Honestly, I didn’t just wake up one day and decide “Adrian Ortiz style, let’s do this!” Nah, it happened kinda messy, like most of my practice sessions do. Saw some work online tagged with his name, those gritty, everyday scenes bathed in super warm light, almost glowing. Felt instantly drawn. Said screw it, let’s mess around with this vibe myself.
Digging Up the Basics First
Started simple: grabbed my sketchbook and pens. No fancy setup. Needed to wrap my head around what makes Adrian Ortiz’s art tick. Zoomed in on pictures online. Noticed right away:
- Light was everything: Like, this super intense, warm glow hitting folks doing ordinary stuff.
- Simplified world: Backgrounds weren’t busy. Shapes got chunked down, buildings felt blocky.
- People just living: Moments caught felt super random, like someone waiting or just walking past.
Okay, Time to Make Marks – Phase One Disaster
Feeling pumped, grabbed a fresh page and started sketching. Bad idea. Jumped straight into trying some complicated scene from memory. Total disaster. Proportions? Messed up. People looked stiff. Got frustrated. Took a breath. Reminded myself: start slow, dummy.
Playing Small Before Painting Big
Switched gears. Opened a smaller sketchbook, maybe 5×7 inches. Told myself, “Just pick ONE thing.” Chose an easy scene: a person standing under a streetlight at night. Focused only on:
- Where the light hits: Top of the head, shoulders, one side of the face.
- Deep shadows everywhere else: Made that contrast super harsh.
- Blocky shapes: Made the streetlight a solid rectangle, the person simplified.
Used a thick charcoal pencil. Dug into the paper trying to get that deep shadow. Light areas? Left mostly blank paper, just hinting with the pencil edge. Felt way better. Less crap.
Finally Letting the Color Rip
Confidence boosted slightly. Went for paints. Pulled out my gouache tubes – love that stuff for its flat color and opacity. Mixed up a crazy warm orange-yellow for the streetlight glow. Like, practically neon. For the shadows? Deep purples and blues. Slapped that warm light thick right on the sketch’s light zones. Then dunked the rest in dark, cool shadows. Didn’t blend it smooth. Wanted that blocky feel. Let edges be harsh where the light met the dark. Put a rough silhouette for the figure standing there in the light pool.
The result? Honestly, kinda surprised myself. The figure was still wonky, but the COLOR PLAY? That strong warm light against the cool, deep shadows? That part screamed “Adrian Ortiz.” That feeling hit me – the vibe is mostly about that dramatic light pushing against heavy dark, plus simplifying life scenes.
Whole journey was about stripping back, not adding. Forgot about perfect detail. Focused purely on light vs. dark and keeping things simple. Practiced that light/dumb contrast over and over on tiny sketches first, saved me from drowning in failed big pieces. The magic wasn’t some technical secret; it was getting bold with color opposites and simplifying the hell out of the world.
