TURN THE LIGHTS OFF
I listen to music when I draw and sometimes it inspires new pieces. For this drawing, Tally Hall's "Turn the Lights Off" played on loop in my headphones as this ghostly piece came to life.
The sketch started off as a lone figure surrounded by shadowed faces. Originally, she was depicted as a ghost or monster hunter, but when I moved onto the line art, I decided she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I wanted the background to be pitch black with only the eyes and mouths visible. Instead of making the entire background black, however, I decided to add in some tribal inspired shapes to add more visual intrigue and help the eyes and mouths seem more hidden.
Paint pens are one of my favorite supplies to use on traditional pieces. I used a bronze colored pen in the gaps.
The final colors were chosen at random from my bag of Prismacolor markers. I wanted the character to stand out from the background, so the cooler colors were used on the body and the red was used for the hair.
The darker shadows on the jeans were beginning to blend into the background, so instead of leaving it, I used a white pen to outline the the figure and created highlights.
