MSPaint COMPETITON #9

While there were only a few entries into this week’s MSPaint challenge, I think everyone would agree that they are excellent.

The challenge was to draw a ninja fighting an impressionist painter. A bonus point is given to each entry that does not use Monet. Because this was as much an academic challenge as a drawing contest, I’m going to use the opportunity to also talk a little Art History.

Ninja 1!

The Artist titled Ninja 1: Degas vs. Pierre the Ninja.
I believe the text translates to something like:
“I have put you in Bronze, you foolish ninja. You will torment me no longer.”
“French school for stupid ninjas, what was I thinking?”

Edgar Degas was born in 1834 in Paris and is famous for his depictions of movement. Much of his famous work depicts either horses or dancers. What makes this MSPainting unique is that it subtley brings together the ninja and the painter in multiple ways. Not only does the artist have both characters speaking french, but he/she has also made an allusion to one of Degas few bronze sculptures: Little Dancer of Fourteen. Degas started working with sculpture and pastels later in life because his eyesight was failing. At the age of 74 he had to give up art altogether.

Well done Artist number 1!

Ninja 2!

Artist’s Title: Few people know that German impressionist painter Max Liebermann was assassinated by ninjas in 1935.

In addition to providing the correct year of death of Max Liebermann, the artist shows Liebermann drawing pictures of trees. Liebermann, while famous for scenes of people in his early years, spent more time drawing nature and garden scenes as he grew older. This particular painting would have been banned however, because Liebermann was Jewish and the Nazi’s were being dicks by not allowing him to paint. Although it’s not suggested by the artist, I think this ninja might be a Nazi.

Great job artist 2!

Ninja 3!

Simple and effective, Artist 3 makes a reference to Van Gogh’s ear.

Van Gogh suffered through many mental issues. Born in 1853, Vincent Van Gogh did much of his work from his surroundings in France. In late 2004 I had the opportunity to take a Van Gogh tour through southern france to see the locations of inspiration for a number of his paintings. It was fun, but also kind of creepy. Especially seeing the mental institute where he was submitted.

Anyway, the historic story behind the ear is that Van Gogh cut it off himself, went to a brothel, and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel asking her to keep this object carefully. Apparently the REAL story is that it was cut off in an epic battle with a ninja. But how do you tell that to the press? No wonder everyone thought he was nuts.

Excellent and Simple! well done Artist 3!

Ninja 4!

Artist 4’s title: An attacking ninja was caught off guard by Georges Seurat’s pointillism attack

Artist four also brings some hisotry into his/her MSPainting. Seurat was born in france in 1859, and experimented with using contrasting colors and tiny different colored dots in order to give an impression of color and form from a distance. This developed into Pointillism. Perhaps the most well known example of Seurat’s pointillism is his work ‘Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’

Seurat tried to go about his art in a scientfic way. He used color tones and light effects in order to depict different emotions and feelings within his art. It also seems that he developed a way to turn a paintbrush into a brutal pointillism weapon of destruction.

Great job Artist #4!

So there you have it. Use the comments to vote for the ‘most awesome’ and ‘most inane.’

11 thoughts on “MSPaint COMPETITON #9

  • 1/13/2006 at 6:05 am
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    Most awesome: Ninja 4 (nice feeling of movement/action)
    Most inane: Ninja 3 (nice shuriken, but there is a lack of actual ninjas)

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  • 1/13/2006 at 8:05 am
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    Holy crap, this is the best one yet.

    Most awesome: Ninja 4 (historical accuracy, making the painter badass)
    Most inane: Ninja 2 (sure, he had to kill the dude, but did he have to ruin the painting? I think a true art ninja would have done better.)

    Thanks for teaching us all some things about Impressionism.

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  • 1/13/2006 at 3:10 pm
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    Quickie impressions, as always.

    #1) Two things strike me about this one. First is the leaning of Degas. He’s about to fall over! The second is the ninja. Maybe it’s because I was raised on TMNT, but the color and the features remind me of a de-shelled ninja turtle, if such a thing were possible.

    #2) At first I thought… this one is well drawn, but rather bland. But then I discovered something completely awesome about it. And that is that Liebermann painted his own assassin in his painting! Brilliant! (I’m guessing this one is Roland’s)

    #3) This one, obviously, took the least amount of time to create, I’m guessing. And it’s rather abstract, which is ironic considering the topic. My only complaint, and this is a big one at that… is that Van Gogh isn’t regarded as an impressionist painter. He’s a post-impressionist or an expressionist.

    #4) I did a biography report on Seurat in my high school French class, and I like this one because the painter attacks the ninja, instead of the other way around. Not only that, but it’s an appropriate attack, reminiscent of those old cartoons where you can see the cartoonist’s hand meddling with his own characters. This one, I’m pretty confident in saying, is Mike D’s.

    Most Awesome: #2, only because of the baby ninja in the painting.
    Most Inane: it would have been #2, but the baby ninja saved it. otherwise, I won’t choose any. i thought they were all pretty un-inane.

    Good work to all!

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  • 1/14/2006 at 12:22 pm
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    Hey, before I cast my vote, I want to know: are Seurat and Van Gogh officially impressionists?

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  • 1/14/2006 at 2:29 pm
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    Wikipedia says Seurat was the founder of Neoimpressionism, and “Van Gogh’s influence on neo-Impressionism, Impressionism and early abstraction has been enormous“.

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  • 1/15/2006 at 12:39 pm
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    Fun Art Fact: One of the main visual differences between Neo-Impressionism (like Seurat and Signac [the WAM has a Signac, if you’re ever in town]) and Impressionism has to do with the uniformity of the brushwork. Neo-Impressionists had a much more rigorous brushwork, while the impressionists were much more casual. So to answer your question Alicia, one could argue that Neo-Impressionists still paint in a more-or-less Impressionist mode, despite their more formal and uniform use of the brush strokes.

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  • 1/15/2006 at 12:42 pm
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    Most Awesome: Ninja #2. I laughed out loud when I saw this one. Ninja #4 is also awesome, but we all know that one’s Mike D’s…

    Most Inane: Ninja #1, although I do like that the painter wins.

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  • 1/15/2006 at 1:39 pm
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    Most Awesome: Ninja #3 Simple but effective

    Most Inane: Ninja #2 I don’t really know if this one counts as “inane,” but I liked it anyway and I wanted to give it a point.

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  • 1/16/2006 at 10:14 am
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    Most awesome: Ninja #2. Truly awesome, and I learned about Lieberman, about whom I knew nothing before.

    Most inane: #3. Totally hilarious. Loved it.

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  • 1/16/2006 at 5:57 pm
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    Most awesome: I am loving Ninja #2!! Hilarious and well done. Oh the irony of it all.

    Most Inane: I cannot see beyond my fav, #2…so, whatever the category – i’ll vote for it.

    Reply

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