Author Topic: Sam Gambino  (Read 44601 times)

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Offline BumChex

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #35 on: January 31, 2013, 09:05:37 PM »
I think Necko never made the 2012 Wacky Halloween Postcard cut.

And Sam: Did you do any designs for the upcoming Wacky Packages ANS10?

It was the bonus card.

Offline Go_Bum

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #36 on: February 02, 2013, 08:51:44 AM »
I think Necko never made the 2012 Wacky Halloween Postcard cut.

And Sam: Did you do any designs for the upcoming Wacky Packages ANS10?


It was also an artist bio card.

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #37 on: February 17, 2013, 10:54:41 PM »
I think Necko never made the 2012 Wacky Halloween Postcard cut.

And Sam: Did you do any designs for the upcoming Wacky Packages ANS10?

Hi dth1971-

I'm sorry for the delay seeing your question.  Yes, I did four paintings for ANS10.  I'm like a kid again waiting for these to come out.  I'll post the pieces here when they're released.  Thanks for asking!

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #38 on: March 13, 2013, 07:13:28 PM »
Now that ANS10 has been released, I thought I'd go ahead and post my paintings here to document.  I had a great time painting these!  Thanks for looking!








Offline BumChex

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #39 on: March 13, 2013, 07:42:39 PM »
Now that ANS10 has been released, I thought I'd go ahead and post my paintings here to document.  I had a great time painting these!  Thanks for looking!

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Sam, great job! I love all 4 and I would tell you if I didn't like one..LOL
Did you come up with the concept or did you just paint them? Regardless they are great. I really like Jack Stinks. I'm not a real fan of their jerky and I agree..HaHa

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #40 on: March 13, 2013, 07:55:23 PM »
Thanks so much for your kind words, BumChex!  I'm glad that you like them!  I just painted these and cannot take credit for the gags.  All that I've painted so far have been gags that were written by others.  I'm working on a design now that is a gag of mine though.  I'm pleased to have had a gag accepted!  :)

Offline BumChex

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #41 on: March 13, 2013, 07:56:56 PM »
Thanks so much for your kind words, BumChex!  I'm glad that you like them!  I just painted these and cannot take credit for the gags.  All that I've painted so far have been gags that were written by others.  I'm working on a design now that is a gag of mine though.  I'm pleased to have had a gag accepted!  :)

Which one was accepted?

Offline BumChex

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #42 on: March 13, 2013, 07:59:35 PM »
BTW you nailed the Chia Pest box. It's awesome! Some cam be a plain obvious box but this looks like the real product. People are always opening boxes to check out the content and with the bend on the top is totally real. I love it!
Also, I love the fact that you don't paste your letters like other artists have done. To me, this is so much better.

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #43 on: March 13, 2013, 09:04:40 PM »
I appreciate that!  I'm glad that you noticed about the lettering.  I started as a sign painter in '86, so it's heresy in my eyes not to paint the letters!  :)  The painted letters have little inconsistencies that the other letters don't have, but I like to think it as "charm" or "mojo."

Also, I would be posting progress pics and blabbing the name of the next piece all over the web if I could, but I'm not allowed to reveal the project or subject matter until the release of the series.  That's why earlier, I said how I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas for these cards to come out!   

Again, thanks for the kind words!

Offline BumChex

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #44 on: March 13, 2013, 09:21:58 PM »
I appreciate that!  I'm glad that you noticed about the lettering.  I started as a sign painter in '86, so it's heresy in my eyes not to paint the letters!  :)  The painted letters have little inconsistencies that the other letters don't have, but I like to think it as "charm" or "mojo."

Also, I would be posting progress pics and blabbing the name of the next piece all over the web if I could, but I'm not allowed to reveal the project or subject matter until the release of the series.  That's why earlier, I said how I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas for these cards to come out!   

Again, thanks for the kind words!

Sam, you nailed it. In the past others were using paste on lettering. Add this to your resume. I think, as a collector, this is important. I own a few pieces of art that has some paste on lettering and feel kinda duped. Maybe that's my own hang up but it sometimes bothers me. I think painted lettering is huge compare to some others.

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #45 on: March 13, 2013, 10:00:11 PM »
Well, you're a guy after my own heart then!  My dad would agree too.  He'll be 73 in a few days, and he started lettering and pinstriping cars in 1956.  We both get on the phone and talk about how much we like hand-lettered race cars as opposed to cars today that mostly use vinyl numbers.  We used to letter a ton of oval cars in the Detroit area.  I live away from there now, but that doesn't keep us from getting on the phone and belly-aching about how good the good old days were!

