Final Fantasy VI Painting | Celes and Ultros Opera Scene

The eighth oil painting in my classic RPG series is another scene from Final Fantasy VI – can you tell this is an all-time favorite? Obviously an amazing and memorable game, and with such a large cast of characters, it’s challenging to include all of my favorites. This painting features one of the (many) protagonists, Celes Chere, a former General for the Empire who joins the heroes. I wanted to do something related to the opera house scenes, but in all honesty, I couldn’t remember more than bits and pieces. From memory-refresher Google searches, I know Locke is involved, and there is a plot to lure the airship Captain Setzer. And then comical villain octopus Ultros shows up to foil everything. I’m really happy with how the painting turned out, but I wasn’t able to accomplish everything I wanted with the scene.

This Celes and Ultros oil painting was done on 12″ X 12″ oil paper and was my 278th 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

Getting back to the intent with this piece, I mentioned some other characters from the actual game’s presentation of the plot. Originally, I thought to at least get Setzer somewhere, perhaps looking shocked. But I couldn’t figure out a good arrangement of characters – where to place all three to see facial expressions in a way that actually makes sense. This really speaks to the challenges I have with composition sometimes. Occasionally, I don’t even think about it much and just throw characters into whatever place first pops into my mind. But here, I couldn’t get that far. So, eventually I settle on this arrangement, but I had in mind to put Locke in the background behind the octopus. Maybe ready for battle, or possibly startled. I’ll embed some timelapses of the painting process below – you can see I originally had a sketch of him in the back, but as I was painting, I decided it didn’t work, so I just painted over him.

Chrono Trigger Painting | Magus and Schala in Zeal Palace

For the sixth oil painting in my classic RPG series, I painted another scene from Chrono Trigger, this time featuring Magus and Schala in Zeal Palace. The Zeal plotline in Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite parts of the game, following Magus’ journey through time and his search for his sister. You could argue that Schala’s role and Magus’ journey are central to the entire story, shaping events and connecting time periods. I felt like this would be a great scene to attempt, but a challenging one. Trying to capture the right emotional tone was definitely at the front of my mind when trying to figure out the composition.

This Magus and Schala Chrono Trigger oil painting was done on 12″ X 12″ oil paper and was my 281st 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.

Chrono Trigger Painting | Frog, Marle, and Chrono

Final Fantasy VI Painting | Video Games Inspiring Art

So, I wanted to mention a few more things on the story here, but fair warning – there will be spoilers. The game is over 30 years old, so maybe spoiler warnings aren’t necessary. Anyhow, as I mentioned at the top, there is a certain emotional impact I wanted to convey with this piece that should fit the story to some extent. You first meet Magus in Chrono Trigger as a villain; he’s the leader of an evil faction at war with your allies, and is responsible for the curse that turned one of your party members into a frog. It turns out, Magus and his relationship to the primary antagonist of the game, Lavos, is much deeper than you first realize. Magus is actually from another time, and seeks to destroy Lavos and save his sister. Although Magus and the party’s presence in his original time creates an alternate time line that eventually allows the world to be saved, he is unable to save Schala, who sacrifices herself to save everyone.

This was a pretty heavy hitting plotline when I was younger; perhaps heavy concepts like this weighed into some of the lasting impact these 90s RPGs had on me. I wanted to try to incorporate some of these impacts into this artwork, which was admittedly a tall order. I thought about some of the art from others that I’ve found emotionally compelling, and how I might use the composition to tell the right story. My basic concept was to place Schala, young Magus (Janus), and his cat Alfador in the soft but direct light. And then to place older Magus, watching himself and his sister, more in the darkness, but with a small warm light source behind him to represent the hope he might have from his plan to save her.

Final Fantasy IV Painting | Rydia, Cecil, and a Chocobo

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.

Final Fantasy VI Painting | Edgar and Sabin Coin Flip

My classic SNES painting series continues with this piece, which is another Final Fantasy VI painting, this time featuring the Figaro brothers Edgar and Sabin. These were two of my favorite characters from the game, although in fairness I could potentially say that about most of the cast from Final Fantasy VI. This scene in particular, where the brothers flip a coin to determine who becomes king, is incredibly memorable. This is my second Final Fantasy VI painting, which clearly continues to be a source of inspiration. I’ve already shared one Chrono Trigger painting, and have another in the works. This all started with a Secret of Mana painting, and at this point seems like something that will continue!

