Creativity: Speed Painting

I think the speed painting has been a really effective way for everyone to express their creative processes. Since there’s less time to really plan your image in depth and you have to get working right away to make the most of your time, people stick with original ideas that they might usually dismiss and really draw potential from them. I’ve found it a good way to develop my techniques although sometimes I just get totally stuck with a word and churn out stuff I’m unhappy with, it’s all part of the process and is a great way to try out new techniques.

It’s been really helpful for me since I find it difficult to make creative decisions and being given a time constraint has really forced me to think up ideas on the spot and try to experiment with different tools to get a result. It’s great fun trying to think up new ideas each time and an awesome way to flex creative muscles.

This one was on the words “Evil Robot” which is a word that kind of speaks for itself.

Evil Robot

This next one was “Super Villain” which again is a word that doesn’t leave too much creative liberties in the subject, but I’ve had great fun with both of these. I think I’ve gotta try going for more open ended and challenging words so I can come up with more creative and individual ideas but these have been fun for developing brush strokes and stuff in Photoshop.

Super Villain

I think that certain constraints such as time limits and restrictions can really bring creative ideas out of people. For example, I find I can produce creative ideas easier when I’ve got a tighter time constraint to work too. I’ve find the drawing classes difficult this year just because I’ve had too much time that I wasn’t able to manage properly and I’ve ended not producing the best work that I could and rushing some ideas, so in future I’m gonna try working in a different context involving my own personal deadlines this term and see if it helps me to get more creative both with my ideas and techniques.

The speed painting has taught me that I need to get way more proficient at Photoshop. I often spend the first ten minutes just dawdling around looking for the right tools to use so my plan from now on is to do more and more speed paints to get to know that damn program all the better. Despite having to think about what on earth I’m doing in with all the different brushes and tools, I think the speed paints are a great example of pure creativity that people are able to create when they’re put under time constraints and everyone’s excellent work is a great example of this.