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:

OMAC - The One-Man Army Corps!

Here's a commission I completed in 2021 for a collector of OMAC, Jack Kirby's quasi-loopy DC comic from the early 1970s, which was aborted somewhat prematurely for Jack's heralded return to Marvel and Captain America in time for the Bicentennial. Those DC Kirby comics -- namely, his improbably run on Jimmy Olson -- were some of the first comic books I could call my own. Although lacking the sparkly of Stan Lee's "Master of Ceremonies" scripting, they were some of the mature Jack's most energetic and creative work. This 14" x 17" commission, which came to me online, was begun during the afternoon lull at the 2021 Akron Comic Con as a lone pencil figure, then completed at home.

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.

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?!"

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.

Woonan the Barbarian! Summer 2019 Sketches and Commissions!

Here is a slew of some of the things I drew at this past week's Three Rivers Comic Con, kicking off the summer 2019 convention season! The warm-up began a week, earlier at Free Comic Book Day, with a caricature of me courtesy of Howard Bender (below; his contact info is on the image, if you want Howie to sketch at your event). Other examples includes Dejah Thoris for Eric Anderson, and some sweet Ms. Megaton Man sketches.

Read the Ms. Megaton Maxi-Series YA prose novel!

Flat-colored linework.

Here's the inked version, using Hunt #102 crowquill and India ink.

Woonan the Barbarian (why didn't I think of that years ago?) with Deja Vu-This for Dean Focareta.

Dejah Thoris of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series for Eric Anderson of Northeast Ohio (NEO) Comic Con.

The Human Meltdown encounter Ms. Megaton Man!

A laid-back view of Clarissa James, Ms. Megaton Man.

 

Ms. Megaton Man shows her smile!

Megaton Man for Mike Easton of The Impossible Family comic!

Caricature of Mega-Don Simpson by Howard Bender!

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All characters, character names, likenesses, words and pictures are ™ and © Don Simpson 2019, all rights reserved (unless otherwise noted).

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!

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.

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.