This Edgar and Sabin Final Fantasy VI 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 | Celes and Ultros Opera Scene

Chrono Trigger Painting | Magus and Schala in Zeal Palace

Before discussing the painting itself, a bit more on this scene. When this game first came out, most games had relatively bare-bones stories. But this game, as with Final Fantasy IV, had a fantastic story with complex, varied characters. In this scene, Edgar and Sabin’s father has passed away, and they decide to flip a coin to determine who will be the next king. Edgar wins the coin flip, and so Sabin is then free to leave and travel the world. Later, we find out that Edgar actually used a two headed coin to rig the flip. On it’s surface, this sounds shady, but the truth of it is that Edgar did this to free Sabin from the burden. Edgar knew Sabin wanted his freedom, and so made sure his brother had it. This was such a compelling, multi-layered twist that just knocked me off my feet as a kid.

As I mentioned at the top, I’ve really gotten emersed in these classic RPG paintings. Initially, I didn’t have anything like this in mind; I just painted the Secret of Mana piece without intentions to do more. But then I started thinking about Final Fantasy VI and wanted to do something for that game…and inspiration kept hitting me. I’ve done six now and have several more in mind! As long as this inspiration keeps hitting, there’s certainly no reason to stop.

Chrono Trigger Painting | Frog, Marle, and Chrono

My series of paintings based on classic SNES era games continues, with this piece featuring Frog, Marle, and Chrono from Chrono Trigger. As with the first Final Fantasy VI painting, it was kind of hard to exclude some of the characters and I may have to do another one. This Chrono Trigger scene turned out decently, but I do think it was kind of a step down from the previous one, and of the five I’ve completed as of this post, it is probably my least favorite. However, it’s solid overall, and is certainly in line with my style and is a fine interpretation of the characters.

The oil painting was done on 12″ X 12″ oil paper and was my 278th 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 IV Painting | Rydia, Cecil, and a Chocobo

Secret of Mana Painting | Game Art in My Style

Before I get into a discussion of the painting itself, I feel like I should talk about the original game. All of these classic games that are part of this painting series were important to me when I was a kid; they were my favorites and I played through each multiple times. Interestingly, I also have a history with most of these games of sketching the characters when I was kid…but not Chrono Trigger’s characters. I’m not completely sure why that is, but it may be related to just not liking the art style enough to want to emulate, which was not the case for Secret of Mana and the Final Fantasy series designs. However, Chrono Trigger itself as a game was incredible, perhaps with the strongest story and cast personalities of them all. And the music was unbelievably good; perhaps the greatest game soundtrack of all time.

As I mentioned above, as of this post, I’ve done five total classic RPG paintings in the last month or so; two inspired by Final Fantasy VI, one Final Fantasy IV, one Secret of Mana, and this Chrono Trigger piece. For some reason, I feel like the Final Fantasy paintings really turned out the best, while the Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana had some challenges associated. With the Secret of Mana one, in the moment I thought it looked great. But as the painting has dried, the deep sap green blends I used (with ultramarine blue and umbers) have gotten extremely dark. Almost to the point where I can’t see the subjects very well. I’m glad I scanned it much earlier, because that one looks vibrant and bright; not as much like it does now.

There are quite a few things I like about the piece though, despite the hiccups. It does look like my version of these characters probably would or should, largely based on how the other pieces are stylized. I also love the nature background here. That is not unusual for me, as I’ve long had a Bob Ross-influenced soft spot for nature scenery. But I think the vibe here matches the game well, especially some of the earlier areas of the game near the starting village and similar locales.

Art Catalog App and Stat Dashboards

Aside from building low-code apps, I am also a huge fan of dashboards. I have been a spreadsheet fanatic for decades, and have talked about that in older posts about Excel functions and pivot tables. But more recently, I’ve come to love building dashboards (mostly using PowerBI) – after all, a dashboard is basically just like a shareable pivot table. Which makes it a great thing in my book. Anyhow, I’ve been exploring some other solutions beyond PowerBI and came across Google Looker Studio which I’ve really enjoyed. Since Google is so pervasive and you can pretty easily create and upload spreadsheets via Google Sheets, it’s got a low barrier of entry skill wise and is free to build and deploy.

