Sekkaido entry .. or was..!

The past few weeks I'd been focused on the annual Sekkaido competition (which always seems to sneak up on me somehow).

Still about 12 hours from completion I was quite happy with the direction and colour coding, unfortunatly realised 2 weeks before the deadline that I'd been too ambitious and had been working on an F5 piece when it should've been an F4.

No biggie. It's pretty rare to get the chance to work on something that size, and it was a heck of a learning curve.

 So back to the drawing board!

Peel

Messing around with the clay earlier this week lead back to some Planet Peel visuals.

After a few months of working on portraits, animals and plants it was about time to go back and see what could be done with the Planet Peel visuals. 

Overwhelmingly these visuals give me a sense of satisfaction unlike the portraits. The ribbon effect is just a bunch of fun, so I'll be spending the next week working on new ides, colours and expanding the world a little.

Planet Peel - Plants

A4 wood - Acrylics

Recently running into a lot of good ideas, but having the ability to properly execute them is becoming a struggle.

It's ok though, at this point concepts mean more to me than execution. This idea of wrapping plants sounds fun and gives me a lot of ideas to follow later on.

Planet Peel - Drafting

A3 Pad - Acylics / Oils

Just a rough draft testing different stroke techniques. 

The "PP" visuals had all been quite smooth, which is nice, but too simple. To really connect and believe in this environment there needs to be texture and emotion.

Sekkaido - 2012

F20 wood - Acrylics

I was pretty content with the final piece. It's no Matisse but for a first attempt I was satisfied.

I'd gotten wind of the competition 2 weeks prior to the deadline and so needed to work fast. Choosing an F20 format and a limited pallet would cut costs and save time.

Following the theme of "Planet Peel" I looked for vibrancy and movement and also immersion which foreground and background action.

If I'd had more time before the deadlines I'd have spent more time on the pencilling, as looking back, there needed to be other elements such as flowers or insects to make the context clear.

Planet Peel - Concept

A4 wood - Acrylics

As a kid, Doug TenNapel (creator of Earthworm Jim and Neverhood) had a big influence on me. The "planet peel" concept comes from many places, but the kind of vibrancy and creativity of the EWJ series has a lot of bearing on this type of work.