Extreme Carnage: Omega Red Pencil Prelim (11x17")

This was another birthday gift for myself from the April 2024 ComicLink auction. After the Enid Balam VENOM Art Print Commission piece, this Cassara Prelim was what I wanted. I thought it would go out of my reach. After all, the Final Published Cover Art sold in September 2022 through Heritage for $2,520. Alas, the comic gods looked out for me. The King In Black wanted to come home to me!

This Prelim is on full 11x17" Marvel art board. I spoke with Josh Cassara on Instagram. He told me that he did do a few full size rough drafts back then, but due to time constraints, he rarely does them this size anymore. I contacted him originally to ask if the Final OA has any Pencils on it, or if this was the only Pencils because the Prelim layout lines up perfectly with the Final. He said that he uses red pencil for his Sketches, color commissions, and thumbnails. His regular Final Published OA he uses standard 2H Lead before Inking. It's so cool hearing the process of artists! I wish I got this directly from him, but having that Conversation with him made up for it completely!

I can't wait to get it framed. I think the red is gonna pop something fierce! Honestly, I think the Prelim being done in red pencil detracted some potential bidders cuz it's not the standard grey graphite we are used to seeing.

I got into Comics in 2014 with my first LCS Pullbox. I was only a reader (Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott) for the longest time. I wasn't into Signatures, Grading, being artists, going to Cons, or Original Art. It's crazy looking back. That changed in 2020. I'd taken a 2 year hiatus after Slott had quit writing ASM after 255 issues with issue 801. The Comics hobby came back for me with a vengeance after getting back into Comics in August 2020. I discovered Donny Cates 2018 Venom run. I was instantly captivated...I still am by it. That series caused me to look outside of just Spidey. For that I'll be forever grateful. A goal I'm currently working on is getting a Venom Sketch from every artist that worked on that series. With this, I'm up to 4 of the 6 - Stegman, Coello, Bagley, and now Cassara. I'll get to Juan Gedeon and Luke Ross. For now, I am applauding me being able to get 3 of the 4 in the first 4 months of 2024! I took up this goal about a year ago, when I bought my Stegman Knull Commission piece.

I can't wait to get a Commission piece one day from Josh!