I created a couple of charts based on the same dataset I used for my app, which was very convenient. I haven’t explored some of the premade options as much in Looker Studio, but it does have some cool things like connectivity to YouTube, Search Console, and Merchant/Ecommerce Data. I’ll probably experiment more with these later down the road when I have time.

Note: If you’re viewing this post in an email (for subscribers) or the WordPress Reader, you may not be able to see the embedded app or dashboard. I think it can only be viewed in a browser, either on mobile or desktop.

Final Fantasy VI Painting | Video Games Inspiring Art

Continuing a series of oil paintings inspired by my favorite classic SNES era games, this piece features characters from Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy III in the US). I painted a few of the protagonists; Shadow, Terra, Mog the Moogle, and Locke. There were others I wanted to include, but with such a huge cast of characters, it was hard to fit all of them. Along with this piece, I had some thoughts on how video games can provide artistic inspiration from the game’s art style or even just as a natural imaginative or creative byproduct. Much like the first painting I did in this series, I really enjoyed this Final Fantasy project and definitely look forward to more.

The oil painting was done on 12″ X 12″ oil paper and was my 277th 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.

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  Oil Painting Commission

With the first painting in this series, which was based on the Secret of Mana, I had a history of sketching scenes or drawing characters from the game. This piece inspired by Final Fantasy 6 is a similar story – I’ve drawn some of these characters throughout the years, even sharing some sketches here on this site many years ago. Yet again, as with Secret of Mana, I have long been inspired by the original artist who designed the art and characters, Yoshitaka Amano. In fact, one of my most prized hardcover art books is the series called The Sky, which is a three volume set that includes Amano’s artwork from the first ten Final Fantasy games. It’s an amazing book and highly recommend it to any fan of the series – I’ve found that art to be inspiring, and it certainly spurred me to want to paint these characters again.

Beyond being inspired by the original art and designs though, I’ve found that my enjoyment of games like this also more broadly triggers creative and imaginative interest. I played most of these games when I was a kid, and I’ll admit they consumed a lot my headspace at the time. I remember when I was probably around 7 or 8 years old, the hype I had for the first Final Fantasy game was extremely high. I sketched characters based on video game magazine images in anticipation, and then once I got the game, filled notebooks with drawings – adventures I imagined and scenes from daydreams. Although it’s not quite that level, I think the concept still holds for me. I’m still a daydreamer, and things that I love (or loved decades ago) still provide a spark of interest and inspiration.

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Once again calling back to the Secret of Mana painting that kicked this off, I love how this one turned out. So far, I have enjoyed this classic RPG video game painting series quite a lot, and have found the results to be very satisfying. For this Final Fantasy VI scene, I knew from the start that I wanted to center this around Terra Branford holding a magicite crystal, with Mog the Moogle next to her. Terra always felt like the main character to me (despite the ensemble cast), and when I was a kid Mog was a personal favorite who I always tried to keep in my party. I also wanted to include Locke the treasure hunter (the guy on the right) because he was so central to everything and was another favorite. Originally, I had thought about including both Shadow (the assassin/mercenary guy on the left) and his dog, but I couldn’t find space for the dog Interceptor. Unfortunately, I had to leave out a few others like Edgar and Sabin who I also really like, but there just wasn’t space on a 12″ x 12″ painting surface for them all.

Once I had the basic concept in mind, I didn’t really have to worry much about the color selection or tone of the piece. With the Secret of Mana painting, I had to venture a bit farther from my comfort zone and try to brighten the colors up from my usual palette. I tend to be a very muddy, brown-gray painter, heavily leaning into my umbers, siennas, and ochres. I felt like my standard color palette fit pretty well with major parts of Final Fantasy VI, like Narshe and some of the industrial and “steampunk” vibes the game sometimes gives. I felt like just approaching this with my typical color selections would work pretty well. I did have to heavily reference the character art though, because I wanted their clothing to be recognizable – in that case, having access to artbooks like The Sky was tremendously valuable!

Nature Scene Backgrounds in Portraits

I have long been fond of including nature scene backgrounds in my portrait oil paintings. I think this preoccupation started with my enjoyment of Bob Ross’ Joy of Painting; like with many painters, his show provided some inspiration for me to start painting in the first place. He always made painting seem more accessible, and to someone without training or experience, that is just the message I needed to motivate me to pick up a paint brush. So, even though my favorite subject matter is portraits of people, I love including some alla prima Bob Ross-style backgrounds in my painting scenes.

