Higher

I wanted to create a visual representation of the song "Higher" by The Naked and Famous. It's a song about overcoming hardship, healing, and learning to rise above pain and heartache. The song is upbeat and captures feelings of optimism and hope. I've attached a link to the song's lyric video on YouTube.

I used Adobe Photoshop on a Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16.

I started out with a very rough sketch. I knew I wanted to depict a woman, perhaps someone I could see myself in. I also knew I wanted some kind of fantastical element to the illustration, perhaps floating in the sky with some indications of magical forces.

I was able to map out the pose by first using simple cylindrical shapes to form the base for the body.

I used a pencil-like brush for this step.

As I started to flesh out the rough sketch more clearly, I decided to incorporate swirly shapes. This is an element I've often used in previous pieces I've made to help make static compositions feel a little bit more dynamic. I also wanted to add some kind of animal that symbolized healing or hope, so I added some doves to the composition. I also added her clothing in this step. I knew I wanted a looser top with leggings and sneakers. It was also important for me to point her gaze upwards to emphasize a "hopeful" mood.

This is where I start experimenting with different color palettes. I knew I wanted a magical source of light. I wanted to make the character appear as though she is rising in the sky with a bright light symbolizing hope and optimism. I really liked the warm colors and wanted to balance it out with the cool blue of the magical swirls. I used a hard round brush as well as an airbrush to lay in the colors.

Once I choose the base colors, the next step was to render the piece. I will often adjust the colors throughout this process, just intuitively adjusting the hues/values until I feel satisfied with it (using adjustment tools such as Color Balance, Hue/Saturation and Selective Color). I wanted the color palette to feel upbeat, kind of energetic, just like the song. Pinks, purples, and blues spoke to me most. I used a textured round brush and an airbrush to render.

I added some glowing effects using various blending modes (overlay, hard light, multiply, soft light, color dodge), as well added some subtle chromatic aberration effects. I then went in with smaller brushes to refine smaller details, such as the feathers of the doves, the thin strands of the magic swirls, details in the folds of the clothing, and features of the face.