The Next Step of Growth, Speed Studies Part 1

Many people ask what's the next step after simple color studies. And I say it's time to speed things up before we get to the next super creative step
Music licensed by artlist.io
Wished - Lane King

[@unconditional--love]

The fact that you showed us, real-time, that as an artist, we do not always get the anatomy and/or composition correctly during our studies, HELPS ME MORE THAN YOU COULD KNOW ❤ The amount of times that I’ve felt the desire to make something look accurate/pretty during an art study has hindered me many times. So much so that I end up abandoning the study altogether. An amazing artist like yourself can get something inaccurate too. And it is when we don’t give up halfway, that we learn a lot and always improve. Thank you for being vulnerable and real. Thanks to your guidance, I’m going to lower the harsh and unnecessary expectations I have for my work. (By the way that color art study was still so very good to me!)

[@LightingMentor]

Yay!! Yes, giving ourselves grace is by far the biggest skill needed as an artist (or maybe even in life). If we listen to our modern highly curated world of social media we start to think we should do everything perfect on the first try without any effort... but the reality is that we all struggle and it's totally okay and natural. Keep creating my friend!!!

[@asimian8500]

Drawing is the fundamental skill. It's extremely hard to get the right proportions and angles, but with practice you get much better. That's why I would tell beginning artists to focus on drawing first. Spend time on it before starting with painting colors. I also recommend not focusing on value studies, but doing colors. While you learn drawing, get a cheap set of watercolors and learn color mixing. Analog is superior to digital in this case. Most software (outside of Rebelle and Clip Studio with their natural pigment mixing) focuses on RGB and colors don't mix like the real world: for instance, mixing yellow and blue will get gray in RGB instead of green. Do analog and practice mixing colors and when you transition to color it will be much easier.

[@milesmartin4958]

You have fundamentally changed my approach to looking at color in just a few videos. Thank you.

[@LightingMentor]

Yay! You're most welcome!

[@idc_0987]

@@LightingMentorsame for me. i can’t express how thankful i am in words.

[@rik-7947]

Your videos have helped me tremendously! Before this I had been anxious to draw for about 5 YEARS! But wanting to make illustration my job I set out to look for calm teaching videos with fun excercises to do. Your quick colour study painting videos and colour theory videos have helped me so much getting back into art and actually having fun with it. So thank you!

[@LightingMentor]

Yay! I love seeing comments like this!! I'm so happy my videos helped. I have more coming soon that I hope you find exciting too. It's nice to meet you Rik. Keep creating!

[@chrismakrinos6798]

I'm sure it's difficult to post something that you only spent 15 minutes on but sharing your process is invaluable. Thank you!

[@LightingMentor]

I'm so glad you found this helpful

[@Vast17]

Super excited to see that we r getting a new series!

[@LightingMentor]

Next year a bunch of new things are coming that I hope you find even more helpful

[@FeschaRocka]

Thank you for showing us a realistic process! For taking us on a journey instead of secretly starting over and giving us a perfect outcome. It’s not always about perfection, no matter your skill level. It takes the pressure off a little to see you don’t always have to get every aspect on point right away. Seeing the things you prioritize and change to get closer is really interesting!

[@rixatrix]

I’ve been working on my drawing skills as an adult with an art class and regular practice and I haven’t even progressed beyond graphite pencils yet. But your videos have been so helpful in understanding light that even in grayscale, my art has improved. Just switching from thinking about shapes to thinking about light has been a game changer. Thank you for all your videos!

[@LightingMentor]

Yay! I'm so glad to hear you found this helpful!

[@the.selfteaching.artist]

Stumbled over this Channel and LOVE IT !!!!

[@jbkhan1135]

I'm just starting to get into art in middle age and found your channel. Your videos have been so incredibly helpful, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@Shaw0318]

I just absolutely adore you. You had me at hello. I find myself sitting here nodding and smiling as you're speaking as though you can see my face understanding as you speak. My baby turns 18 in a week and then it's my time and I love doing art on my iPad. I very much enjoy your teaching style and your heart.

[@kasflowers1784]

Your videos have been so helpful! Your calm demeanor makes everything feel less intimidating and you explain your process so well, I understand what you're doing and why. I've always been unsure about what to focus on in studies before but I feel more confident going forward after watching your videos.

[@LightingMentor]

Yay! I'm so glad you found this helpful. Yes, we get so many messages these days that everything has to be perfect on the first try and be effortless. But the truth is that it's always a bit of a struggle, but a struggle that is worth it. So if we just persist we can make some amazing things. Keep creating friend!!

