Retep sketchbook-------> 1/11/10

[RETEP]

jedininjaman- thanks!

codex- thanks man, are you still going to that art festival??

still older work.
here is the finished Don Quixote, i actually like the sketch more...


random...


-Verbal Communications Inevitable Route to the Possession and Manipulation of the Human Body-
within the red marks it says "Ok Legs, Start Walkin"


Romulus and Remus
this is one in a series i would like to complete.


sorry about the shitty image quality on some of these.
i have been doing more digital video work for class lately, so i don't have as much to show as i would like.
but, i'll try to get more up soon.

[HugeHarHar]

Dude!

Hey man, have you moved out of Augusta yet? I need to call yo ass some time soon, see what's happenin'

You know your shit always hits the spot, I really enjoy the "random" thing in the post above.

[RETEP]

Kenneth- thanks! yeah, i am living in Athens now, going to UGA. you have to come down and hang out sometime! i'll give you a call.

Ok, schools out for the summer! its time to get busy on all those ideas i had throughout the year!!

i finally have my very own laptop!! so, no more excuses about computer access, scanners, internet, and etc...

i'm still updating from my long absence.
here's a series of paintings i was making for a narrative(i don't like it enough to finish it)...








radiohead...


haircut...


proposal...


i am nearly complete in updating all of my work worth posting, by next post i should have everything updated *whew*

here is something new. i can finally use my wacom tablet that i bought awhile back now that i have photoshop and a computer. so here is the first image i messed around with...

original


original+digital


detail


i might go back in and add some more highlights, don't know.
i feel like i have painted this before, i need to break out of my bubble and do something out of my comfort zone.

i completed a video for my art and tech class, which i should have uploaded on Vimeo for public viewing soon. i need to work on the sound.

retep

[RETEP]

here is a style i have been pursuing lately, they're helping me to understand color interaction. these were done over a few months, and are in chronological order. i wanted to show them in order to show my development.
-the tall ones are a little over two feet, and the small ones are about a foot.














the compositions are repetitious, but i am trying to vary them more now.

a quick environment study last night, about 1 hour...


its really hard for me to use color on the computer, i'm going to have to get used to it.

Peter.

[HugeHarHar]

Dude, one of the things I've always loved about your junk is how subtle you work. I'm so addicted to smashing out lines and colors, it's nice to see your stuff work so softly.

[RETEP]

Har-thanks! keep on smashing those lines!

i almost forgot to post this paintings, i painted it for a local cafe competition. I won the competition! so now it has a permanent spot in the cafe (and i received a nice cash bonus ).
its acrylic on hard board.
its quite a large painting (about 4ft, i think), so i wanted to show some detail picks. the painting was a huge learning experience, i used paint in ways i had never done before. it took about a month to paint, because i would only paint in natural light (in order to get the colors right). i did work on the patterns indoors though *whew* those took a minute to paint. there are many layers of paint, upwards to five on certain spots. all of the patterned areas have an under-layer of gold paint, which shimmers through the edges (unfortunately you can't capture this in the photos ).









another quick environment study, about 25 min.

[HugeHarHar]

Nearly forgot that? FUCK!

Man that's one of the coolest paintings I've ever seen you do. Seriously. All my talk about sitting down and doing ornate borders and you come here and drop this...

Bad ass.

[RETEP]

harhar- thanks!

heres a color study, its a three page spread in my pocket size sketchbook. its funny how irrelevant size is, when it comes to uploading images on the internet. the last painting i posted is about 4ft and this one isn't even a ft. anyway, here it is...


holy shit!
drawing with a wacom tablet is like learning to draw all over again. it was damn hard to get the rendering right on this figure study. i originally tried to draw it in color, but had too hard of a time getting the colors right.


arctic juggernaut of death-
i have no idea where this is going, but i'm gonna try to finish it up tomorrow for this weeks COW.

[RETEP]

my finished COW...

[HugeHarHar]

Shit! Gotta finish mine. I agree about how drawing with the tablet is so different. I've had mine forever and still feel really uncomfortable with it. I'm so unsure when drawing with it. The sketch of the girl is still pretty sweet.

