Sketch Maven, the World's Greatest Comic Art Marketplace, has extended its reach by opening a store on Facebook, allowing its over 600 million users to buy and sell original comic art

Santa Clara, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/10/2011 -- For the first time, Facebook fans can now buy original comic art online with free shipping in the USA from the new Sketch Maven store on Facebook. Without leaving Facebook, fans can go to facebook.com/sketchmaven to browse through thousands of pieces of one of a kind original comic art, sketches and color guides.

"Collecting original comic art is an exciting hobby, with proven collectible value, that is catching on in the United States and around the world," comments Mike Todasco, founder of Sketch Maven, the World's Greatest Original Comic Art Marketplace. "This hobby goes back to the 60s and 70s where collectors would buy their original pages from artists at conventions and through the mail. Now, for the first time, Sketch Maven is opening up collecting to an even greater audience, the 600 million plus Facebook users around the world."

The new Sketch Maven store on Facebook was launched using an app developed by Payvment, the leader in Facebook e-commerce. Facebook users can enjoy integrated product search discovery of items across Facebook. The Sketch Maven Facebook store accepts PayPal, VISA, Mastercard, AmEx, or Discover cards. Original comic art is suitable for framing, and comes in sizes starting at 8" x 10" for a smaller piece or 11" x 17'' for a standard page.

"It is a little known fact that comic books start as hand-drawn pages and those pages have great collectible value," adds Todasco. Original comic artwork are the oversized pages the artists drew to create comic books. Every page within a comic book starts out as an original, hand-drawn, black and white page of artwork which is provided to publishers who then use that artwork to produce the comic book. Publishers typically returned the pages to the artist after the comic book is published. Prior to the 1970s, many of the original pieces were discarded or destroyed, contributing to the scarcity and collect-ability of earlier pieces.

Next in the process, long before the days of Photoshop, colorists would meticulously hand color every panel of every page of art. The penciled and inked original would be photocopied and the colorist would color that page with special inks and dyes, adding depth and shadowing and making the page more vibrant. This form of original comic art is called a color guide because it does just that, it "guides" the engraver to what colors to use when creating the printing plate for the comic. Most of the color guide pages even have "color codes" written in the margins to depict the actual colors to be used for that part of the page. The time honored tradition of hand coloring has long since passed. For collectors, a color guide is the closest piece of art to what was finally published in the comic book.

Comic art collectors are a varied group – comic lovers, cartoon fans, movie aficionados, television mavens, and art lovers. The owner of a piece of comic art possesses a one-of-a-kind, original collectible. Some of the original comic art pages have been seen by millions of people in its final comic book form. Maybe you were a fan of DC or Marvel comics as a child, or the Transformers or Star Wars hold fond memories – or maybe you really enjoyed the Batman or Thor movies – original comic art captures your favorite characters in action.

Sketch Maven offers thousands of pages in their Facebook store and updates the inventory weekly. So collectors should frequently check the Sketch Maven store on Facebook for the new and exciting artwork that is available.

About Sketch Maven, Inc.
Sketch Maven, Inc. is the premier online marketplace for original comic artwork, color guides, cartoon art, and sketches. Sketch Maven, Inc. is the easiest place to buy and sell original comic art. The Sketch Maven team is committed to expand the hobby beyond the current core market to a broader audience. To find out the latest news about Sketch Maven, follow them on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/sketchmaven), Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/sketchmaven) and http://www.sketchmaven.com.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Comic art collectors can post offers for hard to find original comic art and reach thousands of collectors and artists on Sketch Maven

Santa Clara, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/17/2011 -- Finding and collecting original comic art pages can be challenging, as only one piece of each exists in the world. Original comic art are the unique, hand drawn pages created by artists before they are mass produced in a comic book. Now collectors can tell the world the exact piece they are looking for by adding it to their "Wanted to Buy" list on Sketch Maven. Since it opened in 2009, thousands of registered users have bought and sold on Sketch Maven, viewing and buying original comic art, cartoon art, color guides and sketches. For the first time, collectors can now post what pieces they want to buy and add to their collections.

"Sketch Maven is adding 'Wanted to Buy' to connect collectors to owners of original comic art," comments Mike Todasco, founder of Sketch Maven, the World's Greatest Original Comic Art Marketplace. "My own search, that took years, to find a piece of original comic art was my inspiration for founding Sketch Maven and introducing this feature."

Years ago, as a young comic fan, Todasco saw an original comic art drawing at the annual Chicago comic convention that is now Wizard World Chicago. The collectible was a Green Lantern cover being sold by one of his favorite artists, but the price was beyond the means of a young fan. Years later, he was determined to find the artwork and frame it on his office wall but found the search daunting. Thus the idea for "Wanted to Buy" was born.

