Fear of the Dark

Magazine Illustration

This painting took a more painterly approach to the phobia magazine article aspect. It is depicting the fear of the dark. It was painted digitally in Photoshop. The color palette was kept very dark because of the phobia all except the flame and the light it casts. Although the color of the flame gives a little hope it also reveals something we may rather keep hidden. This piece was designed to accompany a magazine article on the topic.

The piece was created in Photoshop but started as a series of penciled thumbnails. I played with the ideas and went through a couple of critiques before going into the final piece. I took several reference photos for the hand and candle. I did not want the hand to seem too natural though, so I made it a little more gnarled to drive the mood across. I kept the colors very dark to add to the mood but used the colors of the flame to reveal some of the details that would have been hidden.

Below you can see mock-ups and sketches from this project.