At first I was going to recommend some darker darks, but looking at it, I think the coloring and the atmospheric deal yo is pretty sweet. How about some crisper shapes up close? The back legs really work, it feels like the legs are far as hell away, but the front doesn't quite portray the same amount of size. The design and the are sweet as shit though.

[guggemmaneuver]

retep>>> Okay, lots of stuff in here since i saw ya last. That was even before the mad decent Diplo show. glad to see you've been busy and are computer enabled to post the sketchbook stuff. Really nice collection of approaches... lots of subtlety in so many of them! i really like the pieces where you have some hard edged rendered things in combination with figures or faces. scissors, buildings, etc. the flowing sea of arms is pretty money too.

i really like where you are taking these studies. seems like you have a very painterly approach, no matter what medium you are using. unless that medium is maybe pen and ink or something. Seems like you are using acrylics and colored pencil a bit here... just wondering... have you tried guoache? that might work better for some of the sketchbook stuf–yield some more consistent coverage. even though it'd be a bit of an expense to set up a nice palette of it, seriously its a great medium.

anyway keep up the great work!

m

[RETEP]

hugs-thanks for the crit!

guggs-thanks! you nailed it, i've mainly been using acrylic, colored pencils, and colored ink. exploring how to layer these mediums in different ways, to get interesting color effects. yeah, guoache is great, i used it almost exclusively for a long time. i really didn't start using acrylic until about a year and a half ago, now i understand why its so popular. Diplo was good, but i saw Dan Deacon lately and that was a great show.

here are some photo-manip. stuff i did while trying to figure out the style for a short anim./film. its made completely from still photos. like i mentioned before, i still have to fix the sound before i upload it...





experimenting...




heres a landscape study for today, painted at this size. the values are off, and i definitely need to start implementing some textured brushes. digital stuff is still really troublesome, i feel i could draw these with a pencil twice as fast and it would look better. but, i've gotta learn to use this thing!!

[RETEP]

this weeks COW...
selected thumbnails


i went with the bottom right thumbnail at first, but i didn't like the composition. blah


i feel a little better with this one. having problems with the colors, and i need crits to improve this thing!!


btw it rips the flesh off its prey with its psychic abilities, the flesh is wrapped around its tentacles(breaks food down with enzymes on skin).

quick head study from a few nights ago. i'm having particular trouble scanning images with buckled paper from my large sketchbook, argh! its messing up the values.
this kinda sucks but here it is anyway...

[HugeHarHar]

This weeks cow is looking pretty cool. It took me a minute to figure out what was what though, but I think the clarifications will just come from polishing the image.

Making custom brushes is pretty easy. Make whatever shape/texture/lines or whatever you want, and crop it down to just what you want. Click the "edit" drop bar, and select "define brush". It'll open up a menu if you want to name it. Make sure when you do that, to go back and define the brush settings, such as angle distort and size and hardness, and then save that brush by clicking the new brush icon in the brushes tab.

[RETEP]

huge-thanks! i'll practice making brushes on this COW, i need to make one for the ground and the sides of the cave.

Cow update...
hope this is more clear.

[CRAIGGERS]

it looks like ur work is getting more conceptual, and symbolic
maybe u should take some graphic design classes??
anyway, i finished my internship at adult swim, i made a poster for comic con that will be signed by tim an eric, i also made a iphone skin for robot chicken, and a bilboard for the mighty boosh.... it was awesome, ill post that stuff when im done with finals... wow, hardest quarter of my life, im graduating next week! miss you man, ill be gone for portugal for the month of june, im trying to make a popup sketchbook while im their, ill post stuff when i come back

cheers,
craiggy

[RETEP]

craig- i can't wait to see your stuff!! congrats on graduating, must be exciting! good luck with your popup sketchbook, I've had a children's popup book on my mind for ages(can't decide on a story grrr). yeah, i really want to take a graphic design class, i just don't think i will be able to fit it into my schedule.

heres a portrait study, done traditionally with some digital touch ups.




i decided i hated my COW, so i might finish this one...


