Portrait of Dahlia Vare

This piece was a gift for a friend of mine, of a character they were working on.
For this piece, I pushed myself to get it as colorful and eye catching as possible, intense outdoor lighting, and being mindful of the way the light from the environment interacts with even areas that are in shadow, all while capturing her playful personality.

I particularly love taking a drawing that is stylized, see the flat colors, and really pour detail into all the right places, because it can take something even with stylized proportions and make it instantly look believable, like she could be real, even if the piece itself is somewhat cartoony. I want to work to improve this skill in particular, being able to blend semi-style and semi-realism to create the perfect, eye catching blend.

This character was created by my friend, @sourpatchkase on Twitter.