Amdall Gallery

My latest classic game inspired painting features a couple of characters from Final Fantasy IV, Rydia and Cecil, sitting with a chocobo nearby. I’ve done a couple now from the Final Fantasy series already, so it felt like a must to get into this one. I talked about how much of a game-changer Final Fantasy VI’s story was, but really I think Final Fantasy IV was the first game I recall that provided this sort of complex, movie-like plot. This piece was a bit tricky to conceptualize though, as I always preferred Cecil’s dark knight design to his paladin change in the second half of the game. I did try to capture the vibe of some of the forested areas of the game, and definitely enjoyed painting the chocobo peeking around the corner.

This Cecil and Rydia Final Fantasy IV oil painting was done on 12″ X 12″ oil paper and was my 279th overall. I’ll follow my standard format here, which is to share an image of the painting, the Instagram time lapse, and some verbiage specific to the piece. Then, I’ll embed the YouTube discussion video, including another brief writeup on the topic, materials used, and some other hopefully useful information. I’ll wrap the post up by sharing the YT Shorts time lapse and some other similar painting videos.

Final Fantasy VI Painting | Video Games Inspiring Art

Final Fantasy VI Painting | Edgar and Sabin Coin Flip

Final Fantasy IV is an interesting entry in the series from my perspective. The first game is truly special in my eyes – when I was a kid, perhaps the most excited I’ve ever been about a game was when I received it as a Christmas gift. Japan had several more in the series that didn’t come to the US, and the second mainline Final Fantasy game we saw was Final Fantasy IV. I remember being very excited about it, but for some reason nostalgia-wise it loses headspace to some of the other classics. It really was a great game though, and as I mentioned at the top, it’s the first game I recall that had a real, somewhat complex narrative beyond “there’s a bad guy, you have to beat him.” This game really expanded on the “hero’s journey’/growth style story, where the protagonist Cecil transforms from a conflicted and guilty dark knight to a redeemed paladin, giving form to his coming to terms with what he’s done. His relationship to Rydia has some depth as well, as he destroyed her village and takes responsibility for her care.

As for the painting, I knew Rydia and Cecil were the two I wanted to focus on. The full cast of characters is great, and there are others I might want to paint another time like Kain, Cid, Tellah, and Edward (the “Spoony Bard”). Rydia’s design in the painting was relatively easy to deal with, as there are plenty of references available. However, in reviewing some of the Cecil paladin images out there, I wasn’t a huge fan of some design aspects – weird spikes and other aspects didn’t seem to fit with the scene and overall feel I wanted. So, I tried to incorporate some aspects of his look, like the lighter armor and highlights of purple in his face and armor. It’s been a lot time since I’ve played the game, but for some reason I remember a ton of forested areas. With this painting, I tried to capture the forest vibes that stick in my mine so heavily.