5 Items to Film Time-lapse/Speed Paint Art Videos on Your Phone with Ease

Timelapse videos are an amazing way to let audiences, customers, and fans really see your paintings start to come to life before the finished full piece is uploaded. Engagement on social media platforms is reflective of this. From Youtube to Tiktok, we’re seeing a massive uptick in video creation is one of the main ways for artists to expand their fanbase. We’re even starting to see Instagram put less focus on photos and heavily push for Instagram Reels being used by creators. if you’re an artist online, you’ve definitely considered posting videos of your creative process.

One of the main aspects of creating speed painting/timelapse videos that can be intimidating to artists is buying a camera to record. Artists already spend so much money and time on marketing themselves, art supplies, and video creation needs a lot more supplies on top of a camera (which is often a big purchase). It’s hard to convince yourself that it’s worth it, on top of saving up for it. That’s why we’ll be providing you with the exact tools you need to just film your art videos on your phone!

The process of making an art video can be intimidating! It can feel definitely a lot more difficult than just taking photos of your work. Have no fear, fellow artists! I’m here with an exact list of what you need in order to film timelapse and speed painting videos on your phone. In this guide, I will be providing you with the items you need to help with lighting and filming setup. These items will help you film your first art video on a phone super easily, so that all you’ll be thinking about while recording is your masterpiece!

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Phone Stand

Most timelapse videos are filmed from a top-down angle, so an overhead phone stand is a really important tool in your kit. It will help you simply create timelapse and speed painting videos. However, you want to make sure it’s good quality! It’s important that your mount has an adjustable width for holding your phone because if it doesn’t, your phone can easily drop (which isn’t great when you’re in the middle of recording, much less when it’s positioned over the actual painting…).

This is exactly why I recommend this specific phone stand. The width of the holder can be adjusted to accommodate almost any phone, including phones in really thick cases (speaking from experience!). Once your phone is in, it won’t drop it! It’s also super sturdy and won’t cave under the weight of your phone, which is important to make sure you don’t get a close-up halfway through the recording. It can also be easily mounted to a desk and tightened to ensure no random movement, so you won’t find your phone or the stand dangling in your face at any point of the process.

This phone stand is great because you can also easily adjust the height and angle, so you’ll be able to explore different recording styles as you film your art videos.

Long Phone Charging cable

Painting, drawing, sculpting, crocheting, no matter what type of art you do, most of us can agree that art is rarely a fast process. Even what you may consider fast likely doesn’t equate to what your phone battery thinks is fast, especially when it’s using a video recording app. Keep in mind that when it’s recording, the screen is on the whole time! The last thing you want is your phone dying halfway through your speed painting video because you’ll be the one left to find out that you’re missing two hours of footage.

Many phone charging cables aren’t longer than a few feet, and if your phone is already two feet above your desk, a regular charger might not reach it. This is why it is important to have a long phone charger available. It’ll let your phone stay on full brightness, and there’s no risk of your phone dying at any point.

LED Desk Light

Lighting is a crucial factor when it comes to filming any type of art video! You don’t want to overdo it by having it on max brightness directly in front of your piece, because that can risk washing out any colors and over-brightening shadows. However, if you use only natural lighting in your room, and if you’re not filming with the curtains open, giant windows, and tons of sunlight, your video can come out dull and shadowed.

An LED desk light with multiple different lighting temperatures and levels of intensity can be an easy fix to any lighting problems. It’s one of the two recommended lighting fixtures for recording a speed painting or timelapse video on your phone. For the LED Desk Light, I recommend positioning it either facing slightly away from your masterpiece on full intensity or facing towards it but with a lowered brightness.

This is a great tool whether you’re a midnight owl of an artist like myself, or you’re just not in a space with tons of natural lighting!

Ring Light

A ring light are my second recommended lighting fixture. They tend to be a little less targeted than a simple desk light, and often much brighter as well. I love this particular light because it comes with its own tripod stand, which is practical for what it’s used for.

When used alone, an LED Desk Light can cause some odd shadows and not evenly light your piece. However, by using a ring light in combination with it, you can even out your lighting and make it seem a lot more natural. I recommend pointing the ring light at a wall near your artwork, or even directly at your piece from a slightly further distance than the desk light. Two fairly cheap sets of lighting can help you film your art video by making the lighting more natural.

Lavalier Microphone

This one isn’t a necessity if you are specifically interested in setting your speed painting video to some sort of background music (personally, we recommend this inspirational track). However, if you are interested in potentially creating tutorials, product reviews, or just speaking directly with your audience in your videos, then the Lavalier Microphone is a great choice. It’s also particularly useful if you plan on live streaming your art process on platforms like Instagram, Tiktok, Amazon, or Twitch.

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