"This was a piece for Unreal Bjornament 4, an art contest hosted by Bjorn Hurri. I set out to explore building a narrative with dramatic effect, all in a single image. To create impact, I played with contrast, both in values and context," says Laura Rosmaninho.
She adds, "With only one human face in the composition, the eye is naturally drawn to it. Despite not knowing the surrounding story, the expression and pose – anger pushed to the edge of violence – creates tension that invites curiosity, making the image resonate beyond its visual elements and encouraging the viewer to imagine the world behind it."
Read Laura Rosmaninho's advice below, and check out our guides to the best digital art software and the best drawing tablets to get started.
1. Set the stage
The start of a painting is always rough. It’s important to be loose and not too tied to anything while still stating your intention. A lot will change throughout the process, but the start will majorly impact a painting throughout to the end. So take your time to really consider the contrast and composition of your elements.
2. Decision time
This step is for pinning down and solidifying ideas – the transition between the initial vision and concrete choices. Organising everything in layers is vital at this stage. It provides some wiggle room to experiment with values, colours, and positioning, and then you can slowly build a base for the final render.
3. Finalise the scene
The last step is more than cleaning up. There’s always room for change, no matter the stage, so take this opportunity to reconsider and refine ideas to enhance the picture. Those extra bits of design can sneak in – such as texture, engravings, and props – that add so much to a piece and pack that punch of worldbuilding.
This content originally appeared in ImagineFX magazine, the world's leading digital art and fantasy art magazine. ImagineFX is on sale in the UK, Europe, United States, Canada, Australia and more. Limited numbers of ImagineFX print editions are available for delivery from our online store (the shipping costs are included in all prices).
