Self portrait with candle

A personal value study focused on dramatic single-source lighting.

For this piece, I wanted to challenge myself by relying almost entirely on values instead of colour. The goal was to capture the atmosphere created by a single candle while experimenting with Procreate’s watercolour brushes, trying to keep a soft, painterly feel.

This study took 3 hours and 55 minutes, with roughly 100,000 brush strokes.

Software: Procreate
Time: 3h55
Brushes: Watercolour brushes
Reference: Self-portrait