Tribute to Malcolm Liepke

[*Kim-L*]

Hi guys! :D

http://www.kimloh.com/redhead.jpg

Yep, I recently discovered the oil paintings of Malcolm Liepke, and I just totally fell in love with his work. I was really inspired to try using oils, so I decided to paint this portrait in Painter using its Oils brushes, about 2 hours. I'm sure fellow Liepke fans will know which painting of his inspired this portrait (and that one happens to be one of my favourites). :)

Just want to know if I've succeeded in using oils to paint realistically and effectively, since it's the first time I've ever used it in Painter. I'm pretty sure there's something wonky about the face though. Oh well. (Uhm, is this the right board to post this, or should it go to the sketches section instead?)

[el coro]

nice. as a liepke fan myself i can certainly see his influence. i cant recall specifically which portrait this was inspired by, but i recall his pallette being a bit warmer overall. in terms of the handling of the strokes, you would have a much easier time understanding his shapes by painting in oils. it is time consuming and difficult trying to emulate traditional marks digitally, as compared to brush application. its like trying to make an oil painting with watercolors, some people can pull that shit off, like paul bonner for instance, but for the rest of us, understanding why a painter does certain things can best be learned by using the medium he/she uses...nice work, though.-c36

[*Kim-L*]

Hi El Coro! :) Thank you for replying to my post, I appreciate it ... your work has always been really inspiring to me as well, especially your use of textures. Amazing stuff! I hope you never stop painting.

The painting I was refering to was
this (http://www.buschlenmowatt.com/images/liepke/nplowres1.jpg) one, but now that I look at it, the faces don't look alike at all. Oh well. And yeah, you're right about the warmer palette ... it's just me that tends to use not-so-warm colours for skin sometimes. (That's where my influence by Katsuya Terada comes in.) Thanks for your suggestion ... I'll definitely try out real oils soon.

[Dan Milligan]

I've always loved Macolm (Skip) Liepke as well.(his work that is) Had the opportunity to see his work in NY years ago... stunning. I think his colour pallette has influenced many artists over the years. Another personal fav is Burt Silverman.

Nice piece Kim.

Peace
Dan

[*Kim-L*]

Hi Dan! Thanks for replying to my post, I appreciate it. :) You're so lucky you got to see his work in real life! I hope to one day have the chance to visit a gallery of his work soon. Heheh, thanks for the recommendation, I'll look up Silverman's work.

By the way, your Maori warrior design for Thunderdome was really good. It's one of my favourite images from you.

[pstraub]

well...I quite like this...good job. I love the facial expression!

I met skip lepke about 8-9 years ago at a Society of Illustrators opening...he was a nice guy. He really is an inspiration to many illustrators having crossed over almost completely to the fine art market.

I agree with El Coro; there really isn't anything like understanding a meduim though actually painting with it. Painter does a descent job of reproducing oils....I personally would rather use the actual paint than try and reproduce the look in software. Nice thing about Painter though, is there isn't any clean up! Damn, that takes me about an hour...cleaning brushes..aghhhh.
As far as palette...well I would have to disagree on that comment...Lepke used many different palettes throughout his career..check any society annual from about 5 to 20 years back and you'lll see he did use different color keys for his work.
Burt Silverman is a legend; I judged the Society Student show with him a few years back...and I was all like ..."your amazing, and I love your work and...." Well, we were all just impressed with being around him.

Again nice job!

[Dan Milligan]

Thanks Kim,

One day out of the blue i decided to call Burt Silverman and tell him how much i loved his work. Well, he talked my ear off. everything from painting and drawing to baseball, and he ended up sending me one of his books that was out of print. -signed- lovely man.

Dan

P.S.
Hey Kim,
sorry to hi-jack your thread with all the Burt Silverman talk. thanks for reminding me how great these guys are.

