“Spotlight” is one of my artworks I created as an entry to an art competition hosted by a small group of online artists. I won first place with this artwork.

The host of this art competition let us have creative liberties with what we drew, which was already a win for me because I needed the practice in drawing full backgrounds.

I adore anything pink, girly, & feminine & I felt really confident drawing something in that realm. I love a good ballet, so the obvious choice was to draw a ballet scene. Its within my comfort zone while still being challenging since it would be one of the first times I’d attempt a full digital illustration.

I started where all my projects start, Pinterest. I searched for the perfect pose to use as reference, then got to sketching. For this illustration, I used exclusively IbisPaintX. I sketched the ballerina first, then moved onto colour palettes. I chose a silvery & gold palette as opposed to the traditional pink as I knew the background would have lots of pink hues, & I didn’t want anything to get muddled up with eachother. The pearls were added at the end because I found her to be a bit lackluster without them.

As for the background, I kept it simple. I did some curtains & a crowd of people, but I find the light shining on her really pulls it all together. Overall I’m very proud of this piece of art, & I hold it very near & dear to my heart.