Umbrella Portal
Watercolor, gouache, ink
2024

This project started with the prompt, “under an umbrella.” I started by writing down as many related words and phrases that I could think of, and then I made a list of keywords. The keywords were, “danger, blood, stars, moon, sword, cane, trapped, and the unknown.” Not all of these are evident in the finished piece, but they all helped me find a direction.

I knew, after making my list, that I wanted to go in a fantasy direction. I thought a knight would make an interesting juxtaposition with the umbrella, and the sword could be visually linked with it. Working off that idea, I took reference photos of myself, and made many thumbnails to decide on the composition. I landed on a composition that was simple enough to make the concept of the umbrella portal clear to the viewer.

I took my sketch into a digital art program to work out my colors. I chose a dark color scheme for the area outside of the umbrella to highlight the inside, which is the focal point. I used the color comp as reference, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to get exactly the same colors since I was working in watercolor.

After the majority of the painting was done, I added metallic ink in certain spots to contribute to the fantasy theme.