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Majoh — Mandi's Speedpaint Tutorial
Published: 2007-12-22 16:10:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 61929; Favourites: 937; Downloads: 2088
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Description
Mandi's Speed Painting Tutorial*MORE* WIPS & Tutorials: Art blog
I decided to document my speed painting procedure as a few have asked and I'd like to contribute to the vast amount of resources available on DA that have taught me so much.
In this tutorial I cover the steps from a blank canvas to a completed painting. I also list some general 'technique' advice you'd usually find in an instructional setting.
In short, I hope you find it useful! Enjoy!!
Thank you MigrantJ and PeteMohrbacher for all you have taught me through your own works and advice. Without the help I've received from both of you, I would know a lot less about painting and Photoshop.
Sept. 1 2010 Update Whoa, thank you *EVERYONE* who has commented on and faved this tutorial! I'm thrilled that so many people find it helpful and I hope it inspires you to create something amazing. Thank you!
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Comments: 109
Sweet!
^^
You make quite a few good pointers in there.
I do have two questions though: when you're doing the painting (of adding the colors), do you use just one layer, several...?
Also, besides the size, is there any difference between the two fade brushes that you showed us? I mean, I can see that they fade differently, but are these the preset brushes on photoshop? Why would they produce such different effects if the only difference is the size?
I hope you understood that second question... it's kinda hard explaining it...
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Thank you for reading the tutorial!! I'm so happy you found it helpful.
As for your questions:
I typically work on just a couple layers: one for the figure and one for the background, if not just one layer for both. I'll add separate layers for things like sparkles or magical effects (if the painting has any), or really close foreground objects that overlap the scene. And even if I am painting primarily on one layer, if I want to attempt something "risky" I'll paint it on a separate layer and flatten it in once I'm happy with it.
I find painting on one layer to be more natural, and I think I get more realistic results as colors are allowed to blend into one another more naturally.
As for the brushes, those are both Photoshop presets. I really have no idea why they are like that! There does seem to be a difference in how opaque the brush paints, and it's not just because the size is different. I think the difference must be somewhere in the Brush Presets (which you get to from by clicking the little box icon to the right of your brush settings, kind of near the upper right/middle part of the Photoshop GUI). Unfortunately, I made this tutorial on my old computer and my new one isn't set up quite the same. I've reorganized my brushes differently and can't "go back" to the way it was set up in the screenshot. I hope this helped answer your question! I guess I don't really know why the Photoshop creators made the brushes the way they did.
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oh yes, it was quite helpful!
In fact, I've been trying to paint like that for a while now, and was going to make a tutorial for myself to help out, but it looks like you beat me to it, and it looks like you did a better job than what I could have done...
And thank you so much for answering my questions!
Yea, I re-arranged my brushes as well, but I know I still have all the presets that it came with, so don't sweat about it. I was just wondering if the brush came from a different preset or something....
That's okay. And thank you so much again! ^^
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Aww, thank you!! I appreciate your offer, but I'm already married!
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I'll try to follow this, but you might as well make a tutorial on building a rocket, this is just so awesome!
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Very good and very helpful, I'm just getting started in photoshop, so this works great.
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This is the best tutorial that i have seen here on deviantart.
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Sorry for my bad English...
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Aww, thank you! I'm really glad you think so!!
I think there are tons of great resources on this site, and I just wanted to give back to the community that has taught me so much!!
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Wow, published three years ago and still helping people out! Nice!
I know I'll try and make use of it in the near future. By the way, your tips on looking at your reference and not at the canvas is also good advice for new tablet users (I've been using mine for several years, but I meet newbies all the time). The only reason I even look at my table anymore is to remind myself I am in fact still holding it! Lol!
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Many tips and techniques included here that I found exceptionally useful. Your justification and use of rough patches and chunky strokes is very reassuring as I've been a bit OCD about that kind of thing. When I finally make the transition to lineless art this will be the first tutorial I'll reference. Thank you for going to the trouble of putting this up.
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That's awesome ! Gonna try it next year, when I will have my graphic tablet
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Not difficult at all! And the more you practice, the easier it becomes. Learning artistic craft is a life-long journey though - you'll always be learning as long as you are practicing! It's a very rewarding journey, though.
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with practise, you'll get better ^^ so nothing to worry about
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wow you're good
i hope i can request one and that's my picture
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Wow.. this blows my mind! This is far and away one of the best and most encouraging speedpainting tutorials I've happened across. This gives me the confidence to try and paint people using this method myself - I usually try for big pieces which, like you say just gather up lots of mistakes, and.. then look pants! Thankyou so much for posting this, its fantastic! Beautiful end result - I can barely believe this is a speedpainting that took such a short time, it looks fantastic!
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Awesome!! Comments like yours just make my day.
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great tutorial! i'm going to have to try this now!
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WOW... This is really helpful! And bonus points for drawing Patchy. He doesn't get enough love.
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Thank you very much for sharing this insight into your technique. It's really helpful.
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Hai thar! I found this tutorial SOOO helpful you have no idea c: Thank you so much for making it!!! This was my first time painting in photoshop I couldn't have done it without this
if you want to see the pic that I did, here it is ^^ [link]
Thanks again!!! : D
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Your tutorials are always very clear and easy to learn from. I can't wait to try this out!
And I think that '"Make it good" button' line just made quote of the day. XD
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Why thank you
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Sorry, I just realized this is the only one marked "tutorial". I was considering your progression drawings too.
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Question for you - do you sample colors of your own or do you use the eye-dropper tool to pick the colors up from the reference picture?
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Sorry I missed this question! I realize it's a bit old now, but others might be wondering the same so I'll answer it anyway.
My answer is: it depends what I'm doing! If I'm just going for speed and focusing on replicating the original for practice, I'll often sample colors to kick start things and get to the meat of the painting faster. My focus with these "copy a photo" paintings is learning anatomy. For paintings without a reference (like the original character stuff in my gallery) I usually don't eye-dropper from manything.
Other times I do pick colors out of the color picker on my own, but I often compare them to the sampled color. In this one I'm pretty sure I eye-droppered out of the original. Sometimes, though, the eyedropper isn't picking up a strong enough color and you'll need to use the actual color picker to get a bold enough color for things like hard edge highlights.
There's a TON to learn from eye-dropperinng colors out of the original painting. You'll find greens, reds, purples and browns where you never expected them. I learned a lot about color by sampling and I think there's no more shame in it than there is in using training wheels as you learn to ride a bike. It's an excellent learning tool!
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Thanks for this amazing tutorial...I've often heard the term speed painting but didn't really know how it was done. Now I have an idea and I'm itching to try it out ^_^ Especially since I have Photoshop CS2 and the Intuos3! It's funny but I thought you needed to use like a specific painting program to do digital painting, I didn't realize how amazing a Photoshop only painting could come out. You really know tons of tricks
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very good tutorial C:
i really needed help with this~ thank you ^ ^
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Thank you, this tutorial helped me a lot. I am doing very well with it. =]
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