Which Apex Editions would you like to see?

[Le Fink]

Didn't I read somewhere he draws on A4?

Yep. Actual size. He draws that stuff actual size.

No... I couldn't believe it, either!

Right! It is incredible. So the art would be enlarged to get it to Apex format. Does that provide a benefit, or is it always best to view things at the original size?

[Colin YNWA]

Didn't I read somewhere he draws on A4?

Yep. Actual size. He draws that stuff actual size.

No... I couldn't believe it, either!

Right! It is incredible. So the art would be enlarged to get it to Apex format. Does that provide a benefit, or is it always best to view things at the original size?

That's a good question but I think th idea is to have them at original size so it would just be a smaller volume (dimensions wise) no point expanding them in my mind? Though I'm guessing the book would be slightly bigger than a Meg height and width wise as I assume there is a bigger bounder on the original art pages.

Still stunned he does these one to one. I think I'd heard that before but had just blanked it out my mind as I couldn't comprehend it!

[Le Fink]

...I think th idea is to have them at original size so it would just be a smaller volume (dimensions wise) no point expanding them in my mind? Though I'm guessing the book would be slightly bigger than a Meg height and width wise as I assume there is a bigger bounder on the original art pages.

Yeah... I'm not sure either way. My eyes aren't what they used to be, and it's hyper-detailed stuff!

[IndigoPrime]

I'm not sure what point there would be in an Apex edition of artwork that wouldn't be substantially larger. Half the point of these editions is you get to see the original art, with page mark-up and such. If his art is as-is in the Meg and post-scanning everything is treated digitally, there would be few advantages, bar for people who want to see his art devoid of word balloons. (I'm not sure blowing up the art would be a good thing.)

[Colin YNWA]

I've seen a number of art type editions, or even pages in the back of trades / hardcovers that aren't blown up and its amazing the things you see on the original art that don't make it to print. So residual pencils, blue line, corrections etc.

You could well have a point but it depends on how 'neat' the original pages are and how much is cleaned digitally.

That said given what he's producing its entirely possible the orginal art is neat in which case your point would defo carry.

I wonder if he scans at pencils stage as well - we could get his pencils... but now we're going to be told he goes straight to ink like Ron Smith or something equally insane as given these are real size he's an artist monster anyway!

[Woolly]

An Apex edition of Swimming In Blood would be an eye-opener, not sure that series has ever been printed well. Might not be easy though, I've heard the pages are of varying sizes!

[pauljholden]

I'm not sure what point there would be in an Apex edition of artwork that wouldn't be substantially larger. Half the point of these editions is you get to see the original art, with page mark-up and such. If his art is as-is in the Meg and post-scanning everything is treated digitally, there would be few advantages, bar for people who want to see his art devoid of word balloons. (I'm not sure blowing up the art would be a good thing.)

The other half (and I'd argue much more than half since you can buy facsimile editions that are smaller than art size) is you can see where tippix / whiteout is used or blueline or pencils - it's seeing the hand of the artist. Though I appreciate Phil is a mad genius who may not even be pencilling for all we know.

EDITED TO ADD:
I mean I don't think Apex editions should be one size fits all, each book a bespoke reflection of the art and the artist, so maybe a same sized edition but with (as I suspect may exist) inked pages on tracing paper overlayed on the originals would be amazing (and how some of thge dark knight returns artists edition is like)

[Le Fink]

Nobody's mentioned Glenn Fabry yet. So I'm going to.

Glenn Fabry.

On IP's stylised/draughtsman scale, it's leaning towards draughtsman, but I can easily pick out his line work, it certainly has its own style. His B&W work on Slaine I'd love to see original size with original markings if possible. Think he did a couple of Dredds too.

[Le Fink]

I mean I don't think Apex editions should be one size fits all, each book a bespoke reflection of the art and the artist, so maybe a same sized edition but with (as I suspect may exist) inked pages on tracing paper overlayed on the originals would be amazing (and how some of thge dark knight returns artists edition is like)

This makes perfect sense to me

[karlos]

Fabry is a top choice.

[IndigoPrime]

An Apex edition of Swimming In Blood would be an eye-opener

Apparently, it was a nightmare to photograph back in the day. Does anyone know where the original art is, or whether it's still intact? (I remember one story about bits falling off of it.)

[Dash Decent]

Cam Kennedy is the first that springs to mind.  Imagine seeing large versions of skysurfers tearing through MC1?  Or the fantastic landscapes, vehicles and action he infused into Rogue Trooper.

maybe a same sized edition but with (as I suspect may exist) inked pages on tracing paper overlayed on the originals

Imagine an edition that had some tracing paper-like pages, so you could look at the uninked sketch and then flop the inked version over the top of it in 'see-through'.  Perhaps even another to add the colour.  It gets a little away from the artist's own work only nature of the books, but would be a neat addition.

[davidbishop]

An Apex edition of Swimming In Blood would be an eye-opener

Apparently, it was a nightmare to photograph back in the day. Does anyone know where the original art is, or whether it's still intact? (I remember one story about bits falling off of it.)

It was indeed a nightmare to repro. The very large physical art had different layers which were intensely problematic to photograph accurately. With modern technology it might be possible to construct a digital collage from multiple photos to properly capture each element. The art was least 1.5 up, and I've a feeling some pages might have been twice up (Sean's art on Armitage was certainly twice up).

[13school]

Cam Kennedy is the first that springs to mind.  Imagine seeing large versions of skysurfers tearing through MC1?  Or the fantastic landscapes, vehicles and action he infused into Rogue Trooper.

maybe a same sized edition but with (as I suspect may exist) inked pages on tracing paper overlayed on the originals

Imagine an edition that had some tracing paper-like pages, so you could look at the uninked sketch and then flop the inked version over the top of it in 'see-through'.  Perhaps even another to add the colour.  It gets a little away from the artist's own work only nature of the books, but would be a neat addition.

I think there's been at least one US artist's edition that has done exactly that - I'm pretty sure it was the Dark Knight Returns one, where the tracing paper had the panels Frank Miller re-drew separately printed on them, while on the page underneath you had the original panels Klaus Janson inked (which Miller didn't always like, hence the re-drawing)

[Hebrew613]

IDW did some large hardback books for Carlos, Cam and Brian Bolland which were really nice a few yrs ago. For Carlos and Brian they did even bigger versions that look about the same size as the Apex versions, which were limited edition , maybe 250 were done - something like that, signed  by the artists and contained about 10 art prints in each that were really nice, including a print of the cover of prog one. Looking at the Apex versions on the video posted it looks like these are even nicer just because it look like photos of the original art pages. Very nice for collectors if you have the funds available