Holy Hawaii Batman!

I got two more sketch cards one on Wednesday 02 February 2012 and one the following day. These cost a bit more than the pencil sketch cards I had mentioned before. First up is a sketch of DC Comic Heroine Batgirl on her Batcycle.

 

This card is a pencil sketch with pen & ink with gray shading, watercolor? The back is signed by the artist Lyle Pollard and dated "2k'12" it has ink bleed-through from the ink on the front.

I like his style but I have a problem with some of his faces, there were other cards I saw where I liked the subject but there was something about how he did the face that didn't sit with me well.

 After studying this particular sketch I noticed that Batgirl has a scrawny pencil-neck. I also noticed that her windblown hair seems to be too high behind her, maybe her pony tail is high and that is the loose hair below the hairband.Those are my only complaints about this sketch. I got it from Ebay for $14.99 w/Free Shipping.

 Next up we have a card from an "upcoming designer of non-sports trading cards" of the Hawaii Five-0 Character Kono Kalakaua played by Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica).

 It is a pencil sketch colored with what looks like watercolor. The artist uses thin paper stock that is textured to simulate canvas. The back is actually a second piece of paper stock that has a certificate and is serial numbered to 250. Each of this artist's print runs is numbered to 250. It is sealed in a toploader (no penny sleeve though). I got this one for $12.99 w/ $1.95 shipping. This one is numbered 224/250.

 At first I thought and assumed (dangerous to do I know) that the seller was the artist his Ebay ID is vinestreetstuff. It doesn't look like he is the artist as the guy has a couple of other artist's work for sale. One of the artists this guy sells cards of is named Michael Celona, but this signature doesn't match the one for him. The signature on the back looks like it starts with a "P" maybe "Phil"?

It seems that sketch artists don't put their cards in a penny sleeve before putting them in the toploader. At least most have the sense to use toploaders and not those silly "card savers". (see my post on My Cal Ripken RC) The card saver is better than nothing, unfortunately a lot of card sellers and card collectors will put cards in them and ship them in a thin envelope (bad) or a PWE (worse). They are usually OK if put in a bubble mailer or a more substantial mailer or box. Cardsavers are OK for storage and display, but not for shipping.