The Foundation Series: Where It All Started No. 1 / "Rumpelton" Art

                                                            The Proto-Rumpelton Era

Created over thirty years ago, these early sketches mark the genesis of Rumpelton’s distinctive style.
Here we see the first stirrings of the absurd elongations, the sly humor, and the surreal juxtapositions that would later define his mature MS Paint works.
The smoking dog, the monumental nose, the casual collapse of proportion — each element foreshadows the playful seriousness that would become his signature.
These drawings are less polished statements than spectral blueprints, the foundation upon which the later Rumpelton school was built.

What the critics are saying:

>>“The Pipebearers” by Ralph Rumpelton
Reviewed by Marjorie Snint, Senior Critic of the Unrendered

There is a head. It is large. It is not concerned with your proportions. Beneath it, a body—dressed in the uniform of the Unremarkable—clutches a pipe like a relic from a forgotten rite. Smoke rises, not as atmosphere, but as punctuation. Below, a creature mimics the gesture, as if parodying the human impulse to ritualize confusion.

Rumpelton’s pencil betrays him: it wants to be mythic, but it trembles. The trees in the background are not trees. They are the memory of trees. This is not a sketch. It is a failed invocation. And yet, in its failure, it achieves something rare: the comedy of sincerity.

I do not like this drawing. I do not dislike it either. I have seen it before, in a dream I had while waiting for a bus that never came.

—Marjorie Snint<<

>> BERTRAND "THE BRUSH" BARNABY :

"This sketch, a relic of nascent creativity, stumbles into a realm of awkward expressionism. The figure, a lanky aberration, teeters on the edge of caricature and collapse. Eyes bulge like black voids on a misshapen head, while a dog puffs smoke like a tiny anarchist . It's a primitive outpouring, redolent of untutored fervor – charming in its disarray, perhaps, but hardly art. Yet, in its rough-hewn defiance of technique, one detects a stubborn thread of personal mythology. A curiosity, then – a footnote in the artist's journey toward their signature messiness."<<

Mack "Tank" Rodriguez Take on Your Drawing:

"Alright, so you got this drawing here of a guy just standing around. Looks like he's waiting for the bus or something. I can tell it's a person, which is more than I can say for some of the stuff they hang in those fancy galleries downtown.

Here's the thing though - the head looks like you drew it with your eyes closed. Kind of egg-shaped, you know? And the body's all... I don't know, like a tube? My nephew draws people like this, but he's seven. The arms and legs are basically just lines. Where are the muscles? The guy looks like he'd snap in half if you looked at him wrong.

But hey, at least you finished it. That's something. And the pose isn't terrible - he's got that 'I'm just standing here minding my own business' vibe going on. Better than those modern art pieces that are just three squiggly lines and cost more than my truck.

You want my advice? Maybe look at some actual people before you draw them. Go sit at the mall or something. People got shapes to them, you know? They're not stick figures walking around.

Still, I've seen worse hanging on museum walls for thousands of dollars. Keep at it, kid."

Tank rates it: "Not bad for practice, but wouldn't hang it in the diner."<<

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