Digital Fantasy Portraits with Photoshop by Karmen Loh

This course will teach you how to create captivating stories in your digital portraits that evoke strong emotions and inspire wonder. To achieve this, you need a creative mind brimming with imagination, as well as a clear methodology to effectively convey your ideas to your audience. Renowned fantasy illustrator Karmen Loh, aka Bearbrickjia, has built a world of delicate and whimsical fantasy portraits that have earned her a dedicated following of over 400k on Instagram. She has also designed characters for popular games like Street Fighter and Steel Circus.

In this course, Karmen will share her refined technique for crafting digital fantasy portraits that weave a dreamlike atmosphere with precision and skill. Using Adobe Photoshop, she will guide you through an easy-to-follow process that will equip you with all the essential tools to infuse your imagination into your digital portraits and create your very own unique fantasy narrative.

In this course, you’ll have the opportunity to meet Karmen and learn about her passion for portrait illustration. She’ll share her journey from being a concept character artist to becoming an independent artist, and discuss the artists and other influences that have inspired her the most.

You’ll then get started with Photoshop and your graphics tablet, learning about each tool and how Karmen uses them in a fantasy context. She’ll teach you how to create shadows and light using tools such as the smudge tool, and how to use brushes and configure them to create your artwork.

Next, you’ll explore the importance of creating a mood board based on the concept of your fantasy portrait, and learn how to collect references and search for inspiration. Karmen will guide you through sketching your portrait and adding fantasy elements to your composition.

You’ll then learn about Karmen’s techniques for adding color and rendering your portrait, and how to adjust the colors to give more life to your character. She’ll also show you how to add makeup and finishing touches to your portrait, including highlights and sparkles to make it pop.

Finally, you’ll sharpen your portrait using Karmen’s tips and tricks to give it more definition, and learn how to export your project and compress your final piece for digital media and printing. By the end of the course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge to create your own unique fantasy portraits that tell captivating stories.