Comic Art Sketch Cards by Jeff Oleson

A couple of months ago I had a backlog of Star Wars sketches to get through, and now I'm in the same position with comic book-related artwork. Although I am still gathering cards from my other collecting interests, I've had a renewed interest in original artwork lately. There is a novelty there that you can't get with the endless parallels and rehashed photos found on traditional cards. I think that might also be the reason I am drawn to Topps Now products. The photo selections for those aren't pictures that you will find on 25 other pieces of cardboard.

Today's sketches were done by artist Jeff Oleson. I bought them from his eBay listings, where he's generally got a few things up for sale. He has a website, but it looks like it isn't updated frequently. He doesn't appear to have a business or art Facebook page or other social media presence, but there is a Facebook group dedicated to fans of his artwork.

This first sketch is a Star Wars / Marvel mash-up. It looks like the Stormtrooper has characteristically missed his target, and now the Punisher is going to make him pay. I like these parody sketches. There are a few artists out there who do them, with some being more off-color than others. Oleson leans toward the cleaner end of things, at least based on the art I've seen from him. Others, like Joe Gravel and Doug Riggsby, are a little naughtier with their work.

This second sketch features Scarlet Witch from Marvel in a rather improbable version of her costume. I can't quite put my finger on why I like this sketch. The character is not depicted in a particularly sexy way, and really her face kinda creeps me out. The style reminds me of underground comix from the likes of Robert Crumb or the undergound-lite stuff like MAD or Cracked.

I've been watching his listings, but haven't yet picked up any more of Oleson's work. He's got some pretty neat sketches he's been doing lately, with art in the style of the corner boxes from comic book covers. His listings also mention that he's got official sketches in the 2017 Fleer Ultra Spider-Man Trading Cards from Upper Deck. 

An Avengers: Age of Ultron Sketch by Kate Carleton

I've been trying to build my post queue up, but I have mixed feelings about it. Right now I'm five days out on posts, so I am writing this five days ago. Things that are current now won't be current when you read this post on Thursday, and it is highly likely that something of note will occur during that time. So if I'm ahead on posts there is a risk that the content will no longer be relevant upon publication, but if I don't get ahead on my posts I am always under the gun to get a post written out for the current day. Probably the right answer is to just get photos processed and loaded up, but save the actual post writing for one or two days out. But the real right answer is just to get as many posts as I can written whenever the blogging bug hits me, so that when real life interferes or I get into a motivational slump I still have stuff ready to go. None of that has anything to do with today's card, though. It's just what I've been thinking about.

This is a sketch card from 2015 Upper Deck Avengers: Age of Ultron. The sketch is Avengers character Scarlet Witch, done by artist Kate Carleton. I've mentioned a few times that I don't especially like Scarlet Witch as a character, but it seems like there are a lot of good sketch cards out there featuring her. That means that when I am trying to track down a certain artist for my collection it is likely that I might end up with a Scarlet Witch sketch.

Kate Carleton is one of the artists I'd been trying to track down to add to my collection, and this sketch was the right one for my collection. It sat in my Watch List for a long time and I always figured that someone else was going to snag it before I got around to buying it.

A High-End Marvel Sketch Booklet by Mary Bellamy

Upper Deck's Marvel Premier is one of those high-end hit-driven products that I will probably never bust a box of on my own. Each box contains just five cards, which break down as two base / parallel cards, one insert card, one standard sketch card, and one 2-, 3, or 4-panel sketch card. Although I won't ever bust a box of it on my own, that doesn't stop me from trolling eBay looking for good deals on sketches by my favorite artists. The sketch card booklets are double-sided, so you actually get extra panels depending on the size of the booklet. A 2-panel booklet actually has three panels for art, a 3-panel booklet has 5 sketch panels, and a 4-panel booklet has a whopping 7 panels available.

I was able to pick up this Scarlet Witch 2-panel booklet by artist Mary Bellamy for a decent sum. The multi-panel format really gives artists a chance to open up. Some do multiple shots of the same character, as seen on this card. Some do a large shot of one character that takes up all of the space on a side, some do group shots featuring multiple characters, and some do a mixture of the above. I am not even really a Scarlet Witch fan, but for whatever reason sketches of her seems to bring out the best in artists. Based on my non-scientific evaluation (looking at tons of sketch cards on eBay), something about her costume / color scheme / power set just lends itself to sketch card art.

The outside of the booklet features a sketch panel on the front cover and all the legal stuff on the back cover, where many artists choose to place their signature. I was pretty happy to land this sketch booklet, and I like Bellamy's art style. I like that she tends to use a lot of bright colors and her cartoony style appeals to me. I have built a nice little collection of her work through various avenues. I've e-mailed back and forth with her, interacted with her briefly on Twitter, purchased a couple of her published My Little Pony variant covers, commissioned some PSCs (Personal Sketch Cards) from her, purchased an artist return from her, and now I've bought some of her work from eBay.

What eBay Hath Wrought 83: 2014 Rittenhouse Marvel Universe Vision/Scarlet Witch Sketch Card

22 May 2016: It took me almost two years, but I figured out the artist for this card. It is Brazilian artist Rene Micheletti.

I acquired another comic book sketch card from eBay, this one from the 2014 Rittenhouse Marvel Universe set. You would think that with a fairly clear signature block on the front it would be easy to identify the artist, but thus far I have not been able to come up with a name.

Anyway, the card depicts the moment in Avengers vs. X-Men when Vision banishes his former wife, Scarlet Witch, from the Avengers Mansion, referencing a previous incident in which she used her powers to take over his body and attack his teammates. It's a pretty heavy moment, and I think the artist did a good job of conveying all of that in the sketch. All of the background details are a plus, as I think they serve to anchor the characters in a moment in time. A lot of sketches leave out the background and focus on only the characters.

The back of the card is pretty basic, as most sketch cards are. The companies just send out a bunch of blanks to the artists, who then add the art and send them back. Some artists put their names or website on the back. I think that is a rather helpful thing for a collector, and also serves as publicity for the artist.