I have many examples of nature backgrounds in my portraits already shared to this site, but the featured painting in this post is of a somewhat concerned-looking man in front of a seascape and village. This portrait study was painted on 12 X 12 oil paper and was my 243rd 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.

Shop link related to this piece:

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  Concerned Man with Oceanside Village Landscape, Giclee Art Print
  $85
  Buy via Etsy

This painting is one of my favorites, and is currently framed and hanging in the room where I paint. Sometimes it’s hard for me to separate the experience of creating a painting from the actual end result, and maybe this piece exemplifies that. It’s probably not one of my most technically sound pieces; it’s unbalanced (heavy on the left side) so the composition isn’t great, and there’s definitely some un-subtle things I’ve done particularly in the main subject’s face. However, I had a lot of fun painting it, and the vibe was great while it was in process. I had my family in the room with me, we were chatting about nonsense, and having a nice Saturday afternoon. This is sort of feeling draws me back to painting often, and is certainly a factor that makes me like this painting so much.

The video I’ve embedded above in this post is all about repeating these concepts simply for the joy of it – you’re doing it not with an objective in mind, but rather just because it’s fun. Although I do paint with a purpose (to improve and develop particular skills), ultimately enjoyment is the reason that trumps them all. Painting is just a fun thing to do – I mentioned this nice painting vibe that links with the in-the-moment experience, but the act of painting itself is so enjoyable just by itself. Bob Ross’ show had a completely on the mark name! There really is a lot of joy to be found in painting, as cheesy as that could be to say out loud.

Here are some additional details of the video I shared on YouTube, including materials used and some other information. I’ll also embed the Shorts video, although it’s kind of redundant to the Instagram Reels post, as I typically just share the same edited vertical time lapse on both platforms. The main video I’ve embedded is around the usual amount, and is similar in format and presentation to some of the others I’ve done (also linked after the timestamps).

Secret of Mana Painting | Game Art in My Style

I recently painted the characters from the classic SNES game Secret of Mana – this was such a fun project, but definitely came with some challenges. The original game is one of my all-time favorites and triggers fond memories, particularly when it comes to the music. The game’s art featured a more cartoonish design though, so I had to try to adapt the characters to fit my oil painting style. I’m not really a realistic portrait artist, leaning more in the impressionist direction, but I do prefer a more grounded depiction over the animated look. So, painting this game art in my style was an interesting challenge that ended up being very enjoyable project to explore.

The oil painting was done on 12″ X 12″ oil paper and was my 270th 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.

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I’ll talk more about this painting of course, but first I thought I’d discuss art styles and provide some context on this game. I have a fantastic book called “The Art of Mana” with illustrations from the series. The book says the original artist responsible for the Secret of Mana’s visual style was Hiroo Isono, who had a distinctive and fantasy-world look to his artwork. You can definitely see the impact his style had on the game and its unique atmosphere. Beautiful landscapes and certainly iconic designs, but his cartoonish depictions of people don’t really fit as well with my approach. Another artist of note here is Terada Katsuya – he created some Secret of Mana illustrations for Nintendo Power magazine back when this game was released which were some of my favorites. Katsuya has a style that I really like, which exists somewhere in the stylized comic genre. It doesn’t exactly overlap with my style, but I do love his approach for these characters.

Although it’s the first time I’ve painted Secret of Mana fan art, I have done a couple of sketches in the past (January 2021 and February 2018). Honestly, they weren’t very good, and I hesitate even sharing them again. But I think it’s interesting context to compare to this new painting. And looking back, it appears I’ve painted kind of a hybrid of two previous sketches I did. That was not my intent, but I have to admit I am not especially creative when it comes to artwork, so it tracks that I would lean heavily on something I’d done before.

All that to say; there is somewhat of a history here for me. Both with the game itself and as a fan/enjoyer of other artwork related to Secret of Mana. With the foundation of interest in place, and about three years and 270ish oil paintings under my belt, why not try a painting in my style?

