's when Erik decided he couldn't live the approach I'd taken). The lettering and script in this case is entirely by me.

Upcoming 2022 Shows and Recent Commissions!

For more original art and commission examples, see my Comic Art Fans gallery!*

Since 1984, I have been a guest of numerous comic book conventions and shows from coast to coast, and many of the convention sketches I have drawn over the years can be seen all over the internet. I've also drawn a growing number of commissions in my studio and either shipped directly or delivered at shows. Below are some of my most recent commissions from 2021 shows.

So You Think You Can Ink? The Dandy Don Tryout Page!

A number of fans, enthusiasts, and even fellow pros have asked me if they could try their hand at inking my stuff ("stuff" being the technical term for "pencil art"!). I've posted tons of my drawings hither and yon, on Facebook as well as this and related blogs (usually right before inking them myself, so some images have already been inked, others not). I've gathered some of my favorites here below to appease those lockdown inkers who want to give it a go. Those interested may find others be searching this blog or Google Images.

Deviant Don: Creaturely Commissions from the Empowering Eighties!

Here are a couple of convention sketch commissions I created in 1989-1990 for cartooning connoisseur and former longtime Comics Buyer's Guide columnist Kim Metzger, who has a passion for what he calls "transformations" (a term I was unfamiliar with) - in this case, female media personalities turned into hybrid animal creatures. This is definitely a very minor part of my oeuvre - I can't recall more than a few other "furry" type commissions at shows over the years, among hundreds of PG con sketches of my own characters (Megaton Man, Border Worlds, Bizarre Heroes) and other mainstream superheroes.

Mr. Metzger's sometimes requests became legendary at conventions like the old Chicago Comicon and Mid-Ohio Con, and many artists felt uncomfortable and even refused them; but I'm glad to see at least the best of his collection curated on a very nice Kim Metzger Deviant Art Page.

Former Miss America Diane Sawyer as a lizard, colored by another artist (I think they may have added the tongue and sound effect, too, since it does not appear to be my work) for collector Kim Metzger.

Material Girl Madonna Ciccone as a feline (gripping her tail suggestively), for Kim Metzger.

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For collectors and would-be collectors of original Don Simpson art wishing to see just how far I will go, you may get some idea by visiting the Anton Drek DeviantArt Gallery for slightly censored sexually explicit content, and more directly, the Anton Drek Blog - WARNING! SERIOUSLY MATURE ADULT XXX SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT - (although honestly, I don't know why people always confuse my work with that guy; there isn't any similarity between our respective styles at all that I can see!).

Please refer to my Commission Price List, and please remember: requests beyond garden-variety PG are never embarrassing, but you'll pay through the nose, and I reserve the right to turn down any request for any reason whatsoever.

Three Rivers Comic Con Sketches

The third Three Rivers Comic Con was a great time, with a critical mass of guest artists and a lot of fans looking for original art and sketches. This is most of my output for the two-day show (May 19-20).The sketches on 3RCC sketch paper (carefully selected by New Dimension Coimcs' Jon Engel) and the Wasteland covers were created for the charity auction; the others were for collectors, except the 11" x 14" Megaton Man pencil, which is unclaimed. (Sketch and commission price information can be gleaned elsewhere on this blog! Email me.) More convention sketches and other pieces of original comic art collected by fans at Comic Art Fans!

Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

The Slick™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Ms. Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Ms. Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Ms. Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

The Black Fury for the Old Guys Who Like Old Comic Books. © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

The Slick™ and Ms. Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Wireless Man™  and Wireless Woman™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Wendy Whitebread™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Two Orphaned Drawings from Personal Appearances

Update 12/12/14: Watch videos of me drawing this Spidey! See final colored Spidey drawing below.

Ms. Megaton Man, from Genghis Con, Cleveland, Nov. 30, 2014.

I will part with no drawing before its time! Here are a couple of drawings I began at recent personal appearances (Ms. Megaton Man at Genghis Con in Cleveland, Nov 30, 2014 and Spidey at the Frank L. Melaga Art Museum in Brownsville PA, Dec 8, 2014), but ran out of time to complete them on-site. I later finished inking them, including making minor corrections, at home.

