Sparking emotion and wonder through a fantasy narrative is a skill that requires a resourceful mind, flush with imagination. However, a defined methodology is just as important to successfully transmit these ideas to your audience. Established fantasy illustrator Karmen Loh, also known as Bearbrickjia, has created a world of delicate, whimsical fantasy portraits that delight a community of over 400k followers on Instagram, as well as character concept art for game titles such as Street Fighter and Steel Circus.

In this course, Karmen will show you the soft, glittering ropes to her polished technique for creating digital fantasy portraits that narrate an ethereal atmosphere, with precision and skill. Her use of Adobe Photoshop has an easy to follow structure, that will give you all the necessary tools to fuse your imagination through this program to create your own unique fantasy narration into your digital portraits.

Meet Karmen and her passion for portrait illustration, find out how she started out as a concept character artist and pursued her dream to become an independent artist. She reveals the artists that have inspired her the most, along with other influences that move her.

Get started with photoshop and your graphics tablet, go through each tool, understanding how Karmen uses them in a fantasy context. Learn how to create shadows and light with tools such as the smudge tool.

See how she uses brushes for her illustrations, and how to configure them, using the same brushes that Karmen uses to create her art. Understand how to use and adjust color in your portrait, learning her blending techniques to seamlessly add color to your work.

Discover the importance of creating a mood board, based on the concept of your fantasy portrait, to inspire you in developing the elements of your illustration even further. See how to collect your references and how Karmen searches for inspiration.

Go on to sketching your portrait, adding fantasy elements to your composition. See how Karmen adds color and renders her portrait, and work her techniques into your portrait, adding makeup and adjusting the colors to give more life to your character.

Add the finishing touches to your portrait, working in highlights and sparkles to make your artwork pop. Sharpen your portrait by using Karmen's tips and tricks, to give your portrait more definition. Once you are finished, see how to export your project and compress your final piece for digital media and printing.

What is this course's project?
Create a digital portrait with a fantasy narrative using Photoshop.

Who is this online course for?
This course is for professional and aspiring artists who are interested in learning digital portrait techniques, as well as applying a fantasy tone to their work.

Requirements and materials
Basic drawing skills are necessary, with some knowledge in face anatomy illustration. Karmen teaches the basics of Photoshop, so digital illustration skills are not needed to take this course.

You will need a computer with Adobe Photoshop and a graphics tablet.