I love how this painting turned out. As with any of my enthusiastic feelings about my own art, I have to caveat by saying of course it’s no Rembrandt. But I like how it turned out quite a bit – I feel the final result captures the vibrant fantasy environment in a faithful way. And the characters feel like an effective transition of style from the cartoon or anime like depictions into my standard sketchy and muddy impressions of the original characters. I often do not plan well for any of my paintings (if I even plan at all). But for these, I did have to think about this ahead of time and figure out what I wanted to do. I did not do any sketches, but I certainly looked at the original designs for colors and distinctive features, and considered how they should be arranged. The scene itself is supposed to show the trio in serious discussion in front of the Mana Tree, perhaps with Primm (the woman in pink) wanting action, Randi the hero in blue discussing, with Popoi the short one in green maybe trying to get their attention.

Planning for a Larger Oil Painting

I don’t typically plan much when I paint – I prefer just finding a reference or concept, throwing some textured paper onto my easel, and diving right in. However, I was given some large canvasses, and so I started thinking about what I might want to do with them. My go-to painting surfaces are 12″ x 12″ or 9″ x 12″ textured paper by Strathmore, which is nice for many reasons – they’re easy to store, not to painful on my supplies, and large enough to give me room to work. But with a 24″ x 30″ canvass, I figured I’d need to do some planning for a larger oil painting. I decided a practice piece was in order! That it might make sense to try out a possible scene or configuration that could be expanded for the larger surface.

I kept this one a bit simpler than I want to in the larger piece; this is just one subject with a boat, but the larger one would feature multiple people in the area. This portrait study was painted on 12 X 12 oil paper and was my 252nd 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.

Shop link related to this piece:

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  Woman at Lake with Feet in the Water, Giclee Art
  $85
  Buy via Etsy

This practice run I think went decently overall. Part of the inspiration for the subject came from a series of previous paintings I’d done of a woman sitting on a dock – I was hoping to repeat some of the shadow and natural figure positioning from the original one a couple of years ago. I didn’t quite get the same impression from this one, but I do think it worked in a few specific ways. I really like the use of shadows, and the ripple effect in the water is satisfying. I also really like the composition and nature in the background, which I think makes this a victory in terms of planning. A larger painting surface will benefit details in the main subject, but also allow for additional subjects around in the foreground and background.

Some other topics explored in the embedded video: Discussion on the materials (my usual paper and these canvasses I got my hands on), more thoughts on this practice painting, and changes I anticipate for the larger one. I do have to place a huge asterisk on this entire situation though – this video and painting were done way back in May 2025, six months prior to this post, and I still haven’t started the larger one. In fact, I haven’t even really considered it! Truth be told, I’m more than a little intimidated about painting something so huge. And I know it will take a significant amount of time to work on it, which I don’t really have a surplus of. So…hopefully some day, but not today.

Here are some additional details of the video I shared on YouTube, including materials used and some other information. I’ll also embed the Shorts video, although it’s kind of redundant to the Instagram Reels post, as I typically just share the same edited vertical time lapse on both platforms. The main video I’ve embedded is around the usual amount, and is similar in format and presentation to some of the others I’ve done (also linked after the timestamps).

Skeleton Pirate Painting

This oil painting of a skeleton pirate was a commission earlier in the year (or maybe it was even at the end of 2024) that I thoroughly enjoyed. I tend to stick with specific themes and subjects, mostly in alignment with both things I enjoy creating and specific concepts I want to practice and improve upon. So, most of my paintings are alla prima portraits of people, often head and shoulders views or figurative poses. But this commission was a more unique, inspired concept! The client specifically wanted a skeleton painting, in keeping with a theme of art she collects. I thought a skeleton pirate would be cool, and she was intrigued – so off I went on this fun twist.

Although the painting itself was some months ago, the timing is kind of nice to share this. The fall season has arrived (even though it’s still quite warm in Texas), and Halloween will be here before we know it! So I thought it would be good to share this one. This portrait study was painted on 12 X 12 oil paper and was my 242nd 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.

Shop link related to this piece:

• 
  Pirate Skeleton Portrait, Giclee Art Print
  $85
  Buy via Etsy

I think this pirate skeleton turned out really well, and the client who commissioned it seemed to be very happy with it. I am a bit neurotic when it comes to my own perceptions of my artwork, so sometimes self-doubt creeps in when I turn over a commissioned piece. But with this one, I definitely felt more confidence and think the final painting was well received. I’m honestly a bit surprised the skeleton’s skull worked out, as I’d never painted one before. The colors weren’t overly complex though (mostly umbers, ochre, and titanium white) and, since I’ve painted so many normal heads, I’m definitely used to the structure. At the time, I was very much in a “painting the ocean” phase, so the background was something I was getting repetitions with as well. There’s just something relaxing about painting water.