There is nothing more tragic than a homeless cartoon drawing, especially during the holidays! If you can provide safe, warm shelter for works of art like these, please contact me. Or, if you would like to commission a completely new, custom made drawing of your favorite character, please visit my commission rate page. Thanks, and have a happy holiday season!

Spider-Man colored in Photoshop.

Ms. Megaton Man is ™ and  © Don Simpson 2014, all rights reserved. Other characters are ™ and  © their respective creators/owners.

Adventures of Nick and Megs: Two Recent Commissions!

Here are a couple recent commissions I did for fans at Lawn Con 5 in Youngstown, Ohio on October 5, 2014. The first I did in advance of the show for Bill Lait, the second I drew on site for Mark Sweetwood. The first is a parody of Neal Adams' "Kryptonite Nevermore!" cover for Superman #233 (January 1971); the second is my interpretation of Nick Fury in his black rubber latex suit. I was a bit worried that doing all that Neal Adams feathering would affect my work for the next sixth months, but the cool outdoor temperatures of a rust-belt Indian Summer had me reverting to a rather straightforward Kirby-Romiat roundhouse style in no time! Great fun and good times.

Pen and India Ink, watercolor and colored pencil on Strathmore 400 Drawing, 11" x 14". Collection of Bill Lait.

Pen and India Ink on Strathmore 400 Drawing, 11" x 14". Collection of Mark M. Sweetwood.

I've been very lucky to have received numerous commissions and freelance assignments in 2014, and I am humbled and grateful for every one! If you would like to own an original piece of my art and would like me to draw something for you, please look over my commission price list and contact me with your request! Thanks -- Don Simpson.

Ed "Big Dandy" Don: Megastang Man!

Here is a recent commission idea that got completely out of control: a request for a Megaton Man pin-up in the manner of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (Ed being my middle name anyway). Takes me back to second grade when all boys draw cars, whether they had any interest in drawing or were into cars or not (I drew, but despite my dad being an auto mechanic, had no interest in cars per se). It doesn't take a practiced eye to note that all the chrome and engine parts are faked (although the basic underlying phallic symbolism couldn't be more obvious)!

If you would like a Dandy Don sketch, drawing, pin-up, whatchamacallit, please peruse the handy Dandy Don Commission Price List.

Original blue and graphite pencil layout on bond. "Schwing," indeed, as The Man of Molecules goes bonkers over the curvaceous See-Thru Girl.

Pen (Hunt #102 Crowquill) and India ink on Clearprint Design Vellum, approximately 11" x 14".

Wooverine: Megalogan Man!

Blue and graphite pencil on blank comic book cover.

Pen and brush with India ink on blank comic book cover.

Drawing Blanks: Variant Covers, That Is

Here are three recent drawings created on blank variant covers (a phenomenon I am only barely acquainted with, but apparently dates back to DC's Wasteland #6, which is the only issue of the series I don't appear in). Depending on the paper stock, I used India ink, either with a sable brush or crowquill pen, and Dr. Martin's dyes. Each of these paper stocks offered a different quality surface, better or worse for pencil/inking/coloring, and therefore a unique challenge -- but it's a poor craftsman who blames his materials! Enjoy.

Crowquill and ink with Dr. Martin's dyes.

Sable brush and India ink with Dr. Martin's dyes. This is the first time I've drawn this character.

Sable brush and India ink with Dr. Martin's dyes. The composition is a riff on Jack Kirby's iconic cover for Captain America #106 (October 1968), except that I have Cap in shredded army fatigues, as if he was just revived in Avengers # 4 (March 1964).

Don Simpson does not discriminate on the basis of universes, companies, or eras of comic book fandom. Don Simpson is an equal opportunity cartoonist.

