Today, I decided to dive into something totally new – creating a digital portrait of someone named Karen Beltrán. I’d seen some cool digital art online and thought, “Why not give it a shot?” I’m no artist, but I figured it would be a fun experiment.
Getting Started
First, I needed a good picture of Karen Beltrán. I, uh, “found” one online. It was a pretty clear, front-facing shot, which I figured would be easier to work with.
Next, I needed some software. I didn’t want to spend any money, so I grabbed a free drawing program I found online. It looked kinda complicated, but I figured I could just poke around and figure it out.
The Messy Process
I opened the picture in the program and just… stared at it for a while. Where do you even start? I decided to start with the outline of her face. My hand was NOT steady. The lines were all wobbly, and it looked more like a potato than a person.
- Eyes: These were tough! Trying to make them look even remotely like eyes was a struggle. I kept erasing and re-drawing them.
- Nose: I tried to do some shading, but it ended up looking like a weird smudge.
- Mouth: Getting the lips right was super hard. They ended up looking kinda lopsided.
After messing with the face for what felt like forever, I moved on to the hair. This was a little easier, since it was mostly just big blocks of color. I used the fill tool a lot, which felt like cheating, but hey, it worked.
Adding Some Color (and More Mistakes)
Once the basic outline was done (and I use the term “done” very loosely), I started adding color. I used the eyedropper tool to pick colors from the original photo, which was kinda neat. But then I had to blend them, and that was a whole other disaster. It looked patchy and weird.
I spent a good chunk of time just trying to fix mistakes. Erasing, re-drawing, smudging… it was a cycle of frustration. But, slowly, it started to look… slightly less terrible.
The Final (Sort Of) Result
After hours of work, I finally called it quits. It definitely didn’t look like a professional portrait. It was messy, the proportions were off, and the shading was questionable. But, you know what? You could kinda tell it was supposed to be Karen Beltrán. Maybe. If you squinted.
Honestly, the whole process was way harder than I expected. I have a newfound respect for digital artists. It takes a lot of skill and patience, both of which I clearly lack. But it was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and I learned a little bit about digital drawing. Would I do it again? Maybe. But I’d probably need a lot more practice (and maybe a drawing tablet) before I attempted another portrait.