[*Kim-L*]

Hey Pstraub! Thanks for your reply and comments, appreciate it. You got to meet Malcolm Liepke? :eek: Awesome! Glad to hear he's a nice guy. I would have been unhappy if he was the other way around instead ... *lol* I totally agree with you, not having to clean up at all after painting is definitely one of the major points of using Painter! It's too bad there isn't any official artbook collection of all of Liepke's paintings ... but whoa. Burt Silverman's work! I'm very glad you guys brought his name up, because his paintings are gorgeous. And you got to meet him too! Maan ... :D


It's cool, Dan ... I'm happy you brought his name up. I just went browsing the Net for some examples of his work (and there's unfortunately so little of it), and his paintings are amazing. I can wholely understand why you'd call him up ... and yeah, only a wonderful friendly person would do something like that. :) Say, your book wouldn't happen to be 'Sight & Insight: The Art of Burton Silverman', would it?

[Dan Milligan]

Hey kim,

The book he sent me is Painting People.
It's sort of a Burt Silverman step by step. You should definitely pick up Sight and Insight.

Cheers
Dan

[*Kim-L*]

*sigh* Really is too bad the Painting People book is in terribly limited availability now. :( A step-by-step book was exactly what I'd like.

[Jason Manley]

liepke is an inspiration to me as well. I studied under him at the illustration academy during his part of their summer program.

the trick to liepke the goopy mixture of his paint and linseed oil...and using lots it...a loaded brush...like toothpaste on a toothbrush.

1 linen

2 linseed oil...LOTS OF IT...to the point that the thick paint you apply is just about to drip but doesnt.

3 the palette knife

4 tone your canvas with a very runny mixture of linseed and oil...either a warm sienna base or a cool green base. paint wet into wet. his base he paints into is at least an eight of an inch thick. the paint on your brush will mix with the base as you hit it. you must account for this on each clean brush stroke.

5 mix in tons of linseed to all your palette piles....the paint should almost run off the brush. he calls it sexy paint.

6 as you paint...try to make one mark that says it all...if its not the right mark..scrape it off...make some brushstrokes...scrape some off....make some more...scrape them off...dont settle for two or three or four marks when one will do it all...sargent style.

do not lick at your painting with your brush...make a hit...move on...new brush load...move on.... move on..scrape...move on...say as much as you can with as few marks possible.

the thing he does is very difficult...of thirty other students and professionals at the academy not one could paint like him. that was our assignment...take a black and white photo and make a full color painting from it using liepkes technique.

I ended up with paint all over me and not one good painting. he is a genius.

I watched him finish a painting and then scrape the whole thing off in frusteration....he came back the next morning all ffired up and made it look so easy that not a person in the room was not deeply impressed. by that point we had all attempted to paint his wet into wet way. it is incredibly difficult.

what he does takes years of practice...a full understanding of color...design...composition....

it was liepke who said to me..."you dont need to struggle to invent your style...pick your four favorite painters and use the elements of their work that you most enjoy" ...for example...use whistlers color and whistlers simplicity...vuillards pattern work...degas compositional techniques...and sargents brushwork. what you say with those tools is your own.

he knows his art history....and he has mastered it.



j

[*Kim-L*]

Hey Jason! Thanks for replying to my post. :) Your work is a great inspiration for me too, especially your Icewind Dale pieces.

Thank you for the Liepke oil painting steps, I appreciate it! I'll be sure to try them out when I get my hands on oils ... and I certainly agree with his words. :beer:

[Franz Steiner]

Nice work Kim-L.

I have a good feeling when I read the conversation of you guys. Shows how you all love your your work and what you are doing. Im glad there is a formum like that where eveybody who is interested can be a small part of this.
So I wish all of you good success in the future, especially you
Kim-L.

[*Kim-L*]

Hey Franz! Thank you for your comments. :) That's really nice of you ... and I know exactly what you mean. You can't really fake any love towards your work at all, because how you feel and the amount of effort you put into it show in every detail, in every piece.

And as for those who do try to fake it and get away with it ... well, I guess the current art ripper thread says it all. :P Scary how there's suddenly such a surge of art rippers around.