A horned man

Here is a strange and dubious man with horns, long ears, and unnatural eyes who seems to try to convince someone of something.

This one is my last drawing, and I am fairly happy with it! At first, I wanted to create a character with realistic lighting because lately, I have been thinking a lot about the effect of sunlight on the skin. I wanted a vibrant, saturated, and strong play of light and shadow. But I was also looking forward to working with lines. The character didn’t need to be a little stylized; I just wanted a realistic light. I started drawing, and the idea of the character comes quickly to my mind: a suspicious man with a fantasy-like appearance. For me, he was a tempter, almost like a half disguised demon trying to entice someone.

I started the line and worked on it, but soon I had to choose: the line attracted too much attention and belittled the lighting. So I went for the lighting and the color and forgot about the line. I opted to use orange shades for the skin and a complementary blue for everything else to get an intense palette. I worked little by little, using multiple layers and color corrections in the way, playing with translucency and saturation. In the end, I am delighted with the final colors. The character has a good balance of light and shadows, saturation and desaturation, and a good sense of the three dimensions. I like to think that he is also telling something else with his pose and expression. Maybe we could try to guess whatever he is saying!

I hope you enjoy it!