new illustrations and oil paints (BIG DL) update 2/12

[Rich Pellegrino]

Greetings CA!

It always feels like it's been too long since my last art dump. Revelations looks like it was a blast. If I had more cash I would've been there in a heartbeat. You can't get that sort of learning environment and inspiration anywhere else. Hopefully I'll make the next one.

This new batch of work ranges from jobs I had during the fall and some oils that were done weeks ago. I'd love to hear any crits or comments if you have them.

Thanks!
Rich

[Shmaba]

These look great, although I had trouble registering the sheep in the last one

[nofingers]

I love the illustrations, but I especially like the oil paintings. The foreground/ background interaction helps to capture a sense of movement, especially with the outdoor scene. I feel like with those two portraits, you sort of gave up on the eyes, and opted for a big black mess. Otherwise, the color variations and bold brush strokes are really nicely done.

[scott*altmann]

Looking good here my friend! I think I've seen almost all these, except how that last cover came out. Looks great-very nice mood to it. A little different for you, but there's nothing wrong with that.
Since I am in the fortunate position of seeing these before and giving my critical thoughts previously, I can just sing your praises and tell you how good everything is!
Truthfully , you are getting better with every painting. It's awesome to see your improvements and skills develop-gets my ass motivated.. Hopefully we'll get to hang soon and have some coffee and a meatball.

[emily g]

I really love these oil paintings...beautiful.

[Jason Snair]

Whoa! Very nice work. Love the portraits, especially the profile of the red-haired girl, and that one of the Dino in the Ice. Reminds me of Wyeth in the way you've composed the piece, the way it's painted and how you're telling the story.

[bhanu]

awesome paintings and illustration as usual rich.

[DanielC]

Very nice Rich !!

[Samantha]

vrey nice .. so cool ! when we do like this. thatis vrey easy to go into the detail.. they are nice.. the color isgood . situation of a pic is good.

[Kian]

Hey Rich! Man I love your brush strokes. And the dragon pic is just toooo good

[El Jeremie]

Woo the oil painting are good.
good job buddy

[DV8]

great stuff, I really like the painterly look and powerful use of colour.

[`rawr]

hey, really loving the large strokes you're using. cool color experimenting too.

[minfaye.]

hi and the yes - these are looking balm!!!!!!
the sheep could use werk but dont we all?
that dragon pictur is 2 sweet m8
so i am and ok the later please more!
-faye

[DavePalumbo]

Righteous batch of work Rich, they're just getting better and better

Your comps and colors/moods are excellent. The thing I'd actually like to see a little more attention to is some iffy drawing/structure here and there. The bodies of the two men in the slit throat piece (particularly the hands and that sword) are a good example of this I think. It's there enough to understand what's going on, but it's not quite selling me on there being a solid structure in them. Now, unless I'm mistaken, I remember that you were in a stupid time constraint on this one, but it still looks to me like a piece which needs a little more love for the sake of the portfolio.

Another thing I'd like to see more are some sharper/punchy key areas with detail and contrast. You did this in the creepy puppet piece and I think it really makes that one stand out. The peripheral details still have that foggy atmospheric quality, but that puppet just grabs you with the contrast, value range, and edges.

Great batch dude, looking forward to the next wave

[entdroid]

Rich!!!! Love the puppet cover, hadn't seen that one! Love the mood
You sir, are truly talented, and if that weren't reason enough to envy you, you get praises from Minfaye
Top notch stuff sir!!!

[mrgrumble]

hey rich!
its great to see the last cover come out so well!
i think this is the most successful portrait of the bunch lately hooray just in terms of lush strokes and color. the one posted above i think lacks some tone, especially in the deep shadowed eye sockets!
i agree with dave on most points, but would love to see you play more with glazes (or overlay in PS) to get even more color undulations and hue shifts, subtlety etc...i feel your color is certainly there but another kick would send it over the edge!
see you later budsky
-tdubs

[meeps]

I love that sheep one, looks like some kind of trippy lsd dream or something lol

[DARYL]

so goddamn tasty! love the wicked doll and the t-rex!

[Alday.J]

Hey, Rich !
Nothing to add to wait I told you the other daay, except of course for that Spooky Puppet. I remember only an earlier stage. Nice job with the tones and lighting, make the mood of your pic' succesful. I just wonder of the left part [skulls] couldn't have more love in definition. My two cents here.
Five Hit Combo in your shoulder.
J.

[Chris Bennett]

The sheep wins for me Rich - the paint and the image are almost the same thing. It seems to be where you should be headed. It would be interesting to know how you came up with this image....are those goggles/binoculars?
The fire in the firey dragon one is marvelous too - in a way all your forms are built out of flames. mmmmmmmmmm.....

