Speed Painting

What is "Speed Painting"

Speed Painting is an exercise, primarily digital, in which one paints on a time budget, using already developed methods to create a piece. Contrary to (somewhat) popular belief, "Speed Painting" is not the same as a time-lapse video of a painting. Speed Painting is a widely used term in the Entertainment industry, often amongst Concept Artists.

Its popularity on the internet was drastically increased with YouTube videos featuring fan-paintings by digital artists like Nico Di Mattia. Technically these videos were not speedpainting, though they helped publicize the practice. An example of a traditional speedpainter would be the late Denny Dent, who made a name for himself painting 4' x 6' portraits of famous rock stars from start to finish during the course of a single song. Sadly, before Denny died, he had trained only one Student, Brian Olsen of Art in Action. Brian has continued to carry on Denny's belief that the painting was secondary. The message was most important. "It's not what you do, but the way you do it that's important. Whatever you do... do it with all your heart. Be what you are... be creative!" A follower in Dent's footsteps would be Dan Dunn who also creates large scale paintings set to music in relatively short periods of time(typically 3-7 minutes).

Raw speed painting is akin to the "Alla Prima" method of traditional fine artists, in which there is no sketch or underpainting (which are found in Di Mattia's paintings). It is about using value, color, texture, and composition to create a compelling and narrative piece within a relatively narrow timeframe. The pieces usually have an "unpolished" appearance, which stresses the importance of every stroke made on the canvas, digital or otherwise.

A Short Tutorial -

SPEED PAINTING- "PARADISE"

Stage - 1

Open a new document. Fill the background layer with a color of your choice ( I preferred Dark Grey) . Create a new layer. Prepare a simple sketch for your painting. Rename the new layer to "Outline". I decide to paint a simple seascape for my subject.

Stage - 2

Now create another layer and named it colors. Manage your color palette according to subject in this layer.

Stage - 3

Now create a new layer and named it "Cliff_to_water". Start filling colors. I started with the cliff and add very little details to it. Remember that you are starting to paint a speed painting which is basically used for concept level works. So without adding details I want to capture just the mood of the subject.

Stage - 4

After the cliff I started to paint the seashore by using a pale yellow and Turkish blue( for the wet part of the sand) color.

Stage - 5

Then fill the water part of the scene with Turkish blue color.

Stage - 6

For the waves I used a light blue color on highlighted area. The Sun is the source of light, the only main light source in real life. Its easier to add light to the shadows, that is why I use a darker Background( Grey layer) for painting.

Stage - 7

Now add some shadows under the waves to fill it like real. Also add some lines for water effect.

Stage - 8

Create a new layer for the sky( also named it with the same), and paint it with the same color used in water. Placed the layer under the "Cliff_to_water" layer.

Stage - 9

With light blue color I paint clouds and blend some areas with smudge tool.

Stage - 10

Duplicate the sky layer, go to Image menu, Adjustments, select Desaturate. create a layer mask by click on add layer mask icon below the layers table and by using gradient tool, make it partially transparent. I add a rock in dark color and a coconut leaf in foreground for add depth to the view.

Final Image

Finally I add some small human figures with lower detail, some seagulls and some boats to the scene and do some color corrections for final image. Enjoy :)