Offline BumChex

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #46 on: March 13, 2013, 10:09:11 PM »
Well, you're a guy after my own heart then!  My dad would agree too.  He'll be 73 in a few days, and he started lettering and pinstriping cars in 1956.  We both get on the phone and talk about how much we like hand-lettered race cars as opposed to cars today that mostly use vinyl numbers.  We used to letter a ton of oval cars in the Detroit area.  I live away from there now, but that doesn't keep us from getting on the phone and belly-aching about how good the good old days were!

Seriously, I think painted letters is huge. It, in itself, is an art form.. For some reason other artists can't get past that. I know the reasons but can't get past that as an art collector. I'm always weary of a new art pieces. It shouldn't be this way but that is how I feel

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #47 on: March 13, 2013, 11:36:29 PM »
One thing about that for me is that it's easier for me to paint all of the lettering if I make the piece larger.  11x14 is the smallest I usually go with the board on these.  Any smaller, and the lettering seems to suffer.  Sprout was 18 or 20" tall.  These new ones weren't quite that big though...

Offline MadMike

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #48 on: March 25, 2013, 10:43:45 PM »
Sam, I just pulled a sketch card  that you drew.  I got it out of a pack I recently purchased off the Topps website.  I bought 3 boxes with 16 packs each and pulled my first sketch card from the wild.

It is a Con Flakes sketch card.  It will look nice in my collection. Thanks for the nice artwork.

Offline Soremel

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #49 on: March 26, 2013, 10:09:40 AM »
Well, you're a guy after my own heart then!  My dad would agree too.  He'll be 73 in a few days, and he started lettering and pinstriping cars in 1956.  We both get on the phone and talk about how much we like hand-lettered race cars as opposed to cars today that mostly use vinyl numbers.  We used to letter a ton of oval cars in the Detroit area.  I live away from there now, but that doesn't keep us from getting on the phone and belly-aching about how good the good old days were!

I feel the same way regarding lettering, especially vehicle lettering. I started hand lettering trucks and vans back in '82 and there is definitely a sense of accomplishment when you finish a lettering & striping job with 1-Shot enamel and French Master (or Langnickel) brushes! Sure, it may take ten times longer, but it's an art form. Good to hear someone else reflect on the good old days of lead-based paint & turps!

Offline JasonLiebig

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #50 on: March 26, 2013, 11:45:14 AM »
LOVE hand lettering on art. 

Back when I was at Marvel in the late 1990's, we did a month-long event called "Flashback" that was to flashback every title to the point in time a month before the Marvel Universe officially launched (before the Fantastic Four launched their rocket and got their powers). 

[By this point in time, all of our lettering and ballooning was done digitally, after the art boards had been scanned.]

Adam Kubert was doing Hulk at the time, and he hand-lettered about a third of his issue (hell, maybe he actually did all of it), but it was funny how delighted all of editorial was, walking into Bobbie Chase's office to see the pages (which were actually really lovely in other respects), but just to see lettering on the page was so awesome. 

The fact that pages almost never have lettering done by hand, on the boards anymore, makes original comic artwork a little sad, in my opinion. 

[Final note:   I should point out that even though he was already the son of the legendary Joe Kubert, Adam Kubert started out as a letterer before eventually growing into one of the top pencillers in the biz.  So his lettering in that issue was top-notch.]
Jason Liebig - A swell TV host (currently on History Channel) who used to oversee Marvel Comics' X-Men - now creator and curator of WishbookWeb.com and CollectingCandy.com, a celebration of candy packaging, marketing and the people behind it all

Offline Soremel

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #51 on: March 26, 2013, 03:09:21 PM »
Seriously, I think painted letters is huge. It, in itself, is an art form.. For some reason other artists can't get past that. I know the reasons but can't get past that as an art collector. I'm always weary of a new art pieces. It shouldn't be this way but that is how I feel

Aside from packaging accuracy, and character details, I put a lot of time into the lettering. Sometimes it's a pain in the back (literally!), but it brings a sense of "purist" satisfaction when the painting's done and you know that you really worked hard to get the end results.

Out of the eight Wacky Package paintings I did for Topps, the only one that had dry transfer lettering on it was "Quicker Goatmeal" (bottom line of black text). I was so paranoid that it would chip off after it was sold that I sprayed a coat of matte gesso over it to "lock" the letters to the painting!

Offline Joe G.

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #52 on: March 26, 2013, 03:59:53 PM »
The question of rub on lettering for small text for me has to do with how well it is done.  I'd rather see clean, well integrated printed text than sloppy painted text.  In terms of being a purist, all the 16 original series used letraset, which is equivalent to today's printed text.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2013, 04:24:07 PM by vfx2g »

Offline BumChex

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #53 on: March 26, 2013, 04:53:36 PM »
The question of rub on lettering for small text for me has to do with how well it is done.  I'd rather see clean, well integrated printed text than sloppy painted text.  In terms of being a purist, all the 16 original series used letraset, which is equivalent to today's printed text.

