Sketch Card artist Bob Hepner accused of faking/printing/stealing art

[Faulkenburg]

Originally Posted by dd316

Back on topic... I find it kind of interesting that celebrities who "commission" him also sign said drawings/paintings. If the piece was a commission that they're going to hang in their home, why would they sign it?

You mean you don't have a giant signed photo of yourself hanging in the den? I thought everyone had one...

[dd316]

Originally Posted by Bryanjs14

Because no celebrities have commissioned him.

My point.

Originally Posted by Faulkenburg

You mean you don't have a giant signed photo of yourself hanging in the den? I thought everyone had one...

I've been doing it wrong.

[Jackg1980]

RIOT!!!

If printing and transferring is an art form then those peel and stick tattoos are real tattoos!

Once the print and transfer method becomes an acceptable form of art, call me Picasso.

[Super8er]

Originally Posted by Spider-Fan

Agree. The only thing I would add is that people are minimizing the process he is using. It is simply being stated that he is printing out an image, sticking it to cardstock, and putting a clear coat / fixative over the service.

According to the PDF, his process is more like
1. Manipulating the image with professional software, including but not limited to using built in filters
2. Printing the modified image in reverse
3. Transferring the ink from the print to the surface of the cardstock by chemical means
4. Touching up and possibly adding additional finishing to the transferred image
5. Applying a clear coat / fixative

I think what he is doing requires some talent and skill. It is not the same as free-hand drawing based on a reference, but that is not the same as free-hand drawing without a reference. Is there a place for cards created this way in the hobby? People want cheap photorealistic sketch cards, so I don't see why not. The value people place on a card will always be in some part related to the time and skill required to create that card. The gap between a Waterhouse Whip and a NAR! is wide.

I agree, there is actually a decent amount of work and technique applied here. Too bad he's passing off one work-intensive technique as a different one.

Originally Posted by Jackg1980

RIOT!!!

If printing and transferring is an art form then those peel and stick tattoos are real tattoos!

Once the print and transfer method becomes an acceptable form of art, call me Picasso.

I am a graphic designer professionally, and I am an amateur/semi-professional fine artist on the side (I've gotten my art accepted into gallery showings, so I think that counts?).

Anyway, most of my recent pieces of the last 2 years consist of me photographing models, then following the same basic procedure described in the PDF and by Spider-Fan - I digitally manipulate the photographs in Photoshop, print them and transfer them to watercolor paper. I then embellish the images with further applications of watercolor and pen & ink.

I know this is miles away from what this guy is doing... his illegal use of copyrighted images, passing others' work off as his own, theft, lying... he is definitely a world-class, no-talent scumbag.

But I don't want people to automatically assume the technique isn't valid as art. It's his application of the technique that is unethical.

[Faulkenburg]

Originally Posted by Super8er

I agree, there is actually a decent amount of work and technique applied here. Too bad he's passing off one work-intensive technique as a different one.



I am a graphic designer professionally, and I am an amateur/semi-professional fine artist on the side (I've gotten my art accepted into gallery showings, so I think that counts?).

Anyway, most of my recent pieces of the last 2 years consist of me photographing models, then following the same basic procedure described in the PDF and by Spider-Fan - I digitally manipulate the photographs in Photoshop, print them and transfer them to watercolor paper. I then embellish the images with further applications of watercolor and pen & ink.

I know this is miles away from what this guy is doing... his illegal use of copyrighted images, passing others' work off as his own, theft, lying... he is definitely a world-class, no-talent scumbag.

But I don't want people to automatically assume the technique isn't valid as art. It's his application of the technique that is unethical.

All comparisons ended the second you said, "me photographing". Photography is art. Stealing a picture from Google images is not art, no matter how badly someone wishes to play devil's advocate.

[Bryanjs14]

Originally Posted by Super8er

I agree, there is actually a decent amount of work and technique applied here. Too bad he's passing off one work-intensive technique as a different one.



I am a graphic designer professionally, and I am an amateur/semi-professional fine artist on the side (I've gotten my art accepted into gallery showings, so I think that counts?).

Anyway, most of my recent pieces of the last 2 years consist of me photographing models, then following the same basic procedure described in the PDF and by Spider-Fan - I digitally manipulate the photographs in Photoshop, print them and transfer them to watercolor paper. I then embellish the images with further applications of watercolor and pen & ink.

I know this is miles away from what this guy is doing... his illegal use of copyrighted images, passing others' work off as his own, theft, lying... he is definitely a world-class, no-talent scumbag.

But I don't want people to automatically assume the technique isn't valid as art. It's his application of the technique that is unethical.

Perfectly fine. That's what Banksy does and I have a damn tattoo of one of his pieces of art on my body. I'm not against that form of art, I'm against people trying to pass that type of art off as something else and lying about basically everything they do.

[Chuck Bartowski]

I'm not saying that I agree with Spider-Fan, but people by prints of photos all the time and consider them art. Photography in general is considered art. People buy prints of art (paintings and what have you). Of course they know what they are buying at the time.

I believe what this guy has done is disgusting...it makes people question even the real photo-realistic artists like David Desbois and Andy Fry. That 8 minute video of him doing a sketch card was just about the most laughable thing ever. No artists that I have seen does a sketch card by holding it in one hand and drawing with the other. I do not believe it is even possible to do a sketch card like that as the card would be moving around too much. Even if you had doctor's hands the pressure of the pencil or whatever is being used would cause the card to move.

[Super8er]

Originally Posted by Faulkenburg

All comparisons ended the second you said, "me photographing". Photography is art. Stealing a picture from Google images is not art, no matter how badly someone wishes to play devil's advocate.

