I would like to collect actual artwork.  I do not know the best way of going about this.  Does the actual artwork come up on ebay all that often.  Or do I have to go to the artists' website.  



How much does a painting used for the cover of Dragon Magazine go for? Just a ball park figure would be fine.



Martin

I would think the original artist would be your best bet.  Unless someone else bought the original first or it was part of the deal with TSR, most artists keep the original and only sell lithos.   But if TSR bought all rights to the art then they might have demanded the originals too.



(I have lots of artist friends, they tend to borrow money alot, lol, but I love what they do.)  

I agree with tracking down the artists.  Most have a presence on the web.  In addition, Noble Knight games sells originals  http://www.nobleknight.com/ViewManuf.asp_Q_CategoryID_E_15 .  There is also  The Illustration Exchange http://www.munchkinpress.com that has fantasy illustrations for sale and shows off personal collections of fantasy illustration.



I would do your homework.  Look around at various websites.  Get to know the price range which original cover art and interior black and white illustrations go for.  Then you will have a good idea if you are getting a fair price.



The newer stuff is probably quite easy to find.  If you are after the classic stuff (1st edition stuff) I would image you will have a tougher time finding the artists as well as available artwork for sale.



As stated in another post tsrart is the one who could probably give you the best advice.

Try searching the Acaeum Forums. There have been a lot of random posts about particular artworks in the past.



To get started, check out all of the posts by Tsrart:



search.php?search_id=1193953145



There's also an Artwork Museum at the Acaeum which unfortunately has not been updated in quite a while:



http://www.acaeum.com/DDIndexes/Museum.html

I think Adam summed up a lot of the issues quite nicely. I'll just add a few specific pointers that I've picked up over the last 10 years:



1) Always check with the artist first. You can shop much more intelligently if you know what is readily available from the source, and for how much.



2) Stuff does turn up on eBay with some frequency, but it's pot luck - you get what you get. If you just want a Dragon cover, then you have a good shot. If you want a Clyde Caldwell Dragon cover, your odds aren't as good. And if you want a specific Caldwell cover, well, good luck.



3) As Adam pointed out, prices on Dragon covers vary tremendously depending on the artist. If you want to post a list of artists/pieces you're interested in owning, I can give you pretty accurate price points and probably give you some idea of the likely places to look.



3a) Adam, there's actually been an early Morrissey Dragon cover floating around eBay for $2500. Later book covers run into $5k or so, but it's his recent major children's book illustrations and gallery paintings that get up into 5 figures.



4) 1E . . . . good luck. I quit collecting 1E pieces because I couldn't find enough to keep things interesting. All the major HB covers are in permanent collections and not going anywhere soon. Isolated classic Dragon and/or major module covers could pop up at any time, of course, but I'd probably bet the Texans before I bet on that. There are also a couple of major collectors with deep pockets who are not part of this board, including the now rich and famous Tony DiTerlizzi.



5) In the early days, TSR did, in fact, keep all of the artwork done by their staff illustrators. By the time of the "second wave" (Parkinson et al) the artists did get to keep their originals, although TSR had first rights to buy things they felt were significant. (WotC subsequently returned all purchased paintings to the artists, leading to some very happy artists who were able to sell paintings twice.)



6)ToEE . . . . can't help there. I never asked Keith about that piece. Keith was kind of in the middle as far as available stuff - he still had more classic pieces than, say, Clyde, but not as many as Jeff. I spent five years trying to convince him to sell me VALSHEA, but never did manage to get him to part with it.



7) Finally, anyone who has inquiries about specific artists or pieces, go ahead and post and I'll fill in whatever info I've got.



Hope that helped, Martin!

Adam -



Consider yourself PM'd!



Actually, those Hildebrandt Dragon covers are right up near the top of my want list . . . . If anyone ever happens to trip across one of those pieces, let me know. If it's for sale, I'll send you brownies. (If it's for sale AND cheap, I'll send pixies as well!)



Just off the cuff, I would guess that THE single most expensive Dragon magazine cover would be the one cover that Boris did.



Boris sold close to 100 of his best 70s-early 80s paintings to a Japanese corporation during the go-go 80s when the Japanese were investing in fantasy art for crazy amounts, particularly people like Boris, his son Dorian, and Rowena. (If you wondered how Rowena paintings ended up in the Iraq Love Shack, they almost certainly came via Japan.)



As a result, prime vintage Boris stuff is really hard to find, and tends to carry pretty big price tags. I was looking for a Savage Sword of Conan cover by Boris, but the only one I could find that was anywhere near being for sale was over $20k.



But I digress . . . .



It occurs to me that I may not have ever mentioned The Illustration Exchange here, so since Adam has referenced it I'll put in a plug. I run a website for illustration art collectors where people can list paintings for sale, or post a wanted list. There is also a Collections section where people can post their top 10 paintings. Anyone who's interested in original TSR art ought to check it out periodically.



http://www.munchkinpress.com

Thanks! That Beekman is one of my favorite paintings. (The very favorite piece, because I dreamed of owning it for 10 years, is Michael Whelan's Elric of Melnibone cover WEIRD OF THE WHITE WOLF.)



I was supposed to be at the Spectrum show, but my dogsitter backed out at the last minute and my wife and I were unable to attend. Curses!! My friend Gregg was there and took pictures of our pieces that were in the show, so I at least got to see pictures of them.



I think the show was a fabulous idea, and it was a tremendous success, but I'll be very happy if no one asks me to ship that Beekman again any time soon . . . .

Martin -



Thanks!



When the times comes and you're ready to seriously start looking for stuff, let me know and I'll be happy to give you whatever assistance I can.

Hmmm . . . can't speak to the GDQ cover. I don't know if it was sold or not. Dragontreasure owns a lot of TSR and TSR related art - I bought an Elmore from them about two years ago. It would probably be worth dropping them an email, though. The $7k IS probably too much, but given the scarcity of major Parkinsons on the market . . . .



The Morrissey that was for sale was the cover to Dragon #18. It's not on eBay right now, though - I don't know whether it was sold or not.



I've seen a few interior module illos, but not a lot. Probably some of the other guys here have seen more of those than I have . . . . Most of the inks that I used to own were from the HC rulebooks or unused.



Well, you can certainly contact the old guys, but I don't believe any of them have much of anything left at this point - they never had much (except Roslof) and have been pretty well cleaned out by this point in time.