SPEED PAINTING AN ENVIRONMENT

PROFILE Discover the speed-painting techniques Dom Lay uses to quickly develop a dynamic and narrative-driven scene

US

Dom is an illustrator and concept artist working on his own art book, Journey to the East.

https://ifxm.ag/d-lay

This illustration is an exploration of a scene in my book, Journey to the East. It portrays Esauria Harbor, a fishing market where people come to trade goods and items. It’s based on and inspired by the architecture found at the Varanasi Ghats in India.

Instead of a river flowing through the city, dunes have covered the vast landscape from years of heavy sandstorms. The people of the harbour have had to adapt to their environment to find fresh food.

I wanted to focus on abstract lighting, mood and storytelling. The bright lighting invokes a strong sense of illumination without overrendering. Watercolour painters use this technique by treating the canvas as the light source. Keeping the painting loose also enables the viewer to explore ideas within the broad paint strokes. It provides an interesting challenge for them, rather than figuring out every detail.