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Topic : "What is speedpainting?" |
fukifino
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Joined: 28 Aug 2003
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Location: OC.CA.US
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 Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:06 am |
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OK, I've been watching the speedpainting thread pretty religiously, and at some point within the last month someone asked the question I had been wondering: what exactly is speed painting.
Someone, I think Craig Mullins, responded in a very succinct manner about the essense of speed painting. Something about getting values and hues with as few strokes as possible. When I read it a little light went off in my head and I understood it's purpose much better.
I was trying to explain it to a friend but I could really remember the gist of it, and now when I search, for the life of me I can't find the post anymore. I found someone asking the question and a few answers, but none of them was the "epiphany post" that I saw before.
Sooo...if any of you remember that quick discussion (I'm pretty sure it was in the speedpainting thread) or better yet, if you're the one that actually posted it, I'd appreciate you jogging my memory. 
Of course, I'd also welcome all thoughts on the purpose of speedpainting and the methods behind it, etc...
Thanks |
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Tinusch
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:25 pm |
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| I'm not sure what it means anymore... I remember it used to mean putting a time limit on yourself, and forcing yourself to get down the most important aspects of the image first. Keeps everything fresh and you can't really get carried away with details. The first speedpainting thread had images that took 5-20 minutes, rather than the 1-2+ hour works we occasionally see in recent SP posts, and everyone stayed focused and worked quickly. Sometimes the images ended up looking like hell, but sometimes they worked. I think that's what it's all about, forcing yourself to keep the big ideas fresh and not get swept up in details and second-guesses. It's a great exercise when done with discipline. |
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Tinusch
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:35 pm |
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In answer to your question, here are a couple gems I found...
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"And the idea of speed paint is not really fast execution, that's OK, but it is more learning how to simplify to what is important, and the speed comes from the simplification. Like that pine tree silhouetted there. You painted it fast, let�s say 2 minutes. The challenge is to look at pine trees, understand them in the round, then analyze the shapes that result from the form in the lighting situation you have. That takes a while. I guess that is what I mean by drawing. Now with this better understanding, paint them again in 2 minutes, it should be better. So think for an hour, paint for a minute.
And don�t be afraid to paint out what you have done and do it over. Paint those 2 minute pine trees 20 times, till you get them right. This is instead of rendering needles for an equivalent period of time, which would just make things worse and worse. Contrasty detail without understanding is not your friend." |
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In general, (I picked this up form Flushy) think about what you are doing, less painting, more thinking. Once you have decided what you think you need to do, do it and let it alone. don't go back and twiddle, squint, worry, paw, moan the same thing again and again. Do it with confidence and leave it alone. Even if it is wrong it will be OK.
Less scrubby, more flat, so you can see where you are.
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Last edited by Tinusch on Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bob Loblaw
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:43 pm |
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| I had to copy those quotes into Word and increase the fontsize to make it legible... but that is incredibly illuminating. I'm gonna get my grandma to embroider that into a wall hanging and put it over my workspace. |
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Tinusch
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:49 pm |
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Sorry about that... Here's another:
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Drawing first. If you get nothing else right, get the drawing at least ballpark. Whether you are using soft fuzzy areas of color or hard comic outlines, drawing is still the beast. And gesture is the most important thing about drawing, to me.
Then value. Many different ways to show form with value, but it has to be consistent. "Synthetic" lighting, like Burne Hogarth or a 3-d program has the light source as coming from the viewer. The greater the angle of the surfaces normal to the line of sight, the darker the plane. This is not the greatest or most "expressive" way to paint, but it does show form. So does plan and elevation, so that shows that form is not all we are after
In a more naturalistic style, like these sketches here, make sure that nothing in the shadow is as light as anything in the light, and nothing in the light is as dark as anything in the shadow. Read that carefully, what I am saying is contrast is your friend. Extreme examples are comic books, but you don't have to go that far. Just don't mix up light and shadow. How do you decide what is in light and shadow? You have to know form and how light works on it. No other way. You get that from life painting and drawing. Reliance on photos to learn this will mess you up down the road.
Then Color, and only then color. And just start with making it all brown or something simple. Then think about relative warms and cools. Warm on the lit side, cool on the shadow side. But it is relative, not screaming orange and ultramarine blue. Then you can get into more subtle things like local color interpreted through tinted light and reflected light, etc. But keep in mind, as you get fancy with the color, should your time be better spent on the drawing? I make this mistake more often than I like to admit
I am not saying that you should separate all these as processes. When I paint a blob that will become a head or a torso, I am thinking about it's length, direction, edge quality, value, color, etc.
I know that is a lot to think about, but you can erase that eye socket, if you analyze it for the above characteristics and it comes up lacking. Do it again, and again or cut the background back over the top, till you get something that is right. Then move on to the next shape. |
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fukifino
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2003 10:21 pm |
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Thanks Tinusch!!! That first quote you posted was the exact post I was looking for! Was it you who posted that originally?
Both those posts are some great tips. I just did my first attempt at a real "speed paint" in open canvas with my friend...unfortunately from a photo. I missed a few of the general ideas of it, but I definately was focused on things like value first and foremost with the right color values and temperatures. I know I need to work on my drawing skills more than I need to work on my painting skills (because the former are lacking so the latter are sort of pointless), but I still want to improve in this aspect too. (I'm gonna make my first post in the speedpaint thread and see if I can get some tips...uh oh).
My friend is trying to set up an oekaki board for us to do speedpaints on, just as an easy way to help provide feedback and stuff in a smaller more intimate group.
Anyways, thanks a ton for the response!  |
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AndyT
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:03 pm |
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What I read was that it is the same with traditional media.
You have to lose respect for the canvas and fill it quickly.
I think in the Sargent notes somewhere it says that you should have and use many of them.
Somebody mentioned this in a discussion about speedpainting if I remember correctly.
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Tinusch
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2003 9:22 am |
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| fukifino: Those are all from Spooge. |
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fukifino
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2003 9:39 am |
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Man, that's wacky. I searched for all his posts containing the word "fast" and I still didn't see that first chunk of text .... I must have just been blind.  Thanks for finding those for me! They're a big help to me and also will hopefully let me write a little F.A.Q. for my friends speedpainting oekaki she's trying to set up. |
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Tinusch
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Joined: 25 Dec 1999
Posts: 2757
Location: Rhode Island, USA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2003 10:50 am |
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| I think all of those were under worthless_meat_sack. |
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