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.

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.

Not Branded Yet! Stuff You Won't See in CRAZY!

Followers on my social media know I was lucky enough to get an email from Marvel Entertainment senior editor Mark Paniccia back in May asking if I'd like to contribute to a 40-page one-shot revival of CRAZY! I teach college writing during the fall and spring semesters, and school had just let out, and I was a little rusty at the ol' drawing board, but I said, "Why not?!"

Webs and Shreds (and Thunder!): Three More Recent Drawings

Here are some more commission-like drawing (they're like what I would do for a convention or commission drawing, but these aren't sold yet!). The first is a Spidey pose traced from a 2005 sketchbook drawing I always liked, with the addition of a goofy Hulk figure. It's 11" x 14" on Aquabee sketchbook paper, colorized in Photoshop (although I could accomplish much the same effect physically with Dr. Martin's dyes).

A Signal, Two Girls, and Three Recent Ink Drawings!

I had some time to use India ink at Wizard World Pittsburgh July 26-28, 2019, something I haven't done in many years, and produced three fairly nice ink drawings, all on 11" x 14" Aquabee sketchbook paper, with a Hunt #102 "crowquill" pen.

Spidey Stampede: A Decades-Delayed Office Dash!

This is a drawing I just completed in pen and ink on 11" x 14" Aquabee sketchbook paper (nice stuff that takes pen and ink really well; it's almost like Bristol board). I had this pad for ages and decided to cut the spiral-wire binding and use it for warm-up drawings and convention sketches.

Patriotic Pen and Ink: An Orphaned Commission!

Perhaps it's all the deep divisions right now in this great land of ours, or (more likely) my own perverse prankishness, but when a collector contacted me about doing a commission over the weekend with instructions that he wanted me to be me, this is the idea I woke up with this morning. So, I let 'er rip. Unfortunately, at the pencil stage (below), said collector balked, informing me that he was "really not a Marvel fan." Okay. So I went ahead and inked it anyway.

SpideyCat and the Chopper Cube: Marvel Samples Then and Now!

I started reading comics in earnest at the age of ten in the summer of 1972. The first comics I devoured were from the Marvel Comics Group with the cover date of September. Virtually the last comic book on the spinner rack at Howard's Drugs at Six Mile and Inkster Road in my neighborhood of Livonia, Michigan--with a Marvel banner that I hadn't read already--was Amazing Spider-Man #112, which I bought somewhat reluctantly. I don't know what it was that turned me off of Spider-Man; maybe it was the awful Ralph Bakshi Saturday morning cartoon of some years before, with the dreadful theme song that still haunts the current Marvel movies.

Princess Diana and Mary Jane: Some Recent Commissioned Drawings

Wonder Woman and Spidey's Girl Friend are among the subjects of several recent commissions (a couple below are older and may have been posted before, but well worth revisiting).

For some reason I never warmed up to Harry G. Peter's original version of Wonder Woman; like Steve Ditko on Spider-Man, I grew up on a different, later version of the character, and it is only in maturity that I recognize the originality in their respective versions. I also have come to appreciate that Peter was attempting to do a kind of classical antiquity thing with the drawing, aping Greek figure vases by way of early twentieth century pulp illustration. I also like the early Wonder Woman's mid-thigh-length pants, which have recently come back into style as biker shorts or yoga tights (I never cared for the Linda Carter high-cut thigh look, personally).

Anyway, below are a few recent drawings along those lines, along with some other characters that are obviously not owned by me.

Wonder Woman repels the Cheetah, in a homage to an early H. G. Peter splash page.

Princess Diana takes a jog in the high-heel boots that become more or less standard early in her career.

Wonder Woman in her Art Deco hairstyle and Neo Grec ribboned sandals.

Apropos of nothing, a topless Mary Jane Watson and Spidey (pencil rough).

Spidey defends (pointlessly) Mary Jane's modesty; inked on vellum.

Wonder Woman in the more classic panty bottoms, but losing her fine featherd bustier, which chooses to fly the coop. Wonder Woman is the property of whatever corporate interests own Hollywood at the moment, but Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Inked version in pen and ink on Strathmore. Megaton Man™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

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

Megaton Man as the sidekick and Stella Starlight as the Captain in a sketchbook commission. Megaton Man™ and Stella Starlight™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

For more racy (or at least weird) convention sketches from the past, proceed to the previous blog post.

Please consult my Commission Price List and contact me if you are interested in acquiring an original custom drawing for your private gallery!

Everything and the Kitchen Sink Too! A New Commissioned Piece

Here is a pen-and-ink and watercolor commission on 14" x 17" Strathmore 400 Drawing for Los Angelino Greg Reed, showing Megaton Man, Stella Starlight, and their love child Simon Phloog at home in Ann Arbor (around the era of Return of Megaton Man #3, 1988).

Megaton Man struggles with a jar of mayonnaise in this domestic genre scene!

If you are interested in an original Don Simpson work of art, please check out the Commission Price List!