# How Long Do You Take to Render Your Pieces?



## nyall (May 30, 2019)

I'm not fond of spending so much time on one piece. Often I stop after 3 or 4 hours. But of course, art that I really love take way more time than that. I wonder how much time goes into rendering big pieces (like those of _ovopack_, for example). I've been watching art streams lately, and wow people have crazy endurance!

How long do you spend on fully finishing a piece with all the color, composition, shadows and light, the whole shabang?


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## Anthrasmagoria (May 30, 2019)

On average about 6-12 hrs depending on the size of the drawing and amount of detail. I never could get the hang of speed painting, although I have much improved from the days of taking a day or two over a single piece.


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## VaeLa (May 30, 2019)

I usually consider a piece of art finished when I cease to find enjoyment rendering it. Around that time I know that it imitates life in which the fun part is over, now time to work through what you got yourself into. Usually 1-3 hours balanced with the same amount of time of work. The less fun part to me is posting, sharing, advertising, and polishing it obsessively. If my client isn't paying then it's nothing to stress over to perfect, those take me about an hour that I'm happy to share with anyone.


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## Kit H. Ruppell (May 30, 2019)

My most recent submissions have taken 2-3 hours of actual work, but I'm not that great.


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## Tendo64 (May 31, 2019)

My answer will likely be a whole lot shorter than everyone else's. From color to finish, probably 1-2 hours personally, as my style is rather simple.


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## Seiden (May 31, 2019)

My art is always really long to do.... Even a simple headshot takes me hours.
For my most detailled pieces, I spent no less than 50 hours on it....


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## artichuka (May 31, 2019)

It really depends on the piece, I usually spend around 2-5 hours on my regular drawings, but some more detailed things can take up to 15. I could probably spend more time if I was more ambitious with a particular piece.


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## Doodle Bunny (May 31, 2019)

It depends. On average? In the ballpark of 8 hours.


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## TallmanClay (Jun 1, 2019)

This thread makes me feel a lot better about how slow I am. I'm around the 15 hour mark at the minimum. Not including researching time.


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## nyall (Jun 1, 2019)

TallmanClay said:


> This thread makes me feel a lot better about how slow I am. I'm around the 15 hour mark at the minimum. Not including researching time.



Oh man, yeah the preplanning process can take ages too. Especially if I'm in need of a reference or a texture. But wow, 15 hours!

New question, for you and everyone else, are you happy with the amount of time you put into rendering a piece? Would you want to spend less or more time?


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## TallmanClay (Jun 1, 2019)

nyall said:


> Oh man, yeah the preplanning process can take ages too. Especially if I'm in need of a reference or a texture. But wow, 15 hours!
> 
> New question, for you and everyone else, are you happy with the amount of time you put into rendering a piece? Would you want to spend less or more time?



Absolutely not. I'm trying to work out a process that takes less time. It's because I have no kind of organization to the way I do things. I don't even start with a sketch. I just go, all one layer.


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## Tendo64 (Jun 2, 2019)

nyall said:


> New question, for you and everyone else, are you happy with the amount of time you put into rendering a piece? Would you want to spend less or more time?



Not really. When compared to other artists, I feel like my rendering techniques are lackluster, and how little time it takes me in comparison makes me feel insecure. I'm still learning in that department and it really shows, as I can never feel truly happy with a piece.


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## Fallowfox (Jun 2, 2019)

Too long. :]


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## Water Draco (Jun 2, 2019)

Fallowfox said:


> Too long. :]



Glacial pace? 


Still learning myself so I wander back and forth from what I'm working on. So most things are in some form of unfinished state. But this way I avoid getting to the point where I become frustrated with my progress.


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## Fallowfox (Jun 2, 2019)

Water Draco said:


> Glacial pace?
> 
> 
> Still learning myself so I wander back and forth from what I'm working on. So most things are in some form of unfinished state. But this way I avoid getting to the point where I become frustrated with my progress.



It can take between weeks and years, to produce things that probably weren't worth the effort in the first place.


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## Guifrog (Jun 2, 2019)

For digital toony stuff? It varies a lot. Colored headshots might take around 1-2 hours; fullbodies might range from a day (minus time off) to several depending on possible extra characters, background detail etc.

I also used to draw realistic pencil portraits off photo references for a while, so with those I'd spend around 2 days in average


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## Foxex (Jun 2, 2019)

As a 3D artist, I can tell you that taking the time of breaks and work out of it, if I had to calculate how many raw hours goes into a project that I deem complete, it can range anywhere from 2-3 weeks to 1-6 months.

I actually did an Ovopack Character a while back, and that took about a month, and I still need to go back to polish it more since my skills have improved since i made it

It's on my Artstation if you want to check it out


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## Keefur (Jun 2, 2019)

I have spent as little time as five minutes on a parody piece (rare).  I usually spend about 5 hours give or take.  My art is odd.  I do lots of promotional and parody work.  You can look on my FA if you want to see some stuff that hopefully will give you a laugh.  My gallery is pretty long, but fun to look through.  Userpage of Keefur -- Fur Affinity [dot] net


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## nyall (Jun 3, 2019)

Foxex said:


> As a 3D artist, I can tell you that taking the time of breaks and work out of it, if I had to calculate how many raw hours goes into a project that I deem complete, it can range anywhere from 2-3 weeks to 1-6 months.
> 
> I actually did an Ovopack Character a while back, and that took about a month, and I still need to go back to polish it more since my skills have improved since i made it
> 
> It's on my Artstation if you want to check it out



It looked really cute! And wow 1-6 months, that's dedication.

Thank you all for the responses, by the way. I guess the time I spend on my art was pretty average :0
I'm making it my goal to spend around 6+ hours now though.


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## BestiaRegina (Jun 3, 2019)

Right now, not counting the research and distracted time, I take around 4-6 hours to get everything looking nice


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## saccharineSweet (Jun 3, 2019)

nyall said:


> I'm not fond of spending so much time on one piece. Often I stop after 3 or 4 hours. But of course, art that I really love take way more time than that. I wonder how much time goes into rendering big pieces (like those of _ovopack_, for example). I've been watching art streams lately, and wow people have crazy endurance!
> 
> How long do you spend on fully finishing a piece with all the color, composition, shadows and light, the whole shabang?


i spend about 6-ish hours, but i chop it up and usually am working on multiple pieces at once so i dont get bored


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## Nanominyo (Jun 4, 2019)

Now depending on piece to piece it may take longer or shorter.
The fastest I've been at completing a piece was actually yesterday taking me just 10 minutes to make a full sticker! 
But obviously more detail needs more care and I can easily spend up to 8 hours on a piece. Usually this is commissions more than anything which have been quite stale lately so i've just been having small 2-4 hours pieces to do at max.


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## Siinna (Jun 9, 2019)

On average 3-4 hours. 
The longest was over 12 hours but it was a one-time huge group pic commission. 
I like to be efficent as art is not my main gig, so got to make every brushstroke count lol


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## RailRide (Jun 10, 2019)

My most recent piece took, according to Krita's internal timer, 12 hours. This was a straight-digital full-color two-character pic set in a diner with a full-color backdrop. But, the application timer only counts when its tools are actually moving about--if you AFK for an hour that's not included, so maybe 1.5 to 3x that from start to finish.

---PCJ


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## Beefchunk (Jun 13, 2019)

1-2 hours


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## narutogod123 (Jun 15, 2019)

For environment art I usually take 3-4 days depending on the details. For character pieces I usually take 5-8 hours if I’m drawing it in one sitting.


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## Kryxo (Jun 19, 2019)

On average about 8-21 hours


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