Kitchen Emperor’s New Groove Concept Art
(Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.)
Robh Ruppel is an artist who produces beautiful concept art for animated films, digital plein-air paintings and also finds time for teaching. He adds to this versatility by creating a wicked line in retro/tiki/pinup stylee illustrations and prints.
Some of his output moves through the Nucleus Gallery, as the next couple of pictures below will show.
Entry for Nucleus Gallery Show: Lost
Lost May 2006
Robh came to my attention a few years ago when he was working on Walt Disney Feature Animation’s South American tale called “The Emperor’s New Groove”.
I heard about some of (but not all of) the problems that beset this film from Colin Stimpson, who was the Art Director for the project.
Here’s a couple of pictures from Robh Ruppel’s website that shows work from this era:
Emperor’s New Groove Concept Art
Emperor’s New Groove Concept Art
Robh then ascended to the role of Art Director for one of the last 2D animated features to come out of WDFA, Brother Bear, released in 2003.
Brother Bear
Brother Bear
Brother Bear
Brother Bear
Brother Bear
Brother Bear
Nowadays, Robh is pushing against the traditional constraints of plein-air painting by taking his laptop out on location painting trips.
He will sketch on his own or with a group that he organises through a blog called Painting Location, and occasionally posts to a group blog called 7 days of sketching.
His ‘normal’ blog is called: Broadview Graphics.
It’s very instructive to dig deeply through the archives of his blog, and seek out his speed paintings, tonal studies, plein-air paintings and step-by-step how-to’s.
So enjoy these!
Speed Painting: Rainy.
Digital Life Painting: Couch. January 2006
Red Series: Red 2.
“I really like limited color schemes. there’s something about them.”
Here’s his digital plein-air painting kit. It consists of a couple of folding stools, the laptop with sunshade, and a small Wacom tablet for drawing and painting straight into the computer.
Robh explains his approach in a step-by-step painting of Eaton Canyon:
I begin with a simple breakdown of value and color.
Eaton Canyon Step One.
I try and keep the compostion down to the fewest values possible that will still evoke the general mood in front of me.
Eaton Canyon Step Two.
Then I elaborate on the differnent hues and add a little form to the objects in the scene.
Eaton Canyon Step Three.
Finally I refine the shapes and values till I can’t see anything more that needs “fixing”.
Sunday, Feb 19th 2006
There is much to admire on Robh Ruppel’s website and on his blog.
So go and admire, and learn!