PR

[RETEP]

final COW#144
Cthonic Psychic Suckerer
Rielecks live in caves, coaxing victims in with their psychic abilities and bioluminescence. Once in range the Rieleck opens its massive mouth, using telekinesis to rip the flesh off its victims and suck it down. Rielecks are loners and are rarely seen outside of their caves, though its known to happen.



I'm disappointed in the colors, they turned out muddy. working with my tablet is still really difficult, but these COWs are helping me to learn.

[RETEP]

digital figure study.
major major challenge!! color sucks, likeness horrible, proportions off . the upside is i learned more about blending .
-and some fun with texture...

[HugeHarHar]

You're picking this shit up quick dude. Which isn't surprising, but I'm excited to see what you'll be doing in a few months.

Don't forget all the tools you can use in Photoshop/Painter. Selection tools, resizing certain elements, change hue, change saturation. Definitely recommend getting the Android fine arts download. The magic he does, and still leaves it possible to follow, is amazing.

[RETEP]

HAR- thanks! i hope so, cause this digital stuff is hard. i just don't get it yet. i have been checking out Idiotapathys blog here , it has been an eye opener! the way he manipulates the images is wild (taking whole advantage of the digital aspect of the image making). i have also been soaking in as much of bumskees work as i can, he has a great tut in the photoshop section (his blending POWERS are amazing!).

art time...
heres a still life following bumskees tut. i need to be more conscious of my edges.


color is not my friend , it never does what i want it to. every study is a lessoned learned i guess.


this is how i feel when i read + rodeo


PR

[HugeHarHar]

Look at our same-time-posting-looking-head-asses posting at the same time.

Some fun imagery as always. You're stuff is always soooo clean and fresh.

[Jamie Romoser]

Dude! your last digital painting is beautiful! Your really progressing fast.
Keep it up -Omerta

[RETEP]

harryhendersonhar- haha, we've gotta keep it up. hope your show went well! looking forward to hearing about it.

OmertA- THANKS!

another portrait/color study. i discovered Goldens acrylic medium GAC, and this my first go at it. i love how mediums can completely change the attributes of a paint (so refreshing!).
WIP


+digital touch-up


master study of Emily Sargent by the late great john Singer Sargent. i am trying out new brushes, textures, etc. i would love some crits! (i can handle it )


and another digital figure study. these have been no quick studies, i am really putting in some time trying to get these right. blending still bewilders me
(%$*! photobucket, argh)

[RETEP]

update on the sargent study...



PR

[RETEP]

i think i understand blending a bit better now. correct me if I'm wrong, large brush+low opacity+soft edges=blending. i know there is probably tons of ways to do it, but this seems to be an easy way.

quick figure study for the night...

[steve kim]

Thanks for the nice words on my sketchbook. It's funny that you say you are leaning towards fine art because lately I'm very much looking forward to doing some concepty stuff--perspective, hard surfaces, anatomy etc.

Like many the phrase "finding a style" is very problematic. Even before that, because you do seem to have a penchant for drawing, I would say take your drawing to a higher level. Right now it's 'accomplished' but not excellent and excellence is what you want. Hold yourself to a high standard and resist compromise and excellent drawing is an inevitable thing. And in the end good drawing will never fail to pay dividends. It'll make you a better painter too. Like humans and worms drawing and painting share 99% of the same DNA.

As for the style or fine art issue. Looking at and lifting from existing art is fine. I mean rainbows (and triangles, and space nebulae clouds, and purple, and folky line drawing, etc) are everywhere f'sure and whats the harm in lifting off that? But all that stuff came from some other place--most likely from someone's genuine interest from something in life. So my advice is Disney's advice is pretty standard advice, lift from what intrigues/inspires you in your daily experience.

[guggemmaneuver]

peter>>> two things... 1.) even though i realize that you are probably keeping the figurative palette really limited in these digitals, it might be nice to try to get more natural with the color choice... pale blues, reds, pinks, oranges, siennas, all that. Just something to consider. 2.) okay, on the swirling design elements around the faces... you should try to make the edges as clean as possible. if there's a straight line? paint it with a ruler. craftsmanship! It'll really make these really cool little designs POP! The best case scenario is when someone sees one they think... hey wait... did he do these in illustrator? oh.. damn. by hand!

again, i'm really enjoying the updates... gonna subscribe so that i can stay current on what's up in here. there are some great shows that come through athens... last group i saw there was stereolab...heh soooo incredibly fun! Dan Deacon shows are a blast though!

anyways, take care. if i end up heading to athens sometime i'll letcha know! definitely love visiting that town!

m

[HugeHarHar]

Sorry I've been MIA for a minute dude...Hectic

Some sweet blending coming along, though I'm more excited about stuff you're going to do when you break away from blending and coloring in the traditional manner and work more like what you did with the study above.

