Actually, it was six speedpaints I guess, but one of them was more like a speed sketch page (I did almost no actual sketching this last month - busy, see?), I'll show it anyway.
But in addition to that, since I didn't post about it last month it's actually eleven speedpaints I need to cover this month, plus a bonus guest one from my brother, for reasons we'll get to below.
Time Taken: 90 Minutes
Software Used: ArtRage
Based On: A Pinterest pin I neglected to pin.
This one was an odd experience. I tried to take a reference (which I've now lost; it was a thumbnail on Pinterest and I forgot to pin it) and then paint something slightly different from it. I mostly succeeded I think, although her stomach looks slightly odd, like there's no definition there (I don't mean she's lacking muscle). Now I've said that I realise I should do another speedpaint focussing on that area from a similar angle to help me work it out for next time.
Nothing terribly exciting in the step by step, except I'd abandoned the reference by the second stage here. Some things worked out quite well (I like her shirt and trousers), while other things sort of got a little muddled as I went along (I prefer the original angle of her head for example, and I think I made it too small when I was refining it). At the end I threw on some filters and such for fun, but it wasn't like it was going to save it or anything.
Time Taken: 35 Minutes
Software Used: Photoshop
Based on: Nada
This was one of those 'sketch it as soon as you think of it' things that I've started to try and do. It was a possible book cover, but looks like if I ever do a more finished version now it won't be for a book.
Time Taken: 175 Minutes
Software Used: ArtRage
Based On: Personal Photo
This is one of the 'Designated Area' series. It's not really a designated area, it's just a side road opposite the police station that I stopped at for a smoke (I wasn't headed to or from the cop-shop, it just happened to be across the street).
Before I started this one I created some perspective lines for reference using a free piece of software called Carapace (From the makers of Gears of War... really, kinda). The vanishing point is not quite in the same location as it was in the Photograph, so the end result is from a subtly different angle, with a slightly different FOV. I don't love it - I certainly need more environmental practice, but I've done a lot worse.
Time Taken: 40 Minutes
Software Used: Photoshop
Based On: A thumbnail I saw somewhere
This was indeed based on a thumbnail I saw somewhere. I don't recall where, and it doesn't really matter since the only real resemblance between this and the thumbnail is her hairstyle and the frilly bits at the top of her dress. I was playing around with doing something more colourful and more graphic (very loosely inspired by the works of Vasili Zorin), and I like the result (for a change), but haven't done anything similar to it since.
Time Taken: 60 Minutes
Software Used: Photoshop
Based on: A Streetview view
I was wandering around in Google Streetview, sightseeing, as you do, when I 'looked' up for a change and decided 'I needed to paint that'.
I forgot to bookmark where the view was though, so I can never go back there, because Earth is a very large place.
I'm a little sad that the leaves got a little smushy toward the end, but I was surprised how well a brush I made for painting oilstains 8 years ago worked for painting leaves in the first place. Also, there's a surprising amount of blue and yellow in this picture of something you'd usually think of as being green.
Time Taken: 30 minutes
Software: Photoshop
I was just mucking about with brushes for 30 minutes. The head in the upper middle is made out of hand prints. I should do a full painting like that someday. This was the first image of August incidentally, if you were trying to keep track.
No, it shouldn't count as a speedpaint, but I'm doing so anyway, because male ballerina, or something.
Time Taken: 35 Minutes
Software: Photoshop
Based on: An image about halfway down this page
Saw this one on Pinterest, and decided I liked the pose, and the amount of contrast, so I knocked it out pretty quickly. I should have spent a little more time on it perhaps because my Wife thought it was a picture of Prince. Clearly it's Little Richard, but what can you do?
Time Taken: 115 Minutes
Software: ArtRage
Based on: This photo by DrunkHobo-Stock
I was trying something new for this one. Basically I took my usual preferred settings for the ArtRage Oil tool and reversed them to try and get a more Acrylic looking result. It mostly worked I think. I also used the Palette Knife tool to distress it up a bit.
Two Step by Step images for this one, as I thought his face was actually the most interesting bit. You can also see just how roughly this one was painted here. I quite like the result, and I'll probably do more in this manner in the future.
Time Taken: 125 Minutes
Software: Photoshop
Based on: This image sort of, from the gallery of William Yan
Similar to the first image of the post, this was an attempt to modify an image while I painted to produce something very different, this time combined with a lighting study. It's the most successful attempt so far, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. I got quite into painting this one, and am lacking a step by step image as a result, but originally she was going to have horns. By the time I was at this point though I'd forgotten about them, so this one may come back some time in the future - this time with the headgear.
Time Taken: 25 Minutes
Software: Photoshop
This one is basically awful It's okay, it happens. More than I'd like really. Anyway, moving on.
Time Taken: 60 Minutes
Software: Photoshop
Based on: Really? I think you should know this one.
This was a fun one because it was part of a challenge me and my brother set for each other. He's an artist too, which I'm sure distressed our parents to no end when we were growing up, but my mother seems quite proud now that her two sons are making a living in a creative field.
Anyway, he recently started Speedpainting himself (not pictures of himself you understand; he, himself, recently started), and so after his first couple of goes we thought it might be fun to have a Paintoff. Nothing serious of course, no honor on the line, just an interest in how close our respective styles are. The rules were simple: Use Photoshop, 1 hour time limit, Use of grids allowed, no tracing and colour sampling, and no filters except Gaussian Blur (use of adjustments was allowed). Each of us picked a photo, and we'd paint both (you can see the other next month if you haven't seen it posted elsewhere yet).
So, the step through is basically what you'd expect from me. Originally I was going to give it a really scratchy look, but I didn't like the brush I started with much and so switched back to the tried and true one by Stage 3, which I mostly stuck with for the rest of the paint except right at the end where I switched to the same blobby oil stain brush I used for the leaves in the tree painting above. That's probably the most useful 'odd' brush I have - I've used it for smoke trails in the past too. I should do a whole painting with it one day.
This is the result of the challenge, with mine on the left and his on the right. He didn't crop his, but he also went over the time limit and took twice as long over it. Despite that mismatch, I think it's still interesting to compare the two.
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