Sprint Portraits

As a lot of street art exists in a legally grey area, it's important to be able to paint quickly.

Sprint painting is a fast portraiture style I use that skips fine details and just focuses on important facial characteristics and shading. It only uses 3 shades (black, white and grey) so all 3 cans are in my hands at any time. I don't switch caps; I use one fat, long thin cap in a high pressure can so the stroke width can be changed by tilting the can and the paint comes out fast the furious.

Counter-intuiatively, bigger murals are usually faster. Aerosol was never designed for tight, intricate painting.

Compare these 2 sprint paint murals, both from Jan 2012.

Sprint01

1.5 hr paint time, legal.

 

sprint02

3.5 hr paint time, smaller and it looks shitter, legal.

 

sprint03

1.5 hr paint time, legal. Exercise. Image derived from photographer Cristina Otego.

http://cristinaoterophoto.blogspot.com.au/

 

Sprint04

1.5 hr paint time. Exercise. Image derived from photographer Cristina Otego.

http://cristinaoterophoto.blogspot.com.au/

 

05

1.25 hrs.

 

07

2 hrs. Exercise. Image derived from photographer Lee Jeffries.

http://leejeffries.500px.com/

 

06

'A portrait of Hosier Lane', Hosier Lane. 2 hrs.

 

08

2.5 hrs.

 

Sprint 09

4 hrs, legal.

 

Sprint 10

March 2013. 4 hrs. Painting series.

 

Sprint 11

20 mins. March 2013.