Gimme More Speed!

So my New Years Resolution was pretty simple - do a speedpaint a week.  There were some more details in there, but the rest of it was just icing - the important bit was actually doing the painting. One a week should be easy!  I know one guy who does one a night!  I've said that before though, and you'll note that in all the time I've been working on the blog I have yet to crank out 52 speed paints in a year.  Time will tell if I can keep the resolve and get it done.

I did say I'd be away for a while didn't I?  I've not been idle though; mostly I've been sick, or on vacation, and at one point both at once.  I did get a speedpaint done each week this month though - except the first week, but it only had three days and I was away for most of them, so the resolution came into effect on the 4th.  I had one left over from December though, so you still get 4 in this post.

Time Taken: 100 minutes
Software: Photoshop
Based On: This photo by Marcus Ranum

After painting the two castles in the last post, I went looking for another building to paint - something other than a castle to mix things up a bit, and found this lovely image.  I immediately knew I wanted to paint it because it's simultaneously simple looking, yet deceptively complex.  Seemed like a reasonable challenge.  I also decided to use Photoshop as I knew I had some brushes there that might make painting the foliage fairly interesting.

I discovered as I was painting that I'm far more likely to use multiple layers in Photoshop than I am in ArtRage.  In AR I'll use two or three if I use them at all, but for this image I was using 5 if I recall correctly.  Other than that the main challenge was getting the colours and luminosity of the shadows right.  I started with them quite dark in the initial block in (though they stay the same colour throughout - desaturated red), and then I filled them in with some bounce light (in the second image of the set here).  That worked pretty well, and helps sell that it's sitting in full daylight rather than an overcast sky.  I did use those brushes, they were a great help.

Time Taken: 90 Minutes
Software: Photoshop

Used photoshop quite a bit for this round, with both this and the next image being done using it.  This one didn't turn out quite as well as I would have liked, but was interesting anyway.  It's actually something I was planning on doing for Halloween, though obviously the colours would have been autumnal and there would be no snow.   Didn't get around to it then, so I've done it now, with some small differences (he was going to have a head more like a pumpkin, but I switched it out for this Robotic Herne the Hunter type thing instead.

It's OK I guess.   Some people really liked it, but it did work to remind me how hard it can be to paint in a hurry without reference - the pose is vaguely based on an image I'd snagged as reference for the Halloween version, which I was planning to do a more finished piece of, but I've not seen it since November, so I don't think it counts.  The snow in the last image is done using just another of my many Photoshop brushes - sort of the equivalent of flicking paint onto a canvas.

Time Taken: 90 Minutes
Software: Photoshop
Based On: Personal photograph

This one is the first in a series I'm calling "Designated Area" after what they call places you're allowed to smoke in Theme Parks.  Basically I've taken a surprising number of photos in smoking areas over the years, so I thought it might be interesting to base some paintings on them.  This one isn't from a theme park obviously, it's at the back of the Indiana Convention Centre, where my wife and I took my son to Lego Kidsfest last year.

The only thing of real interest is that I've taken a page out of Robh Ruppel's book 'Graphic LA' in as much as I've laid out the big geometric shapes first and then added detail from there.  That's th eonly thing I've borrowed here, as I wasn't trying to emulate his graphic work, I just felt it would be an interesting thing to try - it worked out quite well I think.  The other interesting aspect is that this image used 20 layers or so - Comparing that to the usual 1 to 3 of ArtRage makes me wonder why I fall back on them so readily in PS.  I didn't use any particularly special brushes in this one as  far as I can remember, just the one brush I made to be similar to the oil brush in ArtRage - this may be why this one has more of an ArtRage like look then the previous two.

Regarding the smoking; I'm trying to quit, so hopefully this will be a finite series once I don't need to visit places I can smoke any more.

Time Taken: 100 Minutes
Software: ArtRage 4
Based on: This image, by Caffeinated Stock

And here, finally, we have both an ArtRage Painting, and a portrait.  Back in my slightly more comfortable area again.  The only thing of note, other than I'm quite pleased with the results for a change, is that my picture looks more like Maisie Williams to me than the person its actually based on.  Not exactly like her - just somewhere between the actual model and her.

Not a lot to say regarding techniques; this was just a very standard speed paint.  I think it is worth noting something I mentioned to a colleague the other day though - I do have a tendency to lay down the colour a little saturated, and then tone it down as the painting goes along.  here that tendency is most notable around her ear in the middle image, and on her neck in the first four, but I've done it elsewhere as well - such as the purple on her shoulder making it almost unchanged into the final piece, and if you look closely there's a spot of quite bright green at the bridge of her nose.  I did feel it might be a little dingy, so I brightened up her face a little in Photoshop - I'll let you decide which of the two works better for you.