Any details on your design color swirls/figurative work? What's the direction behind them?

[RETEP]

Thanks for the support!!

Steve-Your words were encouraging and insightful!

Right now it's 'accomplished' but not excellent and excellence is what you want.

-Absolutely!! I don't want to accept anything else. About a two year ago i began to stray away from realistic drawings, feeling i needed to develop my concepts more. Unfortunately i neglected my technical abilities, and don't feel i have grown very much. I am looking forward to seeing some concept work from you, can't imagine what you'll come up with!

Google-Thanks, always a helpful crit! You're right, i have been limiting my palette on my figurative studies so i can concentrate on value and blending ( and the fact that its crazy hard for me to pick colors in photoshop ). But i took your comment as a challenge, and tried to implement more color in this last study. As you can see there are still a lot of problems, but it was really helpful just to go for it.
I'll try cleaning up the colors on my next painting with the patterns to see how it turns out. The patterns on some of the ones i have posted are actually very loose and painterly, but i posted the images so small you can't see it. I am working on getting better image quality of some of my work. I feel like i need to go absolutely messy and painterly or completely clean (more experimenting i guess, haha). Thanks again!

Huge- Thanks man. This digital work is starting to get me excited about all the possibilities! But i feel like i need a solid base to work from, so you'll probably see some more studies before i start really experimenting. I also feel like my photoshop knowledge is slim to none, and i need to learn the ropes.
I feel like the patterned figurative work is culmination of many different sources, and i don't even know if its that coherent haha. partly these are color experiments, and my attempt to understand color interaction. i had certain color concepts that i put to the test, often to unexpected results. trying out new techniques, and how mediums reacted fueled a lot as well. i tend to get obsessed with certain ideas for periods of time. these started after i had been thinking about a collective conciseness for awhile, which led to an idea of a collective flesh. flesh not being our own, but apart of a collective organism. malleability and interchangeable aspects of flesh. blah blah blah (i could go on and on). i don't know if any of this comes across in what i have produced. I do know once your pen hits the paper, all thoughts and ideas are out the window, your body does what it wants to do in the end.

Landscape sketches (enjoying the weather )




I used gauche for this one, and whoa! i forgot how easy it is to manipulate haha. there are some value problems, and i'm not to excited about the color. I have been rushing my faces lately, and it shows...
-note- this image is actually slightly larger than the actual painting-


Here's my latest digital figure study. I really tried to push the colors, which i don't think i was very successful. the greens look off and skin tones funny. I'm not even going to mention the values and proportion (glad your not going to see the reference ).

[guggemmaneuver]

ahh, that one building sketch looks familiar, even though i haven't seen it in years. It's the slice, right? We were so relieved when they built that thing...Geez... a campus that size shouldn't be lacking in places to study and work. anyways, i think i'm right. ha! photographic memory! (or not...)

hmmm...actually i think this is really damn impressive. of course you have to be your own harshest critic, but yeah...that's a really nice painting. the colors are so warm! I think the cooled greens (at least, on this monitor) are working better than you give them credit for. don't really have much of a crit, other than... well, maybe it's a little bit hard to tell what's going on here. sunlight cast from below? she's laying down? Maybe a few more core shadows... that might be a good opportunity to even out the color temp range a little. anyways, spectacular work.

Okay, fuck it! i'm going to figure drawing tonight... guoaches in hand. watch out.

[RETEP]

Guggs- Thanks! damn your good! UGA just added a huge extension onto the Tate building too, with a huge lounging area. Did you go to UGA?? Thanks for the crit, that digital figure took quite a few hours and i was getting really frustrated with it (though I'm still proud of it). She's standing up btw haha.

