One of my all-time favorite things is a nice lazy Saturday with the family. It’s a fantastic scene from my perspective: We’re all upstairs and
Shuffled Artist Favorites
Three-Quarters of the Ghostbusters (10/23/2018) - Back in May, when I was in the middle of a flurry of sketches, I had an idea to draw characters from some of my favorite movies.… (click to read more of this randomly selected old favorite)
Star Trek’s Captain Picard, This Time in Color (4/28/2018) - Back in December 2017, before I switched over to color drawings, I sketched a scene with my three favorite characters from Star Trek. It featured Captain Picard,… (click to read more of this randomly selected old favorite)
Scenes from a Mr. Bungle Concert (5/7/2020) - Welcome to the part two continuation of this Mike Patton-related discussion! In the first post, the write-up was centered around musician extraordinaire Mike Patton and his bands,… (click to read more of this randomly selected old favorite)
Updating a Wedding Present Portrait (11/1/2019) - Lately, I've been in a bit of an art re-visitation phase. I have been back into the drawing hobby for over two years at this point, which… (click to read more of this randomly selected old favorite)
Random Selections from the Archives
Go Mavs! (6/13/2011) - I just wanted to type out an official congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks. They rocked the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals last night, and I couldn't… (click to read more of this randomly selected old favorite)
Hometown Series, Football Huddle (3/2/2018) - It's been about seven years since I moved from the ol' hometown, where I spent the first three decades of my life. During my 20s, I spent… (click to read more of this randomly selected old favorite)
Self Portrait Comparisons (11/6/2021) - Every once in a while, I find it's nice to attempt a self-portrait. After all, what face are you more familiar with than your own? My kids… (click to read more of this randomly selected old favorite)
Practicing Scenery Through Video Game Art (1/9/2021) - If you've followed this blog for long, you may have read me roasting myself about various art-related weaknesses. Every artist, amateur and professional alike, has certain things… (click to read more of this randomly selected old favorite)The Latest Blog Posts
Weekend Relaxation and Unfamiliar Movies – Pandorum Drawing
Self Portrait Comparisons
Every once in a while, I find it’s nice to attempt a self-portrait. After all, what face are you more familiar with than your own?
Fall 2021 Portrait Giveaway
It’s been quite a long time since I’ve done a portrait giveaway – somehow, the last one was more than a year ago! It’s hard
Art Backlog Thoughts and Cousins Hanging Out
At the moment, I am quite backlogged in terms of both finished portraits I haven’t yet written about and ideas for future drawings. I’ve written
Narrated Walkthrough, Drawing Process Discussion
One of the early pandemic projects I started was to transition from progression .gif slides of my drawing process into full time-lapse videos. I created
New Family Pet, a Ragamuffin Cat
Earlier this summer, our family finally made a much-discussed leap to adopt a little fur-ball. If I haven’t already mentioned our new cat offhand in
Guitarist and Busker Mariusz Goli
Like a lot of people, my primary method for visual music consumption is YouTube. In the absence of an actual television channel dedicated to music
Drawing with the Kids
If you’ve read many posts on this site, it’s probably apparent that I do a lot of drawing with my kids. They have desks set
Navigating Subtle Facial Expressions
In conversations with acquaintances, colleagues, and other various newly-met people, occasionally my drawing hobby comes up. Although not everyone is particularly interested in art, usually
Non-Stop Bob Ross and The Joy of Painting
Moving to a new home naturally comes with an adjustment period. I guess everyone’s timing may vary, but eventually that sense of newness wears off
Princess Bride Part 3 – Westley and Buttercup in the Fireswamp
Where does the time go? It seems like I ask myself that a lot. It’s probably on my mind so much lately because I’m rapidly
Princess Bride Series Part 2 – Fezzik, Inigo, and Westley
Over the last week or so, I went on a sudden Princess Bride artwork binge. I started outlines for three different scenes! I’ve only finished
New Home, New Desk, New Art
Well, it took quite a bit longer than I anticipated, but it seems things are finally settling down for me and my family. Last year,
Thoughts on Website Monetization And Affiliate Links
I’ve been tinkering with this website pretty consistently over the last three-and-a-half years. Throughout that time, I have maintained interest in ways I could make
Practicing Scenery Through Video Game Art
If you’ve followed this blog for long, you may have read me roasting myself about various art-related weaknesses. Every artist, amateur and professional alike, has
