My project for course: Digital Fantasy Portraits with Photoshop

This is a pretty basic rundown of my process for this artwork.

1. I'll usually start by sketching out an idea of what I'm looking for, in this case I used a reference from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/742108844864888384/ along with multiple butterfly images to create this simple concept.

2. With a sketch done I move on to marking out my values. For next time I would be aiming to making the values not so dark, as it impacted the colouring stage a little having to work out better values. Normally I wouldn't make a value layer before using colour, but for this project I decided to give it a try and test myself.

3. After my values have been worked out, I move onto colouring the different areas of the artwork as a whole. Following this I start to work on the finer details.

4. Finally, I used some of the techniques learnt from the course to create a more fantasy-driven concept. Blending modes were used to change the colour of the hair, with colour dodge and a glow applied to the butterflies to make them appear 'ethereal'.

I would appreciate some feedback for this artwork as I am always looking to improve. My main area of focus is learning to mesh my portraits with my background more effectively, as I feel that is a skill I need to develop.