Digital Painting: Lighting and Color for Digital Portraits in Photoshop

Capture mood and atmosphere in your artwork with lighting and color techniques


Color and lighting are an artist’s best allies when it comes to capturing a mood or concept.

In this course, I will show you how to tell your story through the use of color and lighting to visually enhance your digital artwork.

This course is the ideal sequel for those who want to give their artwork a sense of magic and wonder through lighting and color. Are you ready to delve into Bearbrickjia’s ethereal portrait universe?

Discover how I got started in digital illustration, and learn about what inspires my work. See what you'll learn throughout the course to help develop your final project.

Delve into lighting and color by analyzing movie stills, art, and more to see how mood and atmosphere are created. See different types of lighting for portraits and learn the purpose of each one. Start working on my first practical exercise to practice basic color and lighting.

Get started with your final project by finding a theme or story you want to tell and collecting references to create a mood board. Sketch out your ideas in Photoshop by experimenting with my favorite tools and tricks. Learn how to apply base colors and lighting to the portrait by understanding how to use complementary colors and shadows.

In the final unit, enhance your portrait with unique details and see how I use tools like Liquify to polish my artwork. Lastly, add some glow and depth to your artwork and learn how to export your finished piece for print and digital media.

What you need

To take this course, it is recommended to have previous digital drawing experience with Adobe Photoshop.

As for materials, you will need a computer with Photoshop and a graphics tablet.

Who is it for?

For anyone interested in digital portrait painting, especially those interested in improving their color and lighting skills to enhance the mood and atmosphere of their work.

More Info