Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

There is a colored Usagi drawing on e-bay:

eBay Auction

The inking is mine, but the coloring does not look like me. The color choices and techniques look different from mine. It looks like someone signed it "Ruth" or "Beth" on one of the flower pedals. I don't think the seller is trying to pull anything here. He doesn't actually say that I did the colors, and you can see a signature.

I just thought anyone here who was thinking of bidding would want to know.

Is that an original drawing?
I can't imagine letting someone colour an original drawing done by someone else.

MikeM

Yeah, that's almost the equivalent of destroying the art... unless it was done by Tom Luth, but then Tom's coloring is never done on the original inked art anyway.

MikeM wrote:Is that an original drawing?
I can't imagine letting someone colour an original drawing done by someone else.

MikeM

It does say that it is an original, and my hanko (seal) is on it. I've seen quite a few of my art colored by other people. With photoshop now, it's a lot more frequent.

Quite a few years ago, a guy had bought one of my con drawings for his son (about 8 years old). The next day, the boy proudly showed me how he had colored it last night with his crayons. The nice father bought another drawing, but I think he kept that one for himself.

I stopped using the hanko because it takes forever to dry, and it's not waterproof. In Japan, a hanko is still used on official documents. It is more legal than a signature. The one I used is just a simple one. Families are supposed to have one custom made for themselves.

... just out of curiosity, would you consider, if requested and time permitting, adding your hanko to a more current piece of art ?

Wow. VINTAGE Usagi. I would have loved to own that piece, but even I can see that the color style is wrong for it. Too bad.

Funny, I would have read "Luth" on a pedal on the left hand side of the picture, wandering if Tom Luth was terribly ill.

But maybe I should just use my glasses....

Thomas Froehling wrote:Funny, I would have read "Luth" on a pedal on the left hand side of the picture, wandering if Tom Luth was terribly ill.

But maybe I should just use my glasses....

It could be "Luth". Perhaps the guy who bought the piece had Tom color it. He used to do that. Tom doesn't normally bring his colors to San Diego anymore, but he used to.

morna-san wrote:... just out of curiosity, would you consider, if requested and time permitting, adding your hanko to a more current piece of art ?

Sure. If it's a special piece of art, and if I still have some of that ink left. And if I can find my hanko.

I knew I recognized this piece:

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiec ... GSub=16872

from DojoBoard forum post:

http://usagiyojimbo.com/forum/viewtopic ... t=critters

Does this mean Stan did colour this in actual fact..? I was considering it if he did...

HS are the place I got the TMNT storyboards from years back, so I know they're pretty reputable.

Mayhem wrote:Does this mean Stan did colour this in actual fact..? I was considering it if he did...
.

The inking is mine, but I did not do the colors.

I'm thinking the colors were done by Tom Luth, which makes it okay in my book. I have an email into Tom about it. I zoomed in on the "?uth" signature on the flower and it appears to read "Luth" more than anything else. But who knows...

I also asked the seller, and their response was "While we cannot say for sure, it is our belief that Sakai himself did the coloring." El wrongo!

It's safe to bid on this item. I got a reply back from Tom, he did the coloring after all.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "tomluth"
To: "toddshogun"
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 8:00:20 PM
Subject: Re: Usagi coloring

Yes, it appears to be a convention sketch I colored some years ago.

tl


-----Original Message-----
From: toddshogun
To: tomluth
Sent: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 4:42 PM
Subject: Usagi coloring

Hey Tom,

Did you color the following Usagi drawing? You might noticed below Stan's
signature it appears to say "Luth" on one of the flowers. Thanks



Todd

eBay Auction

$800

Either people are overpaying for my art, or I'm seriously underpricing it.