I painted this portrait over a couple months, i took waaaay longer than i wanted and needed to take, due to lack of experience in art and doing commissions overall but also for personal reasons. Still, i am quite proud of the result and that i was able to achieve my vision.

I like to have a personal and involved approach when making a new piece with a client so we went back and forth a lot with ideas that developed on the thumbnail phase and then narrowed with sketches and further previews. I had an idea to make a simple front facing portrait more dynamic with the unique elements of their character: That long bushy mane of hair and the large fiery plumicorns that adorn their head and make it stand out unmistakably. I thought that a strong wind could be blowing it all to the side, And then offsetting the character to the opposite side to have more room and showcase those flowing, breathing elements.

Making the hair was the biggest challenge, I had to plan ahead every little strand, paint over them without missing a detail, I made a huge beginners mistake by not painting the background first and then filling in the silhouette of the character. So halfway through the process i realized i needed the background to be there and bring contrast to everything else.

So i decided to use a wide roll of masking tape to cover the general area of the hair locks, and then cut out the negative space with an utility knife. Long story short; My lack of awareness and misuse of tools made it all much harder and time consuming than it needed to be. A lot of chunks of paper ripped off when i removed the tape, taking with them colored areas that i had to fill back up after cleaning the mess. Weh...

All that is to say: This was an entire journey, and i gained so much valuable experience and insight that will surely make me a better, more efficient artist going forward.