
This beautiful set of drawings are a visual haiku; stripped of all detail yet communicating the essence wonderfully. Steve Rude is always conscious of form as the basis for drawing. He has the animator's talent for seeing forms as 3 dimensional objects in a 2D space. We're lucky to have him.
This drawing is a zen like image; it appears simple but contains a wealth of information beneath the surface. Steve Rude has internalized forms moving through space and working in unison to create depth. He prioritizes gesture, proportion and basic forms which is why his art is consistently superb and rewards close study for students.
Once again, The Dude has produced a true work of art. This is the second in a series of full figure painted portraits that Steve created for me. The first featured Batman. The commissioning process went smoothly with Jaynelle communicating with me every step of the way. I was able to see a rough before the piece was finished. To the Rudes, you’ve got a friend and customer for life. Thanks again!
Since I am an acrylic painter and artist myself, this commission was for Steve to draw Sue in a pencil pose wearing her 1990s FF uniform conceived of by the late, great Paul Ryan. And Steve drew a unique pose for Sue. Not a pin up pose but more like something one sees in a comic panel, it was now my challenge to fill out the rest of the painting. So I put the 1990s villain Malice in the painting and a lot of Paul Ryan inspired FF HQ tech too. The long and the short : Steve gave me exactly what I asked for. His wonderful wife Jaynelle handles all the particulars of shipping and handling, so no worries there. Very professional. But I wouldn't expect anything less from a great like Steve Rude !
1 comment
Boy I feel this one. This is one of those disciplines that you can’t quite “master,” but you can come close enough to be really annoyed by all the inefficiencies. I believe you’ve “mastered” (or come close enough) ink. Your points 1-4 about the challenges of oil all relate to techniques that are really easy in ink. It seems like you’ve hit a level in your artistic development where there actually doesn’t exist a medium that does everything you want… rich colors, precise shadows, crisp edges, brilliant light, and probably a hundred other things.
Can I ask why you’re hoping for oil to be better? As far as I can tell you’re fluent with all types of paint. Why not just switch to acrylic or gouache and keep on truckin’?