Well, i haven't painted in a few days, but i managed to do this tonight...


I finally uploaded a video i made in class last semester!! I would really appreciate any comments on it, either on Vimeo or here. It was a real challenge to put together, with a lot of experiments and failures. It was animated completely from still images, from photos i had taken with my digital. I edited the images in Photoshop and animated it in Final Cut. Positive and negative crits welcome

CLICK HERE TO VIEW -----> CLICK ME

PR.

[RETEP]

Having fun with photoshop...
Heres the original ink drawing. I wish i spent more time on it, paying closer attention to line weight. The wolf doesn't look quite right. I just didn't spend enough time on this sketch.
original+photoshop


I painted over the ink drawing with white acrylic paint.
Original+Photoshop


A variation on the photoshop version...


Another(older) color study, don't like the whole drawing enough to show it hehe (this is the only decent part). This image is larger than the sketch...




PR.

[RETEP]

Heres an WIP environment I started tonight, Any crits are welcome.

[HugeHarHar]

Looking cool man. I think the tree in the front left seems a little small. I know it's not supposed to be of any focus. Looking forward to seeing you polish this up!

The flowers at the top really kick ass by the way. Great colors.

[RETEP]

Kenneth- thanks for the crit! I didn't even notice it, but it really makes a difference.

Update on the digital


Sketches

[HugeHarHar]

Hell yeah man. The portrait/beach coast sketch is fantastic. Classic Peter imagery.

Always loving your skills yo.

[RETEP]

Kenneth- Thanks! I hope you like the finished version as much. I have a hard time capturing the same energy of my sketches when making a finished image.

I don't know if its finished, I'm just not satisfied with it.
----

----

[RETEP]

-Hollow-

[RETEP]

Heres a cover i made for a CD swap at my work...



The tunes include...
Willy Wonka- Quote
MGMT- Kids
Animal Collective- Summertime Clothes
Grizzly Bear- While You Wait for the Others
TV On The Radio- Lover's Day
Built To Spill- The Plan
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- Stagger Lee
Daniel Johnston- Devil Town
Antony and the Johnson- Cripple and the Starfish
Explosions In The Sky- First Breath After Coma
Panda Bear- Take Pills
Wolf Parade- I'll Believe In Anything
Devendra Banhart- Mama Wolf
A Silver Mt. Zion- God Bless our Dead Marines
Fleet Foxes- Oliver James
-Not all my favorites, but what I have been listening to a lot this summer.


I'm doing some images from movies to work on more illustrative work. I know this image is very blatant, but i want to play around with some more diagram esque drawings. Let me know if its working at all.


[PR]

[HugeHarHar]

Hey dude!

Funny it seems we've been listening to most of the same stuff. I'm digging the diagram, but I think with those kind of images, you really want to make it as polished as possible, possibly done digitally?

The previous two black/white paintings are both amazing, the hollow image especially. It's good to see you still kicking ass, I'm taking an art break. I'm going to try to learn a new hobby or something I guess.

[RETEP]

kenneth- Thanks! we've been listening to similar stuff cause you have good taste in music . I saw that you and thomas are teaming up for this CHOW. i considered asking kit, but i know he won't do anything haha.

This is a dvd cover/label i did for a good friend of mine, Its a short horror film. Would love some feedback on my design.

[HugeHarHar]

We can totally add you to Team Ticklebear if you want to join! If you do I can call you up and let you in on all the stuff we've come up with so far.

[guggemmaneuver]

haha... "team ticklebear"

peter>>> i think the design looks great, but there are a couple of things you need to watch out for. on the back panel, the white text that turns black when it goes over the edges of the polaroid photographs becomes very difficult to read. adding in a transparent but shaded box behind the text block can really help with the readability in such a situation. To demonstrate my point, the word "Produced" is mispelled on the back cover, but it is so extremely hard to read with this alternating black and white pattern, that one doesn't really notice. the text is uncomfortable on the eyes, and should probably be adjusted. it doesn't have to jump off the page or even pop, just needs to not be painful to look at.

another thing that might have helped out a bit: There are scans of actual polaroid photographs out there. the white borders have a good bit of texture and tiny manufacturing folds. it's subtle, but these attributes are there and they really add the "polaroidness" to a document like this. What do pen marks on actual polaroid photographs do? it's very much dictated by the surface texture.

cheers and great work!

m

edit: great songs indeed! When is panda bear gonna release more work? i like how his songs have 2-3 miniature songs wrapped up inside of one.