[@eze3572]

Wow i love seeing how you would approach this! I thought my way through it and then watched you ! really helpful

[@artplussk_222]

Great. Thanks for sharing

[@boastartstudios4325]

Thanks again for your excellent tutorials! Also, nice to see an artist of your caliber is the same as every other, in that you beat yourself up every step of the way, while forgiving yourself and improving!! Wonderful lesson!

[@LightingMentor]

Ha! Yup, we;re all human and there is always struggle. But it's only worth it if we press through the frustration. I'm so glad you found this helpful

[@sheilafinchfineart]

I really love to watch your process! Even though I paint in oils, your videos have helped me so much to capture quick color studies (on my iPad using Procreate) that I can work from for my paintings. I hope you make many more! (They're also just plain fun to watch!)😆

[@LightingMentor]

Thanks Sheila! I'm so glad you're enjoying these

[@ChristopherHemsworthCreative]

I was pumped to see new videos come in from you, Jeremy! I really appreciate you making yourself this vulnerable in a "live paint" situation. It's actually extremely inspiring! It is also very very helpful to hear how you are thinking AS you are thinking. Thank you as always!

[@LightingMentor]

You're most welcome my friend! Ya, I wasn't sure if showing the "pain" would be well received, but I think we all relate to those feelings of struggle. I'm glad you found it helpful

[@SavMortem]

Love your videos so much! There's something so approachable about the way you teach and so much to get out of it ❤️ thank you!

[@LightingMentor]

I'm so glad you found this useful!!

[@hotsauce7124]

AWESOME!!

[@tchupstudio]

Never clicked so fast!! Thank you Jeremy !!

[@LightingMentor]

Aww thank you!!

[@RooNelo]

I really enjoy seeing your process and learning new tips from your videos. It's motivated me to try quick painting studies lately, and somehow color and light are starting to make sense to me. Even the test shots for my indie stop motion film are improving. Thanks!

[@LightingMentor]

Yay! I'm so glad you've found these helpful! I'd love to see your film when it's complete. Stop motion is so much fun (and also difficult)

[@guineapig1985]

So great! I am really interested in learning this approach to digital art...I've always struggled with being too uptight when working digitally and losing that organic and fluidity that I have with traditional media. Love this!

[@LightingMentor]

It's funny, many people who dive deep digitally feel the same about traditional mediums. Ha! I guess it just takes some time to get comfortable enough to stay loose with it. I for sure tried to not make this process about the "tools" because too many people get stuck in the tech and forget the core art. It's all about the final image and why we are painting in the first place

[@donphildraws1357]

Thank you. You have inspired me. when i get into the industry i hope to reach out to you if i can.

[@GRAF11113]

Yay! Thanks! 👍👍👍

[@LightingMentor]

:)

[@littlecurrybread]

wow all these videos! Gaining new confidence with colors after I found your channel this week!!

[@LightingMentor]

Yay! I'm so glad to hear it's been helpful

[@scs_one]

Very inspirational video; keeping going is much more important than reaching perfection, Thanks for sharing.

[@LightingMentor]

Yes, I agree. Too often we get stopped by perfectionism. "Perfect" does not exist, but persistence does

[@mmillerism]

Thank you so much for your videos seriously a blessing ❤️

[@LightingMentor]

You are most welcome friend!!

[@minicrafts10]

Sir u really changed my why of thinking .. now when i look st something i dont eorryabput details or shawods ..i only see different colors...🎈

[@autumnparks]

Yay! More videos!

[@LightingMentor]

:) Thanks friend!

[@anitashchian3661]

I was watching that table lamp in the background and lighting of your room then I realise that you have a Lego tree house

[@ld905]

Very exciting to watch, learned a lot by just watching the process! But I'll try to do something like this myself (although it might be a little more difficult as I usually work in oil paint)

[@LightingMentor]

Yup, oil paints are definitely slower, but the concepts should all still apply. I love working in oils too, but am most often spoiled by digital :)

[@jimberry7865]

Wow that was fantastic! I like how you say things like "blur your eyes" and what you're thinking while you're doing it. It was also interesting that you thought you needed to add the background but were fine with it having no detail. I thought that was super helpful to bring out the main skeleton. I particularly like it when you talk about what you're NOT worried about too. I hope to see more of that if you do any other things like this. Whenever I'm drawing I am always wondering if I'm thinking about the right things at the right time. It would be helpful to know from someone far more advanced than me, "I'm not worried about that right now, at this point, I'm just trying to establish this." Bravo!!

[@LightingMentor]

Thank you for the great feedback Jim! I'm so glad you enjoyed my messy process along the way. I find after 25 years of being a professional artist that all of us struggle in similar ways. The highly curated world of digital media would like us to think that it just comes naturally to some people, but the truth is that we all have to put in thousands of hours of practice to really make it look easy. And we need mentoring from others who have already made loads of mistakes :) I'm glad you enjoyed seeing behind the curtain

[@johnpacheco5404]

Not bad at all for 15 minutes. The nose shape changed the prominence of the face but it's very good 👍

[@jirhaelgallo6592]

Thank you so much for thissss!!!