Full Portrait Walkthrough YouTube Video
In a couple of ways, I consider this post to be somewhat of a do-over. Months ago, I shared a YouTube video on my relatively
Santa Taking a Cookie Break Christmas Eve
I am going to share some art out of order, which isn’t my usual approach. But I thought it would make more sense to jump
Giveaway Winner – The Boo Crew Puppy Drawing
I am getting really bad about writing on this blog! I am also not really keeping up with my artwork hobby very well. I have
Second Healthcare Worker Drawing
Way back in April (which feels like it was years ago now somehow), there was a healthcare worker “portraits for heroes” thing going around on
Youtuber Art Series, Marques Brownlee (MKBHD)
Although you probably wouldn’t be able to tell based on how sporadically I’ve been posting, over the last few months I have wanted to focus
Drawing of New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern
This post is mostly going to be about a portrait I did of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, but I’ll also take a detour
New Product and Game Review Site ‘Armdog Reviews’
It’s been quite a busy last month or so. The family and I finally made our long-delayed moved to Texas. It’s something that’s been in
Finished Portraits from the April Giveaway
It’s taken me quite a while to actually get to the writing portion, but I’m finally sharing the portraits from the most recent giveaway. The
More from the Witcher, Ciri of Cintra
This is a continuation of my post last week about the Witcher Netflix show and game series. In that first post, I discussed the show
The Witcher Art, Geralt of Rivia
Somewhere towards the beginning of the new COVID-19 home quarantine reality, I finally forced myself to sit down and watch The Witcher Netflix series. I’d
Initial Sketch Outline Discussion
It feels like it’s been a while since my last post, but when I looked back, it’s actually only been a couple of weeks. Time
YouTube Channel for Amdall Gallery
As of today, Amdall Gallery’s new YouTube channel is live! Its main purpose is to share some progression videos; if you’re familiar with my typical
Mother’s Day Portrait
A bit of a delay writing this one, but this post is going to be dedicated to Mother’s Day and sharing some related artwork. It’s
Scenes from a Mr. Bungle Concert
Welcome to the part two continuation of this Mike Patton-related discussion! In the first post, the write-up was centered around musician extraordinaire Mike Patton and
Healthcare Worker Portrait Request
As you can tell from the homepage, Amdall Gallery has a custom portrait raffle going right now. We’ve got about 12 days left on the
Musical Virtuoso Mike Patton
My senior year of high school, I became friends with a group of guys who I’ve known multiple decades now (how has it been so
Dark Tower Villain Improvements
I haven’t discussed the series in a while, but if you came across this blog any time in early 2018, you were probably greeted with
Goofy Portrait from Another Decade
As I was browsing through some old photos looking for something fun to draw, I came across one that gave me a good laugh. It’s
Meme Art, Sergeant Mittens is Ready
I’m entering a very unusual artwork and post writing phase. If I’ve ever been in this situation before, I really can’t remember.Essentially, I have now
Artwork and Website Spring Cleaning
Over the weekend, I decided it was high time for some art-related spring cleaning. I’ve had a few things on my organizational “to do” list
By Request, Frozen’s Anna and Elsa
Like so many parents, we’re doing our best to keep the little ones busy as well as ourselves. In an effort to keep myself busy,
Historical Timeline
4+ years of blogging on Amdall Gallery
The very first blog post. Site was abandoned fairly quickly afterward until 2017.
Returned to the site, started analyzing data. The beginning of continuous blog posts for the next 4 years (and counting).
First artwork post, returning to drawing after over a decade. Didn't know at the time this would become a major hobby.
Early attempts at using colored pencils. Initial efforts were rough and poorly blended.
Artwork started to feature a thicker layering and blending style, which has been refined during the last couple years of practice.
Published my first book! Essentially about my experience returning to art after being away from it for so long.
Rejected by a local art show. A bit of a setback, but didn't impact me as much as I expected.
Start of the pandemic, stayed busy publishing a new book, drawing, and getting organized.
Launched a YouTube channel to show progression videos instead of .gifs.
Launched a new website focused on product impressions and reviews.
I have shown improvement over the years, but know there is still much to learn.
What's next? More drawing for sure. But will I attempt to enter another art show? Finally try painting? Perhaps get some formal training by taking a class? All great ideas - we'll see!