[Wasker]

Wow, vodoo, you sure are getting better, these are slick!

[poise]

Hey Rich,

Great stuff ! Your painting of the puppet kid turned out awesome! I love the creepy blue, and all those really nicely painted violets on the puppets chest, hmm hmm yummy!
I aslo second Scott on getting together to have coffee and meatballs.

[RaistlinTheDark]

dude awesome stuff!!how do u ppl get so good???
oh awesome dragon by the way!!

[dtr.aty]

nice work mate! u have something interesting inside u... u have to more work for release ur imagination outside!

keep going!

[Rich Pellegrino]

Hello!
Thanks for stopping by everyone.

Shmaba: good point. I was pushing the ambiguity in that piece but I think I went too far. I'll have to find a better way to balance readability and abstraction.

Nofingers: Thanks for the crit! A sense of Movement is critical to my work. I haven't been able to recapture it digitally since Corel Painter changed their Palette Knife. I've been experimenting with Photoshop to try and compensate. I admit I struggled with the eyes and gave up too fast. I was working really fast since my opening was creeping up. I did something like twelve oil paintings in two weeks while working a part time job and freelancing. Insane. Let's just say I took a week off when I finished.

Scott! Whenever you are down for some meatballs and gravy I am ready! Errrm Painting party anyone? I've got the scotch!

emily g: Thanks!

Jason Snair: That is one hell of a nice comment. Wyeth was always one of my favorites. I just picked up a book on N.C, Andrew and Jamie Wyeth. Three for the price of one. It's a good read and a steal for 10 bucks.

bhanu: thanks mate.

DanielC: thanks Dan.

Samantha: thank you.

Jon:

spookybabydoll: thanks.

DV8: thanks.

rawr: thank ya.

minfaye!!!!!!!
WOW! I am humbled that you. THE MINFAYE have commented on my work. I bow to you.



Dave: Good good point. I need to run my stuff by you guys more often before sending it out. I did use ref for that image your talking about too. I loved that new painting of the man reading through the stacks of books.

Vic: I know right! Minfaye! hahaha. thanks Vic.

Tim-dawg: True dat. Glazing FTW! We need to plan something out broski. I am coming to your studio! NOW!

meeps: great take on it. must be some residue from my highschool days.

DARYL Thanks man. can't wait to see new stuff from you.

Julien: mon ami! good to hear from you. the skulls and masks could use more love. you sir have a good eye.

Chris Bennett: Good to hear from you Chris. The sheep image is a sort of take on a egg tempera painting I made tree years ago. I was in this class where we made oil, egg tempra and encaustic paint from scratch. We were looking at a lot of renaissance art and I was influenced to put my spin on some of the themes these artists were working with. I figured why not make a biblical scene but throw gas masks on all the animals. They won't see that coming. The teacher liked it but now looking back it wasn't all that original. haha.


Wasker: thanks man. I can't believe that gods TD was only a year ago. time flies.

Tiff! lol! well what the hell! let's set a date! meatballs for everyone!

RaistlinTheDark: practice dood. oh and no social life. thanks.

dtr.aty: thanks. i plan on it.



Check this out!

You'll see some familiar faces here.
A group of us started a blog and are showing tons of cool work.
Stop by and leave a comment.
Thanks!

www.gorillaartfare.com

[Rich Pellegrino]

Hello!

I learned that trying to make negatives look readable is hard... never mind making them look cool.

cheers!
rich

[scott*altmann]

Dude! That came out great and I think you did a really good job handling the negatives. I am really glad you chose to paint it like that (as opposed to the other sketch you showed me) - I think this is going to jump right at the viewer with the bold large graphic shapes and limited hues. One of my new favorites from you.

If I had to crit, and it's really really nitpicky, is that the torn off negative edged probably wouldn't tear that way. I've torn negatives up (usually nude pictures of you) and the edges are very hard, where there they feel more like cloth. Oh gawd- that is the most nitpicky crit I have ever done. I am not going to delete it because it's funny to me now Great job brotherman!

[Rich Pellegrino]

SCOTT! you told me you threw them away! haha!

good crit though dooder. your dead on about that too. i got a little carried away (as usual) and had too much fun. unfortunately with that you can forget what your doing. oh noes!

Thanks for the wisdom broski!

[Camiam321]

My favorite piece is the one with the dinosaur bones. That's pretty much how I imagined finding fossils when I was an 8 year old paleontology nut: just walking along, and BAM! DINOSAURS!

I think your work is great. Keep on keepin' on!