Originally Posted by Bryanjs14

Perfectly fine. That's what Banksy does and I have a damn tattoo of one of his pieces of art on my body. I'm not against that form of art, I'm against people trying to pass that type of art off as something else and lying about basically everything they do.

I know... just wanted to make sure people can separate the technique from the application... I was getting the impression from some posts here that the technique wasn't even considered art in their eyes.

[Chuck Bartowski]

This reminds me of Chasing Amy and Banky being an "Inker" as opposed to a "Tracer"

[Cactuspies]

no one has brought up the obvious here, he's just doing PAINT BY NUMBERS and going outside the lines to blur the printer lines under the process bringing brought to light.

as the tattoo artist he claims to be, he would most likely be using this process for tats, unlike the regerts girl in the milky way commercial.

My 90+ year old grandmother has been teaching art classes for around 30 years and her father was an artist so it runs in part of my family. I should show her some of this stuff. If she could, she would take a ruler to the hands of those in her class who trace or use stencils or just print out and paint an existing picture.

[Super8er]

Originally Posted by Cactuspies

no one has brought up the obvious here, he's just doing PAINT BY NUMBERS and going outside the lines to blur the printer lines under the process bringing brought to light.

as the tattoo artist he claims to be, he would most likely be using this process for tats, unlike the regerts girl in the milky way commercial.

My 90+ year old grandmother has been teaching art classes for around 30 years and her father was an artist so it runs in part of my family. I should show her some of this stuff. If she could, she would take a ruler to the hands of those in her class who trace or use stencils or just print out and paint an existing picture.

I frequently trace my own photographs in my artwork... would I get my knuckles whacked by your grandmother?

[Bryanjs14]

Originally Posted by Super8er

I frequently trace my own photographs in my artwork... would I get my knuckles whacked by your grandmother?

If it's your own photography, then no. Photography is a form of art

[Zuelos]

If anyone tries to sell me something saying that is hand drawn, and I discover he used a transference technique, then it's a fraud. That's it. No matter how good his transference technique is. No matter how similar to the real image it looks. It's a lie, he is trying to deceive me, and he will have to face consequences.

[Cactuspies]

Originally Posted by Super8er

I frequently trace my own photographs in my artwork... would I get my knuckles whacked by your grandmother?

Probably not because it's during the freehand classes where the people try to not do free hand, and see below with Bryanjs14's answer.

she had a guy who used to be an architect and she had to get him to stop using rulers to make straight lines and block shapes for everything before he painted over it. the guy could draw really well, but not what she was trying to teach.

Originally Posted by Bryanjs14

If it's your own photography, then no. Photography is a form of art

anyway, I have to go watch billy madison color in a blue duck now.

[Super8er]

Originally Posted by Bryanjs14

If it's your own photography, then no. Photography is a form of art

I know... just making a point...

Originally Posted by Cactuspies

Probably not because it's during the freehand classes where the people try to not do free hand, and see below with Bryanjs14's answer.

she had a guy who used to be an architect and she had to get him to stop using rulers to make straight lines and block shapes for everything before he painted over it. the guy could draw really well, but not what she was trying to teach.

I'm glad your grandmother wasn't my high school art teacher... she would have hated me...

My HS art teacher was a very traditional "put an object in the center of the class and draw it" type of artist. I led the class front of drawing with or using different techniques that annoyed the hell out of her. She called my parents in to discuss my insistence on being "too individualistic." My parents asked her exactly what I was doing "wrong" in an art class meant to foster individual creativity. I ended up getting an A in the class.

Yeah, I'm one of them annoying artists that believes you can't call one person's creative expression "art" and say the next person's creative expression isn't "art" because it doesn't fit your norm.

Again - I AM NOT defending this Hepner jerkoff or his deceitful, thieving ways... just a side defense of what is or isn't art.

[jb1981]

Got this one in a group break the other day....

[dd316]

Originally Posted by jb1981

Got this one in a group break the other day....

Attachment 383851

So here's the original sketch, the reference, and the reference over the sketch at 25% opacity.

[glen87]

amazing - that "sketch" card really resembles the reference piece

[Wombat]

Originally Posted by Super8er

I frequently trace my own photographs in my artwork... would I get my knuckles whacked by your grandmother?

yes, but it'd cost extra

[jdandns]

Originally Posted by Bryanjs14

Perfectly fine. That's what Banksy does and I have a damn tattoo of one of his pieces of art on my body.

Which piece?
(Not your body, haha, the Banksy art...)

[Bryanjs14]

Originally Posted by jdandns

Which piece?
(Not your body, haha, the Banksy art...)

There is always hope. Its on my forearm amongst a bunch of other tattoos.

[HiltonL]

Originally Posted by Bryanjs14

I can't imagine how many times your mother had to smack the #@#@#@#@ out of you as a child for being a smart ass

I really wish there was an easy way to just ban idiots like you. Why can't the mods put in place some kind of voting system and make this forum a better place free of obvious trolls

Solving debates is best not done with mob rule.
We all have controversial opinions from time to time. Give Spider-fan his space and stay on your topic.

[Corky]

Has anybody heard anything from Bob since his rambling post on page 2?

[jdandns]

Originally Posted by Bryanjs14

There is always hope. Its on my forearm amongst a bunch of other tattoos.

Ah, I know it weil. (The image/tattoo, not your forearm.)

Think of how things would change if it turned out these Hepner cards were actually Banksy pieces. That time a sidewalk vendor was surreptitiously selling original Banksys for $25 each in Central Park nearly coincided with our first visit to NYC. We were there one week before that "happening" and walked through the very area of the park where they were sold, I think 5 in all. I like to think we'd have bought one, as a souvenir...

Say, Banksy, if you are a member of this forum, what do you think of this Hepner business?

[iluvfish2]

Threads been reopened. Please stay on topic and avoid the personal insults if possible.