Captain Amegatonman and Bucky Barrage: A Recent Commission

A recent commission request from Mark Martin's personal art dealer and consigliore Michael Beaver, who informs me that he collects sketches of old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles artists who had work published by Mirage Studios back in the 1980s (which I somehow qualify as, although it was so long ago I forget exactly how!). His theme: Captain America! So Michael has compiled a sketchbook of various turtle artists drawing the red, white and blue Avenger. No problem! So the sketchbook arrived last week by armored car, and this is what I drew:

Here is the double-paged extravaganza I produced, with Stella Starlight (The See-Thru Girl as Cap) and Megaton Man as Bucky. I thought the white leggings on Stella balanced the arms (I never understood why Cap had white arms), and she is blond like Steve Rogers, so it made a certain amount of sense. Changing Megaton Man's cowl to white is a choice I'm less certain about, but I thought it would get lost in all that blue otherwise. I should have made Bucky's buttons more like those on Meg's cape!

I suppose Captain America is one of my favorite characters (although he is so iconic I tend to think of him more like Santa Claus or Uncle Sam, and hence, not a "character" at all in that sense), if only because three of his more important artists - Jack Kirby, John Romita, and Jim Steranko - were so utterly influential for me.

Mike also enclosed a couple of items to be autographed: the first collection of Megaton Man #1-4 from Kitchen Sink Press (1990), and Shell Shock, an anthology of TMNT by Mirage (1989), which features the first appearance of Bizarre Hero Pteranoman (the entire story appears here). So I had to add appropriate sketches.

Here is the pencil sketch of Stella I drew on the largely-blank dedication page of the Megaton Man Kitchen Sink collection. In the past such things would escape (as far as I was concerned), never to be seen again, but today it is easy to snap a photo as documentation, so why not? Now, instead of a personal experience for Michael, I can ruin it by posting it on the Internet!

Here is the ballpoint pen sketch of Pteranoman that I drew on the Shell Shock table of contents page (the title page was already filled with autographs from contributors to the anthology). My contribution, "Teen Techno Turtle Trio," was the first appearance of what Michael aptly describes as "the Paleo Dark Knight."

My thanks to Michael Beaver for letting me a part of his personal Sentinel of Liberty on a Half-Shell menagerie, and for allowing me to reproduce the above images!

Please note: I have done a number of commissions in bound sketchbooks as comic book conventions over the years, where fans will leave their treasured books with me in artist's alley and pick them up later (this is fraught enough, if only because in the melee of conventions it is sometime difficult to locate these fans later, especially in the closing hours of an event). When working remotely, at home, as I do in the case of Internet requests, I prefer to draw commissions on loose, quality paper stock of my choice, not bound sketchbooks that already have numerous and irreplaceable masterpieces by famous artists already contained therein, if only because of the enormous emotional strain of drawing under such nerve-wracking conditions! I only undertook this commission because Michael had armed guards standing over me the whole time to make sure I did not drip ink on any of the other sketchbook pages!

Please note further that if your commission request involves a bound sketchbook, it will entail additional surcharges just for insurance and catering the armed guards!! Thanks for understanding.

A Couple of Recent Commissions

Here are a couple recent commissions I completed for fans and collectors. I will post more here as time allows. (Please see my commission price list posted on this blog if you would like to own an original, custom made piece of Don Simpson art!)

Here is a recent commission, 11" x 14", pen and ink and Dr. Martin's dyes and watercolor on Strathmore 400 Drawing (a very slightly creme colored paper that is somewhat thinner than Bristol). In this case the request was for a nude Wonder Woman, but there are limits to how far I will go with commissions involving my own "PG" characters, and especially characters that I do not own (please see my commission price list posted on this blog). I think the final result is funny and hopefully tasteful.

This is the inked version, before coloring. Generally, I will send a jpeg of the commission at this stage to the client for approval.

Here is the initial light blue Col-Erase pencil and graphite pencil version. Again, I send a jpeg for approval at this stage.

Every commission is different. This one is for Steve Hager's Dutchy Digest, a self-published comic set in rural eastern Pennsylvania, featuring two of the recurring characters. Steve plans to use this piece as a "pin-up" in a future issue. Artwork for publication, strictly speaking, goes beyond a traditional "commission," and is negotiable. (I should have charged Steve much more, come to think of it!!)