Some drawings are recognizable before we even see a signature. A flowing silhouette, a face on the verge of a smile, hair caught in an invisible movement, and colors that answer one another like a dream. That is often how I encounter the work of Loish, also known as Lois van Baarle. Her technical skill is remarkable, of course, but that is not what holds my attention longest. It is the feeling that a character, though perfectly still, has just taken a breath.
Drawing as a First Language
Born in the Netherlands, Lois van Baarle grew up in several countries, including the United States, Indonesia, France and Belgium. She drew throughout childhood, but discovering digital art tools as a teenager opened a new space for experimentation. She explored Photoshop and early online drawing communities, at a time when sharing artwork on the internet still felt like an adventure for enthusiasts. Rather than choosing between pencil and screen, she learned to make the computer an extension of her hand.
She went on to study animation in Ghent and then in the Netherlands, graduating in 2009. Perhaps that background explains what I enjoy so much about her characters: they seem to belong to a sequence larger than the picture itself. A shoulder tilts, a hand hesitates, a strand of hair lifts; we can imagine what happened just before and what might happen next. Loish is not simply drawing a beautiful face. She is capturing a moment, a mood, a presence.
Characters Brought to Life by Color
Her style is instantly recognizable, yet difficult to reduce to a formula. Proportions may be deliberately exaggerated, curves guide the eye, and textures soften the edges. Warm hues meet deep blues, pinks and unexpected greens. Her female figures are not frozen models: they seem filled with emotion, energy, tiredness or quiet joy. The influence of animation is clear, but so is a deeply personal freedom. In these images, color does not merely fill shapes; it tells us what words leave unsaid.
A look at her sketches reveals how much precision lies behind that apparent softness. Before the lighting and gradients, there is a line of movement, a pose, a balance of shapes. Hands and gazes matter as much as faces. Even when a sketch remains unfinished, something is already there: the character's personality. That is what I find so fascinating about drawing — the possibility of suggesting an entire life with just a few well-placed lines.
From Private Sketches to Video Game Worlds
After graduating, Loish worked independently on animation, game art and character design projects. Her career has included collaborations with LEGO and Guerrilla Games. She was among the artists involved in the visual development of Aloy, the protagonist of Horizon Zero Dawn. That side of her profession is fascinating: behind a character encountered by millions of players lie studies, silhouettes, color experiments and conversations among artists. Concept drawing is not just an invisible preliminary step; it helps give a world its soul.
Yet Loish has always protected time for personal work. Her sketchbooks, studies and digital paintings document an exploration that does not need an assigned story to exist. Her three books — The Art of Loish, The Sketchbook of Loish and The Style of Loish — also reveal what happens behind the scenes: the uncertainty, the stages and the decisions that shape an image. I love that an artist with such accomplished work is willing to show the journey, not just the polished result. Style does not arrive all at once: it is searched for, reshaped and practiced.
Moving from a personal drawing to a world built with a team requires a different way of looking. In a game, a character must exist from the front, in profile, in motion and under different lighting conditions. They need to remain recognizable while meeting technical and narrative demands. This dialogue between imagination and collective creation is precisely what fascinates me: early concept drawings are not disposable extras; they become part of a game's emotional architecture.
Sharing the Process in an Age of Instant Images
Social media has given Loish an international audience, but she has never limited herself to posting finished artwork. She also shares tutorials, digital brushes, process videos and advice through her community and Digital Art School. At a time when artificial intelligence can generate an image in seconds, that attention to the making of an artwork feels especially valuable. What moves me about Loish is not only recognizing her style at a glance; it is knowing that it grew from years of observation, experiments and the pleasure of drawing. Behind the glow of her colors, there is still a hand, an eye and an unmistakably individual sensibility.
There is generosity in showing those intermediate steps. A picture posted on Instagram may look as though it appeared in a single gesture, when drawing often involves revisions, mistakes and changes of direction. By revealing some of that journey, Loish reminds beginners that searching is part of the work. And for those who simply enjoy looking at her art, she offers another reason to linger: we can see not only what was made, but how an idea gradually found its form.
Image credits: All images featured in this article are the property of Loish. All rights reserved. Discover her Instagram.