[@LightingMentor]

You're most welcome!

[@AnnaGlin]

I do this a lot, very helpful! I actually love painting with a 5, 10, or 15 minute timer :) I don't use layers or anything either because don't have time for that haha

[@LightingMentor]

Awesomeness!!!! Yes, it's so healthy for our creativity to push ourselves like this. I'm glad you see the benefit of it too. Keep creating friend!

[@twopintsofmilk]

Cheers Jeremy

[@LightingMentor]

Thanks my friend!

[@helenapopotinha2755]

Thank you for this

[@LightingMentor]

You're most welcome!

[@weilzudope]

woah this is like my favorite anime dropping 4 episodes at once

[@LightingMentor]

Hahaha! Thanks

[@ktyty1244]

Thank you, was wondering how you would paint the background simplified.

[@TonyBraun]

Greeting from New Zealand

[@LightingMentor]

Greetings to you too! I love New Zealand! I've been there twice and hope to someday visit again

[@TonyBraun]

@@LightingMentor I paint in water-mixable oils, trying to capture sunlight and shadow........your videos have been a gold mine......thanks

[@nandozx3516]

Oh yes, the monthly upload became FOUR UPLOADS LET'S GO

[@LightingMentor]

Hehe... and it's been another month since these posts. But new things are coming in the new year to look forward to. I have a plan to be far more connected to this wonderful community

[@compradinero]

Do we go from 2 hours of practice to 15 minutes all at once or do we progressively lower the time?

[@poopbusiness4924]

idk

[@Riku_nkmr]

Go directly to 15. 0:40 explains why this helps compared to an hour or longer.

[@LightingMentor]

I would give it a try at 15 minutes right away once you feel comfortable with 2 hours. It's going to be hard at first, but trust me it can really help to bring the time down so dramatically. Then do another 2 hour study, but make the first 15 minutes be really fast like this. It will let you have more time for those final details and you'll have figured out 80% of the painting in those first few minutes

[@mohitrangoli8579]

Hi , Could you help me with your Brush which you use to color objects ?

[@LightingMentor]

Hi Mohit! If you go to my other video about Photoshop settings and look in the comments I have a link to a few brushes you can download if you like. It has the one I used in this video. Hope that helps

[@SpiritGvn]

is this how the photoshop in its latest softwares interface looks like? i realized mines is 2k15 so maybe i dont have that color triangle or being able to have split tabs open at the same time (correct me if im wrong). and is he drawing with a tablet w/ stylus?

[@MarioVerkerk]

The color triangle should be a setting at the color tab (little button with 3 lines). Hope this helps! :)

[@SpiritGvn]

@@MarioVerkerk ty but it doesnt have that feature maybe since its 2015 version, i figure ill just use krita instead but do you know how i can have two tabs open in one panel like hes doing right now? i want to be able to draw while looking at a reference basically and it seems i have to differ between separate tabs

[@MarioVerkerk]

@@SpiritGvn I'm not 100% sure but I think you can just drag the tab out of the bar.. A workaround could be to just not enter full screen and have a browser or explorer window open next to Photoshop.

[@SpiritGvn]

@@MarioVerkerk ahh yeah i see what youre saying initially which i prefer lol thank you

[@LightingMentor]

So there are settings in Photoshop preferences that allow you to not have floating windows doc as tabs. If you uncheck these defaults you can have multiple documents open beside one another. I hope this helps. Sorry I was so late to reply.

[@paulJkiely]

Was this study done on one layer ?

[@LightingMentor]

Indeed it was. For these quick studies I usually stay with just one layer

[@paulJkiely]

@@LightingMentor thank you Light Ponderer 😊

[@asimian8500]

Not really a "gender neutral" skull. Based on its morphology I would lean toward a female skull as the forehead (it's very high in this skull) is flatter with a less pronounced brow ridge than a male skull. It's more gracile with gentle curves. In male skulls you tend to see a more sloped forehead and pronounced brow ridges. Can we tell 100%? No, unless I see the rest of the skeleton and especially the hips, but based on the evidence I see, I would say it fits a female skull.

[@richardhaas1989]

Gee.just like Steve Elliot's 15 minute videos over the last couple of years...

[@LightingMentor]

I'll have to look up Steve Elliot. Yes, this idea is quite common, yet so few new artists give it a try

[@artistoftheunreal1044]

Gender neutral squeleton Lol

[@LightingMentor]

Hehe