Process
Today I painted Ms. Lauryn Hill — in my opinion, one of the most incredible singer-songwriters and rappers around. Her voice has such a unique sound, so I knew this would be a fun one. For this Lauryn Hill speed painting, I kept the brushwork loose and focused on capturing expression over perfection.
To start, I used a black marker for the outlines, just like in my earlier J. Cole piece. However, I switched to a fineliner for finer features like the eyes and eyebrows to give them a bit more definition. Her head wrap featured beautiful turquoise tones, while the skin had warm, orangey-brown shades. That’s why I chose a Vermillion background — it brought out the contrast nicely.
Next, I blocked in the denim jacket with loose strokes, intentionally keeping it rough. Meanwhile, I added subtle blues as highlights to the cheek and jawline, which gave the face some depth. Rather than replicating the head wrap’s pattern, I simply suggested the shapes to keep things fluid and intuitive.
After that, I moved on to the background. I layered a few shades of blue with hints of orange to balance the palette. As a final step, I added details across the face and fabric, blending where needed but keeping that painterly texture. That’s about it — fast, expressive, and full of color.
This Lauryn Hill speed painting is part of my music-inspired portrait series. If you’re into quick, bold studies of iconic musicians, there’s more where this came from.