Look into my eyes

For a long time, I have had this notion of doing a portrait of someone lit just by a candle near their face. I took a run at it in 2021 and discovered I was not ready. I took another run at it here and found that while I am closer, I am still not ready. You can see the attempt below. It’s possible I could have bailed it out, but I lost confidence and gave up. I wound up not even leaving the candle in the portrait.

What we have here is an interesting animal. It is a hybrid of simplification and detail. I think it’s a pretty good split. It has the likeness I feel is important while retaining some of that painterly feel I’ve been chasing. I had some intentionality here beyond the usual “make it look like the reference”. Things like: unite the regions of color into larger shapes, or cool off the shadows to make them stand out a bit more. I wanted to make it a better painting, and I think I succeeded.

The reference is from my favorite Aftyn character, the one that kicked off this whole art journey for me, the Sexy hypnotist.

I’ll get to that candle lighting thing at some point, though. I promise.

Medium: Digital
App: Artstudio Pro
Tools: Watercolor

Published: 2025-09-03 14:10:09