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Cam Kennedy artwork question

Started by SIP, 19 November, 2013, 04:18:13 PM

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SIP

A quick question for those far more knowledgable than myself.

Below is a page from the rogue trooper story "milli-com memories" drawn by cam Kennedy.
Does anyone know whether cam lettered his own pages? I'm pretty sure that the story has a lettering credit for someone else entirely yet the lettering is drawn straight onto the artwork and inked around, not pasted on over the top as I would have expected. Does anyone else have pages from the story and are they lettered in the same way?



Any info or help appreciated!

Cheers
Simon

ming

I don't have any of Cam's art from this story, but all the other pages I have (Dredd, Rogue, VCs) have the text and speech bubbles pasted-on in the regular manner.  I know Cam did some of his own sound effects on Rogue but I don't know of any cases where he did his own lettering (especially with the speech balloons hand-drawn directly as part of the art - that's a Dave Gibbons thing).  Close-up pics of your page would help - are you sure these aren't pasted on and just in minty-mint condition?

Nice page, anyway!

SIP

Hi Ming,

Definitely not stuck on, they are part of the page. It is a nice page but I seriously doubt it's authenticity. I guess if anyone sees this and also owns the page then that will resolve the matter.

There is ink on the page, but I'm wondering if someone has just overdrawn on some kind of print on card. Just an oddity.

Jim_Campbell

That's definitely Bill Nuttall's lettering. I've seen scans of a couple of other original Cam pages where it looked suspiciously like he'd drawn the speech balloons into the artwork himself, even though the actual lettering was clearly by the credited letterer.

It would sort of make sense, since it means the artist wouldn't have to waste time drawing art that was going to get covered up, but Dave Gibbons' self-lettering is the only other example I can think of.

(Also, I have this suspicion that Dave didn't letter any Rogue strips after the first one because editorial were tidying up the scripts for the letterer while the art was being drawn, which would kind of mitigate against Cam drawing the balloons himself...)

I know that was no help at all. Sorry!

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

ming

I just dropped Cam a line; if he gets back to me and remembers anything I'll let you know.

SIP

Thanks both of you - really appreciate your input.

Thanks for following that up Ming, will be really interesting to see what you get back. Cheers!

Jim_Campbell

Hmm... here's another Nuttall-lettered page from Milli-Com Memories:



Even in that photo, you can see that Bill's lettering is stuck down. There's also quite a lot of process white on that page, and none in evidence on the scan Simon posted originally, which makes me lean towards the idea that it's a lightbox copy from either the comic or the original.

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

ming

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 19 November, 2013, 05:04:41 PM...which makes me lean towards the idea that it's a lightbox copy from either the comic or the original.

The signature looks legit, so if it's a copy they went the extra mile...

The easy way to tell if it's a copy or an original would be to take it out of the frame and look for the date / page stamp or hand-written reproduction info on the back, I suppose.

SIP

It was professionally framed years ago and can't remember if there was any info on there. Will take it out only as a last resort though as its all taped up on the back. Maybe do that on the weekend.

SIP

......didn't last until the weekend, opened the frame up. Nothing written on the back or the page edges. Everything about the page feels wrong, there is texture on there but I feel like its just been put on the copy of the page to try and fool the layman.  I've done hundreds of black and white drawings and none of them look like this on paper.

Frustrating really......i got this on ebay quite a few years back but think it was a boarder back in the day who listed it. Suppose they may have been oblivious to its authenticity .

Proudhuff

that's a pity, when you compare it to the one Jim put up it does seem a bit too perfect.
DDT did a job on me

Dr Feeley Good

I have owned both those pages but sold or swapped them year's ago, the second one to Wake I think but the first one I think I sold on ebay,if it is the one I owned it is definitely legit, it was the third piece of artwork I ever bought, direct from Cam, I bought about six pages from him over about a year, including the Rogue cover and the hopper title page I still own ! I can't say 100% but I do think the lettering was directly onto the artwork,though I thought it had a sticker on the back but can't be 100% on that !

SIP

Hi Steve, I wonder if I bought it off you! Must have been at least 5 or more years ago now.

Just to clarify, I am not making any accusations that anyone has knowingly ripped me off, I'm just trying to understand why the page is so unusual.

I don't think this  is the original drawing though (no matter how much I want it to be).

Also, a little more info, it's on card, the correct old style 2000ad page size but the top surface is quite shiny and could be peeled away from the card.

Dr Feeley Good

That sounds like the page I had, I'm sure I remember at the time about the lettering, but I had only just started collecting so didn't know any different, but it was definitely from Cam, artwork was cheap then so I am not having anyone would go to the trouble of copying it ! I think I only paid Cam £60 for it ! I turned down the chance of getting the Rogue cover he did with the snake on it at the same time because he wanted £100 for it !!!! The fool I was !!! By the time I realised my mistake it had gone, but luckily Cam found me the other Rogue that I now own so that made up for that ! But I am sure it is my page now you describe it, so it has to be genuine because it was direct from the artist !

ming

Well now it's out of the frame, if you look at the areas of solid black (like Bagman in panel three) can you see any evidence of brushstrokes or variation in the density of application of the ink?

If it came direct from Cam, as Steve indicates, I'm sure it's legit - and if not, it's a fairly odd page choice for a reproduction.  Fingers crossed you can get to the bottom of this, Simon.