Some other topics explored in the embedded video: More on the similar facial structure, and how painting so many people made the skull a logical exercise with common approaches. The video itself explores more on facial anatomy and how the portrait approach was similar to so many I’ve done before, despite being such a different looking subject.

Here are some additional details of the video I shared on YouTube, including materials used and some other information. I’ll also embed the Shorts video, although it’s kind of redundant to the Instagram Reels post, as I typically just share the same edited vertical time lapse on both platforms. The main video I’ve embedded is around the usual amount, and is similar in format and presentation to some of the others I’ve done (also linked after the timestamps).

Three Year Painting Anniversary

It’s hard to believe it’s already been three years since I started learning to paint! I first picked up a brush back in September 2022, and since then I’ve painted 260 portraits. Although my pace has slowed considerably from that somewhat insane first year pace (averaging more than 10 a month), I’m glad I’ve continued to steadily continue this hobby. The fact that I paint alla prima and finish most of them in one session really helps – it keeps subjects fresh and lets me get more repetitions on certain things I want to practice.

The featured painting in this post seems like a good way to celebrate that 3 year painting anniversary, as it brings together a couple of concepts that I’ve found tricky – painting shadows and subject reflections in a mirror. I think I was finally able to achieve a result I like with this piece, implementing both concepts together. A nice way to celebrate this milestone! This portrait study was painted on 12 X 12 oil paper and was my 260th 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.

Shop link related to this piece:

• 
  Mirror’s Reflection and Shadow, Giclee Art Print
  $85
  Buy via Etsy

After I finish a painting, I don’t usually dwell too much on it since my mind has likely moved on to the next project or idea. But since this piece is more significant as it lines up with a milestone, I found myself thinking about it more afterwards, and wondering how it compared to the other yearly milestones. I went back through my historical paintings to find some good comparisons, which was a bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I actually designed an artwork inventory app that I use to keep track of things, so browsing yearly paintings in September wasn’t difficult. However, I didn’t paint much that month in 2024, and the limited pieces I did weren’t ones I like. So I had to lean slightly into October there. Anyhow, I included a timeline below that I think shows the progression and perhaps how my paintings have evolved.

It’s interesting that my own particular style and look does show through in all of these paintings, but definitely still develops and changes over time. I’m honestly not entirely sure how to describe my own painting style (especially difficult since I don’t have any formal art training). But maybe you could call it “muddy quasi-impressionism” or something like that. I actually tried to ask ChatGPT to describe my art style and it gave much more information than I was expecting, calling it “impressionistic realism, with visible looseness in brush strokes, a focus on how light falls, color interactions, and sometimes softer edges. Realism with painterly nuance.” Regardless, I do think there has always been a significant brown-beige component (the muddiness I mentioned) that has carried forward over time.

Because I’m a sucker for data, I do keep track of all of these paintings in the app I built. It includes the dates of course, but also financial tracking (if it was a commission), subjects, mediums, sizes, and all the other interesting data points I might want to make a chart about. I could resist sharing the “paintings over time” chart, since I’ve been talking about the last three years of learning to paint. As I mentioned at the top, my pace has clearly slowed significantly. But I like to think my attention to detail and conscientiousness has at least increased slightly. So, as I said, the style is still similar and I think carries through…but hopefully composition is better.

Enough data, now let’s get to some videos. As usual, I’ll embed the longer YouTube discussion first. Then I’ll include some relevant details along with the very quick time lapses.

Some other topics explored in the embedded video: This one features a discussion of some of what I’ve already mentioned here. Themes like changes over the last three years, but also some specifics on concepts I’ve had difficulty successfully capturing in a painting, like realistic shadows and logical mirror’s reflections. I feel like this painting got to both of those concepts much better than previous attempts, making it a great way to bring together the last three years.

Here are some additional details of the video I shared on YouTube, including materials used and some other information. I’ll also embed the Shorts video, although it’s kind of redundant to the Instagram Reels post, as I typically just share the same edited vertical time lapse on both platforms. The main video I’ve embedded is around the usual amount, and is similar in format and presentation to some of the others I’ve done (also linked after the timestamps).

