I created this painting for the Light Grey Art Lab charity show Small Art For A Big Cause in late 2018. We were given an open brief, but were encouraged to keep to themes that could be relevant all year round.
Creating something joyful and calming seemed fitting, and as it was also winter I wanted to counteract the bleak weather surrounding us. I decided to paint something bright and indulgent. Flowers have so many whimsical, ethereal features, and fitted perfectly into the theme I was going for. As I was considering how to engulf the piece in flowers, the idea came to mind for the ornate hair.
I decided that I wasn’t concerned with depicting realistic elements, but rather wanted to play around with creating pattern and exploring some fun, stream-of-consciousness painting. I was also at the earlier stages of leaning into more surreal, abstract elements in my pieces, and decided I wanted to try dipping my toes into that pool too.
While I made a quick scribble on paper, the majority of the process – from sketching to final painting – took place in Clip Studio Paint. I love the way the brush engine works; it feels intuitive and helps me feel more tuned into my digital process.
How I colour…
A PORTRAIT ON A SINGLE LAYER
1 Explorative sketching
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Denne historien er fra September 2020-utgaven av ImagineFX.
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Jan Wessbecher
Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments
Kyounghwan Kim
The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly
Slawek Fedorczuk
Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.
Raquel M. Varela
Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"
Estrela Lourenço
Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.
Daria Widermanska
Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.
Allen Douglas
Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.
Thaddeus Robeck
Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow
First Impressions
The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world
