Image source: Writerunboxed.com

Last week I offered a few pointers about how to better manage your time. It’s entirely likely that some artists out there will completely ignore my advice and continue to push things to the last minute. So, for all of you slackers out there, I decided to right a Plan B post: How to create an impressive piece of art as fast as humanly possible.

1. Recycle Art

Reusing old art is a great way to take shortcuts, but you have to be very careful about when and how you do it. It could be unethical or possibly even illegal under some circumstances. For example, if a client hires you to create artwork and then you reuse some of that artwork for another client, then you might run into sticky legal issues. Also, your client or employer might be disappointed by a rehashed piece of art.

Image source: Mmosite.com

But don’t get me wrong: reusing old art isn’t a universal no-no. Companies do it all the time to save man hours and resources. Dreamworks stored an absolutely huge amount of data after making The Croods — things like trees, mountains, clouds, etc. Dreamworks could easily throw those pieces of scenery into another movie and nobody would notice or care.

I highly recommend that you keep a folder where you store all of your reusable art. If you’re strapped for time, you can quickly scan through the art to see if there’s anything that you can modify to fit your new project.

2. Stay Organized

Speaking of folders, it’s a good idea to stay organized. The more organized your work space is, the easier it will be to find what you want when you want it!

Image source: Iheartorganizing.blogspot.com

3. Skip Brainstorming, Start Creating!

In an ideal world, you’ll always have plenty of time to brainstorm options. If you’re stuck under an impending deadline then you don’t have time for experimentation. You’ve gotta open up your favorite visual effects program and start creating ASAP. Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot of advice that I can give you for this step. Speed painting (or speed modeling, or speed animating, or speed-whatevering) is a skill that you have to learn. You’re in for a lot of trouble if you have to meet a deadline and you don’t have any speed painting skills.

Image source: Digital-art-gallery.com

That’s why it’s a good idea to practice speed painting in your free time. The high-speed art techniques you learn today will definitely come in handy when the clock is ticking!

4. Master a Simple Art Style

Which of the two paintings below do you think was easier to create?

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, which is composed of hundreds of tiny dots of paint:

Image source: Wikipedia.org

Or Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian:

Image source: Wikipedia.org

Obviously, Mondrian could create hundreds of minimal paintings in the time it took Georges Seurat to create his intricate art piece. Some art styles are simply more labor intensive than other art styles. It’s definitely to your advantage to master a simplistic art style so that you can whip it out in emergency situations.