CELESTIAL LIGHTING IN YOUR PORTRAITS

Karmen Loh shares the creative process of how she captures the essence of a female portrait illuminated by starlight

- Karmen Loh

This painting is an exclusive commission for the YouTube channel MrSuicideSheep. I was very lucky to be given full freedom for the concept and draw anything that came to mind.

I decided to create a portrait inspired by one of my favorite animated films, The Little Prince. The story follows a little prince who travels to different planets and includes themes of love, friendship, and loss. The stars in the movie play an important role and symbolise the hopes and dreams of different people. There’s a scene in the movie where all the stars are trapped inside a big glass jar, which inspired this painting.

I knew I wanted the stars to be the main light source and light up the character from above. The character has a dreamy facial expression and her eyes are closed. I wanted her to look like she was dreaming, waiting for someone to break the glass, free the stars and wake her up. To enhance the concept, I applied a night sky background and floating hair to make it feel like she’s in space, and the glass jar became a spacesuit helmet.

How I create…

STARLIGHT EFFECTS IN A PORTRAIT

1  Rough sketch

I start exploring quick ideas by doing some rough line sketches, focusing on getting the overall composition of the painting right. Because this is a portrait and the main focus is the face, it’s important to capture an expression that manages to communicate the mood and feeling that I want to deliver

2  Colours and lighting