Kokabiel, The Burning Light - Value Phase (Patreon)

The spikes on the collar are a personal reference back to the spikes I used to wear on my leather jacket back when I was a punky kid. I mean, there is no time like your teen years where you get more obsessed with the sound pressing into your ears. I had long hair back then too, but Kokabiel has clearly been taking better care of his.

Finding a working value structure for this piece was a pain. I always feel like when I render the heck out of a piece it looses some magic. My goal here is to make the scene feel ethereal and simply lighting it realistically doesn't do that. Making a flat, simple background and showing a minimal amount of the main figure seems like it should make things easier but it's the opposite. Whenever I do one of these tighter shots, the process of getting a composition I'm happy with always turns into an exhausting exercise in balancing stones.