I've progressively gotten the hang of drawing in Procreate, so for this piece I decided to challenge myself by incorporating color. The subject of the illustration is Swedish track and field athlete, Angelica Bengtsson, who specializes in pole vaulting.
I used some of the techniques from my self portrait and portrait of Eva; however, I used less layers this time. I was inspired by a YouTube video titled "Reality Isn't Always Right" in which the narrator, who goes by Solar Sands, discusses how artists make "conscious, well thought out decisions" to achieve a sense of realism without being too detailed. The acute attention to value—the relation between light and shadow—is key to producing a convincing image. Although I was working in color, I still viewed the reference photo as black and white by distinguishing the range of values. As mentioned in my previous work, I began with a solid foundation and added details on top but this time, I applied more confident brush strokes and mixed within layers.
One of the unexpected things that I love about this piece is how the blue of the Swedish flag complements the warm skin tone hues which gives the composition a sense of depth by making the subject stand out. Overall, I'm very happy with this portrait of Angelica and was thrilled to find out that she shared it on social media!