Whether it's a page from the first Green Hornet series or a John Romita Jr. drawn page from the latest Avengers title you can tap into Sketch Maven's database of over 250,000 comic books and post what you are looking for in seconds. Then dealers, artists and collectors can view the listings and, if they own any of the pieces that are wanted, they can then sell them with one click.

Collectors can list the original comic art they are looking for under "Wanted to Buy" or view the comic art pieces that other collectors are looking for by visiting SketchMaven.com.

About Sketch Maven, Inc.
Sketch Maven, Inc. is the premier online marketplace for original comic artwork, color guides, cartoon art, and sketches. Sketch Maven, Inc. is the easiest place to buy and sell original comic art. The Sketch Maven team is committed to expand the hobby beyond the current core market to a broader audience. To find out the latest news about Sketch Maven, follow them on Facebook, Twitter and http://www.sketchmaven.com.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

One year after launch, Sketch Maven has improved the user experience and introduced thousands of new fans to the hobby of collecting original comic art

Santa Clara, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/01/2010 -- Sketch Maven celebrated its first anniversary in business, commemorating a year of many achievements. The site was launched November 29, 2009 as a marketplace where artists and collectors could buy and sell one-of-a-kind published original comic art. Since then it has added to the breadth of original comic art available for purchase on the site and expanded over the last year to include thousands of pieces of color guides and sketches. Now nearly every type of comic artwork can be bought and sold easily on Sketch Maven.

"We've come a long way since we launched last Thanksgiving," comments Mike Todasco, founder of Sketch Maven, the World's Greatest Original Comic Art Marketplace. "We've reached thousands of fans and even have been recognized in major publications outside of the comic book world. Mashable reviewed Sketch Maven as part of its partnership with Microsoft in their Spark of Genius Series. Articles like this and the one in Thrillist introduced tens of thousands of their readers to the hobby of collecting original comic art via Sketch Maven."

Sketch Maven has matured over the year to become not only a marketplace, but a community of fans of original comic art. The site now features weekly interviews with artists, writers and creators. Future plans include options for a collector to publish a "Want List" or create a gallery of favorite pieces of original comic art on Sketch Maven. Sketch Maven will soon be expanding globally, allowing buyers and sellers from every country to participate in their marketplace. To learn more about Sketch Maven, please visit http://www.sketchmaven.com.

About Sketch Maven, Inc.
Sketch Maven, Inc. is the premier online marketplace for original comic artwork, color guides, cartoon art, and sketches. Sketch Maven, Inc. is the easiest place to buy and sell original comic art. The Sketch Maven team is committed to expand the hobby beyond the current core market to a broader audience. To find out the latest news about Sketch Maven, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and http://www.sketchmaven.com/.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Before the proliferation of computers, comic book art was hand colored before it was sent to the printer. These color guides are affordable, unique collectibles that can be the perfect addition to any art or comic collection.

Santa Clara, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/29/2010 -- Long before the days of Photoshop, a special breed of comic book artist would meticulously hand color every panel of every page of art, bringing that black & white drawing to life. These artists were comic book colorists who created their own masterpieces, color guides. Yet Marie Severin, Jack Adler, or Glynis Wein never received the household name recognition among comic book fans that their penciling counterparts, like Jack Kirby, John Buscema and George Perez, did. While comic book colorists are still integral in the comic book creative process, the time honored tradition of hand coloring every page has long since past.

"Color guides are a gateway to a simpler time," comments Mike Todasco, founder of Sketch Maven, the World's Greatest Original Comic Art Marketplace. "Since colorists, like Steve Oliff, led the revolution to computer coloring starting in the late 1980s, hand colored color guides have disappeared. It is an art form that has been lost to the digital world."

To make a color guide, the penciled and inked original art is first photocopied. Then the colorist colors that page using special inks and dyes, adding depth and shadowing while also making the page more vibrant. It is called a color guide because it does just that, it "guides" the engraver to what colors to use when creating the printing plate for the comic. Most of the pages will even have the "color codes" written in the margins to depict the actual colors used for that part of the page. For original comic art collectors this is the closest piece of artwork to what was finally published in the comic book.

"Color guides present a unique opportunity to collectors to own a piece of one-of-a-kind artwork featuring art by their favorite creators, at an affordable price," says Todasco. "Buying the penciled and inked original art for John Byrne on the Fantastic Four, Dave Cockrum on Uncanny X-Men, or Frank Miller on Daredevil could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. But color guides of pages from those same creators often cost just $20-$100 on Sketch Maven."

There are thousands of color guides available from the 1970s-1990s on Sketch Maven; prices start as low as eight dollars per piece. Users can buy, sell and learn more about original comic art, color guides, cartoon art, and sketches by visiting http://www.sketchmaven.com.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm