Velazquez on the other hand did many of his works without even sketching out the picture first. Velazquez illuminated his figures in his paintings the same way that Rembrandt did. He placed the figures in the paintings in darker settings it order to illuminate them. He used contrasting colors to make his pictures look more life like. As well as Rembrandt Velazquez used thick and thin brushwork. He used a lighter brushwork for when he was painting landscapes. He wanted his pictures to have an airy depth to them. As Velazquez matured over the years he started to make the lighting softer and not make as harsh of shadows around the figures. The backgrounds became soft to make the entire picture seem radiant. Velazquez similar to Rembrandt wanted his figures to seem alive and like they had life to them. He wanted his figures to be alive but he also focused on the external details. Unlike Rembrandt, Velazquez focused on the internal and the external features of the figures.
Rembrandt and Velazquez both had similar themes that they used while they were working. The main theme that was used was Religion. They were both two extremely religious people. Religious Themes were the most important to both of the artists. Rembrandt also had the theme dealing with portraits and figures being life like. The passion of Christ was a theme that both artists showed in great number. Rembrandt not only painted scenes of the Holy Family but he enjoyed the Book of Tobit better. The Book of Tobit in his opinion showed more human accents to him. He thought of these stories as soothing and peaceful. Velazquez had the theme of royalty. Velazquez favorite religious stories were that of the annunciation, the adoration, the resurrection and the showing of saints and Martyrs. .
Rembrandt and Velazquez had a wide variety of things that were shown in their paintings and drawings. Rembrandt painted at least 2300 works all together.