In 1993 Carl Barks was approached by a businessman who wanted him to design a special lifetime comics achievement award. He did so, although it was not altogether clear who would qualify to receive it and why! At least, there has not been any official listing featuring possible or factual recipients. But due to Barks' dedicated artwork the mysterious figurine has since been affectionately known as The Barkster. This is the story.

 

 

 

THE FIGURINE
 


Base plaque


Barks' signature


Certificate of Authenticity

  

Main description:
The figurine is officially referred to as Diamond Collections Carl Barks Lifetime Achievement Award, but usually called The Barkster for short.
It depicts Barks as a duck character dressed in a reddish jacket and visor, and holding an artist pen. Produced in 1995 in association with Bowen Designs, Dark Horse Comics, and Gemstone Publishing. Designed by Barks and sculpted by Randy Bowen and Barks. Signed on the base by the artists in gold ink, and hand numbered by Barks.
Issued in a box depicting two views of the figurine, a 8.5x11" (220x280mms) Certificate of Authenticity which is hand numbered and signed by Bowen, and a descriptive VHS video tape.
Barks was the first recipient of the award...

Technical description:
The figurine is made of solid bronze, the base is made of black marble ● 100 copies were issued ● Height: 7.5" (190mms), base 1.5" (38mms).

 

THE COMMENTS

Barks explained about the figurine: I was approached by Steve Geppi who was going to create a special award and name it The Barkster. He asked me to design one for him. Well, I went ahead and designed it, to try to make something simple - kind of like the Oscar that they give away in Hollywood, which is a simple thing that a man can hold in his hand - but it also had to be slightly comic and look a little bit like it was designed by a cartoonist.

On the pen (see more HERE): That is a type that they dug up at the office, but I did my work with a very small penholder, and those little 356 Esterbrooks were a smaller pen than this one.

On receiving the award: I guess you have to have done something that sold a lot of comic books...

 

THE SKETCHES


A


B


C
D
E
F

As usual, when Barks designed a figurine or a painting, he made numerous sketches of the coming artwork. As for the figurines he had the additional challenge of drawing the item in 3D which demanded more drawings as it was important that the sculptors got as much information as possible in order to 'get around' the figurine.
Above you are presented to a small number of Barks' sketches for his Barkster figurine. A: A collection of 7 composed photocopies containing the figurine from different angles ● B: A tissue of figure head sketches  ● C: A blue-line pencil drawing on tracing paper ● D: Preliminary idea sketch marked by Barks as Feeler. Observe the, since then, abandoned peering look, the glasses, the inkwell, and the flat base ● E: A blue-line pencil drawing of a detail ● F: A Xerox print of the end product.

 

 

BONUS

THE FORERUNNER
 

Surprisingly, it was decided to produce a similar figurine before the official one was revealed in 1995. It happened the year before and is mostly recognized as The Barkster Bronze Statue and described as a Special Variant Edition.

Main description:
The figurine is a pre-production prototype of the official Barkster artwork as it is very similar to the regular Barkster figurine, but it stands on a different base and is without the plaque and gold colours found on the regular edition.
It was never  intended for - nor sold to - the general public and is consequently almost impossible to find.
The item did not include the original box, original packaging, or a Certificate of Acknowledgement.
All production plates and molds were later destroyed to prevent future use.

Technical description:
Both figurine and base are made of solid bronze ● 25 copies were issued ● Height: 10" (254mms), base 2.75" (70mms) ● Weight: 3lbs (1.4kgs) ● Signed by Randy Bowen.

 

 

 http://www.cbarks.dk/THEBARKSTER.htm

   Date 2016-04-17