Fumbling the Speed Ball

It's been a while!  Over a month since I last posted I think, which means I never posted the Speedpaints for October during November.  This is not caused so much by laziness on my part (though as ever, it's a contributing factor), so much as I usually post on weekends, and the weekends were full.  Obviously Thanksgiving was in there, but also two weekends of travel (to St. Petersburg) - the most arduous trip I've ever been on in terms of actual travel, but the most surprisingly pleasant time once I got there.  Not the best trip I've ever had, but perhaps the one I'd most want to repeat, if I could do it without the jetlag.

So that's three weekends accounted for, and I can't honestly remember why I didn't post on the other ones.  Some form of busy or other, I'm sure.

So, since the following were mostly quite some time ago I'll write what I can, but it might not be much.

Time Taken: 110 Minutes
Software: Artrage
Based on: Photo from the '60s of model Linda Morand.

I didn't want to do a direct copy for this one, feeling I need to be less afraid of stronger stylisation when called for.  This was the result.

I don't like it much.  I think it could have worked well if I'd spent a lot more time on it though (clearly stylising things takes a lot longer as my brain is doing things it's not used to doing while painting, or something).

Time Taken: 150 Minutes
Software: Photoshop

This one was sort of fun actually.  I didn't have a vision for it to begin with, I was just doodling and one of the doodles led to this.  Might lead to a more complete painting one day, but I just wanted to see how well I could translate the sketch into something more dimensional in a fairly short timeframe.

The sketch in the top left was done independently of the rest of the picture.  I just stamped it into a pleasing compositional place and started sketching around it.

Time Taken: 20 Minutes
Software: Photoshop

Just mucking about with some colour choices and brushes.  I don't even remember which picture I based it on.

Time Taken: 120, 175 & 110 Minutes
Software: Artrage & Photoshop
Based on: Boris Karloff as the Monster, Elsa Lanchester as The Monster's Mate (AKA The Bride of Frankenstein), Bela Lugosi as Dracula

So, it should be fairly evident that I painted this one for Halloween, except it's three separate speedpaints that happen to fit together.  The Triptych format was always intentional, with my coming up with the background before I painted any of them.  What wasn't so certain was what I was going to paint.  I wanted the classic Universal Monsters (hence the era appropriate Deco style background, created in Photoshop), but didn't decide on which ones, or which shots to base them on until I started each of them.

The Monster was first, and is probably the roughest of the three.  I din't use a grid of any kind for this one, relying instead on the pattern itself and measurements to get things in the right place.  It's taken from two separate photos of the monster (all three are taken from at least two photos), to give a relatively unique image.  Other than the background everything other than the final image is done in ArtRage, with Photoshop used in that last stage to give a little bloom, noise and subtle colour to the image.

Dracula came next, and the process was very similar to that of The Monster, except this time I used a crosshair grid to aid in getting the likeness.  I was actually happy with how quickly that aspect came together: the third image here is recognisable already, and the likeness actually takes a brief step backwards in the 4th.

Finally, The Bride.  I have to admit to never having actually seen Bride of Frankenstein, and despite her place in pop culture it was only while looking for references for this picture that I realised how damn striking Elsa Lanchester actually was; attractive in a quirky way that puts me in mind of Jennifer Tilly or Debi Mazar.  Anyway, I was originally going to do Karloff again as the Mummy, but quickly changed my mind when I realised the Bride's hair would be infinitely more interesting to paint.  For this one I used a 4x4 grid, and based it on three images.  I think it came together fairly well.

Time Taken: 65 Minutes
Software: Photoshop

Another piece that's mostly just my playing around with various brushes.  The picture is based on two thumbnails sitting next to each other on Pinterest: a man in a Parka, and a striking looking woman.

I don't claim it's terribly good, but there might be something worth revisiting at some point.  I think I actually preferred it in the early stages, when the palette was more muted.

That's all for now.  This only covers October.  There is another post with November's paints to come.  I haven't actually done a single speedpaint so far this month (I was away, but also working on a book cover), but there are still a couple of weeks left to rectify that.  November had 3 though (or 4, depending on how you count it), so I'll cover those soon.