When you get in a piece of art and the lettering is pulling away it kinda sucks. I know its tough and not every artists have good penmanship.

Offline Soremel

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #54 on: March 26, 2013, 07:59:22 PM »
The question of rub on lettering for small text for me has to do with how well it is done.  I'd rather see clean, well integrated printed text than sloppy painted text.  In terms of being a purist, all the 16 original series used letraset, which is equivalent to today's printed text.

I agree with you regarding well executed rub on letters. Most of the paintings that have them were done very well with attention to centering and font sizes. When I use the purist term, I'm referring to the original 1st & 2nd series, which, to the best of my knowledge, were totally hand-painted (and airbrushed).

"Suffertone" and "Copperbone" are good examples of how rub on lettering can hinder a layout. For some reason, the text at the bottom seems to be a couple of point sizes too large and start to trail off of the packaging.

Offline Soremel

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #55 on: March 26, 2013, 08:02:32 PM »
Hey Sam! Sorry I hijacked this post a little earlier! (I get carried away when it comes to lettering!)

I absolutely love "Chia Pest"! Awesome package rendering and character detail!  :great:

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #56 on: March 31, 2013, 12:46:08 AM »
Hey MadMike-  Thanks so much for your kind words!  I'm glad that you like the sketch card.  I usually go into a slight panic at some point while doing those, just hoping I get them done in time!

Hey Jason- Comic lettering is a true art form, I agree.  I came up doing sign painting, and tried doing comic lettering with pen and ink and found that to me, it's quite a bit different and difficult.  Those guys amaze me!  It's not easy to do that lettering and make it look right!

Hey Soremel-  No problem at all!  I don't think you hijacked it anyhow.  It's all good input!  Thanks for the kind words about Chia Pest too.

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #57 on: September 27, 2013, 08:10:46 AM »
I just wanted to post the Wacky ANS11 paintings I did.  I can't take credit for the gags here, but must say that I was very pleased that I was given the opportunity to paint a mischievous primate!






« Last Edit: September 30, 2013, 11:20:14 PM by Sam Gambino »

Offline Joe G.

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #58 on: October 06, 2013, 01:16:41 PM »
Sam, your work is exceptional.  The colors and compositions are wonderful. 

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #59 on: October 07, 2013, 08:44:16 PM »
Thank you, Joe -  You did some awesome work on this series yourself!  Keep up the fine work!  :)

Offline Alexeirex

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #60 on: October 08, 2013, 01:07:57 AM »
I just wanted to post the Wacky ANS11 paintings I did.  I can't take credit for the gags here, but must say that I was very pleased that I was given the opportunity to paint a mischievous primate!

(Image removed from quote.)


(Image removed from quote.)



The ape with the tophat and monocle is one of my favorite images in the ANS11 series - and his actions just make me laugh...
A

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #61 on: November 05, 2013, 01:26:08 PM »
Thanks for the kind words, Alexeirex - I'm always happy to paint a monkey/gorilla/ape of any kind!

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #62 on: November 11, 2013, 09:30:26 PM »
Here's my Marrow Cup painting for the Halloween 2013 Wacky Postcard set....


Offline Joe G.

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #63 on: November 11, 2013, 10:10:15 PM »
Sam, that is one superb Wacky!

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #64 on: November 12, 2013, 12:07:25 AM »
Thank you, Joe!  I always appreciate your kind words.

Offline ratchet007

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #65 on: November 12, 2013, 12:33:51 PM »
Here's my Marrow Cup painting for the Halloween 2013 Wacky Postcard set....
(Image removed from quote.)


My favorite of the new postcards. Well done Sam.

Online Fanatical_and_Sickly

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #66 on: November 12, 2013, 05:04:46 PM »
Here's my Marrow Cup painting for the Halloween 2013 Wacky Postcard set....

having one eyeball makes it super creepy.
how did it get there? is it flesh and humour? maybe it's a glass eye? but mostly, why is it looking at me???

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #67 on: November 12, 2013, 06:39:59 PM »
Thanks so much for the very kind words, ratchet007 and Fanatical and Sickly!  This is the first published Wacky of mine that I also wrote the gag for, so I'm proud of that.  As for the one eye, "the world may never know......"   ;)

Offline dth1971

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #68 on: November 13, 2013, 08:27:56 PM »
Sam: Are you planning any possible ANS12 entries?

Offline Sam Gambino

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Re: Sam Gambino
« Reply #69 on: November 13, 2013, 09:05:58 PM »
Hi dth1971-

I haven't gotten the go ahead or concepts yet, but it's pretty early to tell right now.  I'm always game to do them.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2013, 09:10:03 PM by Sam Gambino »

 

anything