Hello hello :) It's officially summer break! Well, it's been summer break for a while. I've just been a lazy slug... I'm ashamed of myself :( But I've decided to upload my speed paintings. Hopefully, I can stay on track with it, because I know it's been hard to motivate myself lately. It seems like everyone's finding their inspiration... I think I lost mine, if I ever had it. I do like drawing. If there's anything I want to DO for the rest of my life, it'd be drawing. Unfortunately, it seems like these days, drawing isn't something that gets me out of bed. Drawing used to be something I could stay up all night doing and I'd never fall asleep. But now, I'm sleeping on the art building. I fell asleep rendering. It was an awful feeling, and I felt so guilty... And now, it's just getting worse...
I think my inspiration came from my high school friend, Livi. She was the best artist I knew. She had a style that was really unique, and it was so appealing. I loved looking through her sketchbooks so much, I was like kid in a candy store. How did she inspire me, exactly? It wasn't only her mesmerizing style or the extremely intriguing way her mind works. It was the fact that being an amazing artist was achievable. I always thought it was impossible to be a great artist. Livi wasn't famous or anything, but I don't think there is anyone who could say that her character designs are boring or that her paintings are ugly. To me, her style is absolutely perfect, and I wish I could draw like her. Looking through her sketchbook was almost always the highlight of my day. I just never thought it was possible for an average person, someone my age, to be so great at art, and every time I looked through her sketchbook, it reminded me that being good at art wasn't impossible. By breaking that limitation that my mind had set, Livi made me feel like nothing was impossible. I think that was how I was inspired.
But now, she doesn't draw in her sketchbook anymore. She DOES attend an art school, but they don't require her to draw in her sketchbook. She does mostly digital art now, and it's just not quite the same. I don't get to flip through pages, and I don't get to see the little mistakes here and there because it's all too easy to fix on Photoshop. I should probably be looking up to better artists anyway, but it doesn't change the fact that my original source of inspiration is now gone, and I think my drive to create art went with it...
I guess I have to choice but to press on, though. I'm no good at anything else, which is depressing because I just started art, and yes, I know I'm learning and getting better, but I also know I'm not fantastic. Well, not yet.... It's just sad to think that my strongest ability is in something I just recently started... But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, right? I just have to keep going, and I know I'll find another source of inspiration. I'll get better, and someday, my strongest ability will actually be a strong one.
And now, without further adieu, the few speed paintings I've done thus far.
This is the original image for the very first one.
This one took more more than an hour. I did all I could in one hour and saved it. All I added after that was the bush in the bottom right and the grass in the bottom left. I ran out of time because I tried to render the trees in the middle... I know, rendering in a speed painting? Silly me! I always get sucked in when I start rendering, and I don't even know I'm doing it. I just can't help it. Rendering and perfecting things is just so satisfying.
Here is the image for the second painting:
I actually stopped after an hour for this one. Again, I tried to render, and I wasn't simplifying or looking for shapes. I'm really bad a looking for shapes.... I'm even worse at simplifying. I love details, so I tried to include all the details I could... This will apply for all the other speed paintings I'm posting tonight, forgive me. I'm working on it though! It's just really difficult to remember to simplify if I don't have someone getting on my case about it... I have to work on my colors too.
Here's the image for number 3:
This one took me an hour and 45 minutes, I believe. On the trees on the left, I think I spent an hour on those alone. The rest of it, I tried to speed through it, but actually speeding through it was hard because again, I started to try putting in details.... The dust is too bright here, and the background isn't dark enough, but that's what I get for trying to speed through it, since I knew I was going to go over the time.
And this is numero quatro:
I really hated how this one turned out. This is my least favorite so far. I spent an hour on this one as well. I spent almost all my time making the water look smooth and making the clouds look fluffy and making the leaves look leafy. After 50 minutes of working on those three things, it still didn't work out, haha. It really bugged me that I didn't put the sign in, and I had to try so hard to just let it go because one hour was up. Actually, looking at it now makes me want to add it in.... Gaahhhh, must... resist..... urge....!!
Almost done! Here's the fifth image:
I think this is my favorite one so far. I really like how it turned out. I spend an hour and 15 minutes on it, but if you know me, I like perspective, so I took my time trying to get the perspective right on the lighthouse. I didn't quite get it because I'm out of practice, but I had to move on because I realized I was running out of time. Then I found the brush that makes the grass for me, and I spent a lot of time figuring out how it worked and picking my colors. Despite its imperfections, I really liked how this turned out :)
Aaaaaand last, but not least, number six, the one I completed today:
Sooo.... I wasn't concentrating when I worked on this one. When I started working on it, I was watching "Where The Wild Things Are" with a friend. I got sucked into the story, and I was bawling my eyes out at the end. I only got the arch in the foreground through the entire length of the movie, which was pretty nertsy... I worked on it the next day, and I spent about two hours getting that wall and the shading on it, and I spent about two hours getting the colors on the floor (not including the sunlight and all of the shadow). Today, I spent about 4 hours getting the window, the outside, and putting the sunlight on the floor as well as putting a thin layer of dark blue for the part of the floor that's in shadow. So that's three days I've worked on this one. Turned out alright, I think. I'm not displeased with it. I started trying to see shapes and simplifying, but I ended up rendering, but the fact that I actually caught myself before I finished is improvement, I think.
So, um, yeah, that's all for today. Hopefully I wasn't a bore. And this is a long, long entry, so I'll bid you all farewell until tomorrow. Happy art-ing, everybody :)
