another Cintiq sketch

mostly Painter with the palette knife tool. thought she had a nice cuteness.

Weekend Sketch

a little painter, a little photoshop. trying out the new Cintiq 12.

GREAT FILM MAKING

there are reasons some of the great films are considered great.
i was watching Rebel Without a Cause the other night and noticed how well the director, production designer, costume designer and cinematographer told the audience who the film was clearly about with in the first few minutes. sure there's dialogue and each character has the intro in Edward Platt's office but the visuals reinforced the whole thing. here's how;

first up, before we see Natalie Wood clearly she and the doll James Dean doesn't want to give up share the strongest notes of color. the bond between them is reinforced visual before the story unreels.
Natalie stands out among the rest of the girls because of the strong red note. right away Nicholas Ray wants us to know who's important. remember, the audience is getting a lot of information in a short period of time. he has to be really obvious and say, "this girl is the one you should look at". good art direction is clear art direction. also look at the deep focus in this scene. from the officer on duty in the far right corner to the hall on the left.
the three main characters end up in the police station on the same night. their lives will become increasingly intertwined as the story progress but for now they're unaware of that. the dynamic triangle of the composition keeps the eye moving even though the characters themselves are not engaged with each other.
as Dean starts to interact with Sal Mineo he moves in forming a smaller compositional triangle. the three mains are still unaware of what's to come but the director wants us to know the movie will be about them.
then as we cut into Platt's office and hear Natalie's story Dean moves off. the mains still the dominant visual even though they themselves are unawre of the events to follow.

COMIC CON

hey gang, it's that time again. i'm going to be hanging with my friends at the Tangled Dreams booth this year. #5357 in the illustrators section of hall H. all sketchbooks are $10 and i'll have a limited number of prints as well. stop by and see you there!

OIL SKETCH

another traditional painting from the "olden" days

NEW BOOK, OLD PAINTINGS

hey all, there's an ART book coming out soon (fall?) that will have a chapter on yours truly so i've been rephotographing the old TSR paintings. it's always refreshing to see these with mature eyes. they're better than i remember (thank God). i'm shooting camera RAW format and it's great to have this much control. before when i shot my own 4 * 5's they always looked good but would get a little contrasty because of the polarization. nowadays you can match perfectly the look and feel of the original. so, the book should have really faithful reproductions!

QUICK STUDY

hadn't made anything for myself in way too long, so, a quick figure study in photoshop.

Coming Soon

irene gallo and tor books are putting together a major site of all things cool and sci-fi. i'm fortunate enough to be one of the artists chosen to be in the profile section once it's full operational. stay tuned!

oil Sketches

these were done when i was teaching the traditional landscape painting class at Art Center. this was the last semester before i switched over to have the students work digitally.

Lighting Keys

small photoshop paintings done for the lighters.

a Decade worth of Drawing, pt. 4

one last image. i was cleaning and organizing the other day and came across a ton 'o drawings that i don't have on my regular site, www.robhruppel.com so i thought i'd share. this is just a smattering.

a Decade worth of Drawing, pt3

i was cleaning and organizing the other day and came across a ton 'o drawings that i don't have on my regular site, www.robhruppel.com so i thought i'd share. this is just a smattering.

a Decade worth of Drawing, pt.2

i was cleaning and organizing the other day and came across a ton 'o drawings that i don't have on my regular site, www.robhruppel.com so i thought i'd share. this is just a smattering.

a Decade worth of Drawing

i was cleaning and organizing the other day and came across a ton 'o drawings that i don't have on my regular site, www.robhruppel.com so i thought i'd share. this is just a smattering.

t i n y watercolor

tiny, little, miniature watercolor...what is up with the analog media lately?

the Secret to ART

yep, here it is. after years of study i found the secret. it's profoundly simple once you have mileage under the belt.

• know your visual goal (what are you interested in? form, light?)
• take your time. let the brain guide the hand. don't aimlessly scribble. s l o w d o w n...be deliberate.
• really be present. if your thinking about something other than what you're trying to depict you're not really there. give what you are doing your full attention. do each step thoroughly and completely before moving on.
  
• don't be too attached to the outcome. a tricky one because you always, always want to do your best but solving the task at hand will get you there. this isn't an excuse to do bad work by the way. like i said, tricky.

well, that's easy :) happy hunting

a....Gold Medal !

the other day i was reading irene gallos wonderful blog and noticed that she had the Spectrum 15 winners posted. being anxious and hopeful at the same time i started scanning the winners for a possible mention.....and to my surprise (and delight) i had won a GOLD medal for this print! joy, rapture! a little validation goes along way! thank you jury! thank you Spectrum! thanks arnie and cathy