Apologies for the title of this thread, but it is one of those “How long’s a piece of string?” questions.
I am asking purely out of interest, but how long do you guys typically spend setting up a render?
Recently I have found that I am more willing to spend time setting up a nice piece of art, but sometimes I just want to get something done just for the sake of getting something done. Those pieces take about two hours, but a long one can take a couple of days.
Yeah, anything from hours to weeks, depending on how complicated it is and how important it is to get it just so.
I’ve said before that I want to spend longer on the details, which is why I asked this. Too often I just put a main subject and some kind of environment, and call it quits. I like my renders (usually at least) but after looking at them for a moment they begin to lose their appeal. The best artwork by the best artists keep you looking, or make you look twice, seeing something different each time.
A few months ago I got fedup with trying to get 3 or 4 images out a month now I am working on one image which I have been doing since the end of last month and I reakon I will finsh sometime in July next year if I am lucky.
Hmm, I have never had one take quite that long, although my original Irish village image did take a month or so to reach completion, but it has several different vignettes within the scene, each of which could be an image of their own, if zoomed into.
I don’t think I have ever spent longer than a week on one render. And it was for a contest. And then it never even placed. It did not discourage me, but I was a bit disappointed.
I think finding the right balance between time and end result is tough, images I spend the most time on often end up not being worth the time. It also depends on if it’s just for personal satisfaction or being shared. Spending too much time on details no one else cares about can be a bummer. If its only for you thats fine, but you don’t want to spend time where it’s not appreciated if your doing a commission, entering a contest and such.
A lot of time we artist fuss over stuff no one else notices.
larsmidnatt that is a good point. Details do make for a dynamic image and it is a fine balance between time and what impact the details have if any. For me for the above mentioned project is for me to print big so detail is everything.
I’ve been working on a piece since about april 2008 and it won’t be finished for at least another year or when I finally get a computer that can handle what i need it to. Otherwise anything from 40 hours and upwards.
Since I’m still in the experimental and technique building stage of the software generally only a few minutes because for each render I’m only concentrating on learning a single technique but I can see that once all the techniques are put together it will take much longer to put a render together.
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