[RETEP]

Thanks! you two are keeping my sketchbook alive.

guggs- golden critique! thanks. I feel really bad cause Morgan has already printed that image for the cover , but i went ahead and made some alterations. I agree with you about scanning in a real polaroid, i should have gone the extra mile for a better look.

DVD cover


This is actually over a year old, but i never got around to taking a picture of it. It's a collaboration that i did with my brother. We might get around to making another soon since we will probably have another show together in October.


Ink study


A digital WIP

[CRAIGGERS]

HEY PETER!!!
love the new studies
i have my website up
www.craigpintodesign.com
check out some of my work, also im writting, and illustrating a childrens book
if you want to see it let me know!
miss you man hope everything is cool

Craig


....gay

(sorry i had to....for memories sake)

[guggemmaneuver]

ahhh... very nice. this image maybe shouldn't work on this rough ass h20 paper, but it does. and it feels like a natural, observed piece. very nice work. what's the size? i'm guessing by the tooth it's probably a bit small. and now i'm REALLY missing my inkwash pens. thanks, punk!

the double portrait is looking really nice so far. i like that the figures already have a lot of personality without having too much detail added so far. at this point it's more splashes of colors. essence. one thing i think might be helpful is to maybe desaturate your palette for the time being and focus more on tones – you can bring up the glowing skin tones and clothing colors later once everything is more concréte. i think the saturation makes it feel a little bit ... photo-reference forced? maybe it's a night scene and teh idea is a snap shot. i'm not really sure that makes sense, but maybe? something that i've been noticing lately is how much colors will desaturate, even somewhat close up, in yellowish daylight. nice how there are those rare post-rain moments when everything is not hazy and the light is crystal clear. It's like the environment you are in is suddenly +10 or +15 in the hue/saturation photoshop control panel...

glad the crit was useful – keep up the great work!

m

[HugeHarHar]

It's been since AUGUST!!!!!!!


AAAAARRRRRTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

[RETEP]

CRAIG!!!! Your website is great! You will be getting an e-mail from me very soon, its been way too long since we have hung out.

Hey guggs, that ink drawing is about five inches tall, just very textured paper i have been planning using for a long time. I completely agree with you about the double portrait looking photo-reference forced. Unfortunately, i have been way too busy to work on it lately, and i think it has lost its appeal to me. So, i don't think i will be working on it anymore.

Ken- Here is some art finally... unfortunately its not much, and i am having problems uploading videos to the internet. Another update should be on the heels of this one.


My Brother put together an art show in Augusta back in November, and i am finally getting around to uploading it. My brother really did a great job of rounding up a bunch of artists and putting together a great show. It has been pretty busy in my life lately, I have been in Germany visiting my parents for the last month. Not to mention getting ready for the new school semester which has already started. Anyway, i will get straight to the art...

Here is a poster i designed for the show...I really need to experiment with photoshop more, cause this looks far too familiar.


I barely had enough time to get three pieces done for the show (finishing one the night before, eek). I had a few more planned, but was unable to get to them. The first one is about 3ft wide, and was done with ink, colored pencil, and acrylic.

Close-up

digital mock-up prior to painting


This is about 7ft tall, with gesso and acrylic. This isn't a great picture, I will try to get a close-up posted soon.


Ink with quill, and this drawing was auctioned off at the end of the night for freeeeee


Here are some pics my brother took during the show



I was commissioned to do a charcoal portrait(11”x14”) by a co-worker. It was satisfying to do something purely technical for a change. All of my work through the Art X program is conceptually based, with little room for technical drawings. Speaking of the Art X program, I have an entire semester of work that I have not uploaded. Unfortunately, there are only a few projects, and I don't have much to show for some of them.


I will update again soon, with things i have worked on over the past semesters.

[ChromaticCodex]

I'm PINEING for some more Retep.............
Updates?!?!