Maybe a bit redundant with the YouTube video embedded, but thought I’d also try WordPress’ VideoPress functionality to see how it handles large 4K/HD uploads. Here’s the full version of my conversation about this three year anniversary of my starting this oil painting portraiture hobby – it includes all the discussion I mentioned above about my goals with shadows and reflections.

Painting Bright Light | Woman’s Backlit Silhouette

I continue to be fascinated with light in oil painting. Shadows, reflection, light sources – it’s all so interesting to experiment with. In this portrait, I wanted to paint a bright light behind the subject and attempt some of the blue and yellow highlights that can accent the edges of light sources. I also sought to push my limits a bit in terms of rendering a silhouette, but not a completely dark one without details or color differences.

I definitely think this one is better than some of my earlier experiments with light and heavy contrast. In older attempts, I often muddied the piece and overdid it with raw umber. It certainly takes practice, and although this one is an improvement, I can see there is much room to grow. This portrait study was painted on 12 X 12 oil paper and was my 251st 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.

Shop link related to this piece:

• 
  Woman’s Silhouette with Backlight, Giclee Art
  $85
  Buy via Etsy

I try not to dwell too much on completed paintings – typically my mind has already moved to something else almost as soon as my paint brushes are at rest. But I find it’s nice to at least consider a couple of basic points on the “what I did right” and “how could I improve next time” ledgers. With this one, the good is certainly freehanding the figure post and rendering the subject details. It’s a fine portrait overall, just looking at the subject. And I think creating a high contrast silhouette while still maintaining distinct color hues is a victory. On the other side, I may have needed a bit more subtly on the highlights, particularly around the light itself. And I should have taken more time to actually create a round circle! It’s very uneven in terms of shape. Overall, I like this one a lot though.

Some other topics explored in the embedded video: This one features a discussion of some of the concepts I already introduced, like those blue and yellow edges to bright lights. I also talk about contrast challenges, which I’ve explored in other videos and posts. And I share some thoughts on fabric and trying to depict light shining through, which is also something that I find fascinating. In a sense, this is a part two (or even part 3) exploration of these topics – I’ll link some of those prior videos below.

Here are some additional details of the video I shared on YouTube, including materials used and some other information. I’ll also embed the Shorts video, although it’s kind of redundant to the Instagram Reels post, as I typically just share the same edited vertical time lapse on both platforms. The main video I’ve embedded is around the usual amount, and is similar in format and presentation to some of the others I’ve done (also linked after the timestamps).

Ragamuffin Cat in a Basket Oil Painting

Although I mostly focus on portraits of people, I also practice animals occasionally. I’ve mostly painted dogs and cats, and the most frequent professional model I use is our family cat. The featured oil painting in this post is of our little Ragamuffin cat sitting in a basket. This was painted alla prima in somewhere between an hour and 90 minutes, which I think turned out well. Likenesses are kind of tricky for animals, but I think this really does look like him.

I think I’m getting better at rendering fur, which I find challenging, but I can see there’s still a lot of room for improvement. I think this is just something that needs more practice repetitions. This cat study was painted on 9 X 12 oil paper and was my 245th 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.

Shop link related to this piece:

• 
  Ragamuffin Cat in a Basket, Giclee Art Print
  $80
  Buy via Etsy

I use a lot of browns and grays in all my paintings, but when I paint animals, I expect (and hope) that this will work to my advantage. I haven’t found that to be true though really. In fact, I think my tendency to use linseed oil to thin paint when needed actually shows up more in these pet portraits. It leaves a pretty distinctive look, and I think I need to pay more attention to those areas, going over them again with darker/thicker paint.

Some other topics explored in the embedded video: This video features a brief discussion of my approach to painting animal fur, which I’ve mostly done for portraits of cats and dogs. I also mention my relatively light experience painting pets and other animals, but that I have improved a bit since I first started with oils. I also talk a little about a second approach I’ve seen other artists use, which is intriguing and appears very effective – layering thick paint across the entire surface, then wiping it away with a paper towel.

Here are some additional details of the video I shared on YouTube, including materials used and some other information. I’ll also embed the Shorts video, although it’s kind of redundant to the Instagram Reels post, as I typically just share the same edited vertical time lapse on both platforms. As I mentioned, it was my 245th total oil painting and was originally done in February 2025. The main video I’ve embedded is around the usual amount, and is similar in format and presentation to some of the others I’ve done (also linked after the timestamps).

🎨 Here are some other painting walkthroughs:

• 20 Minute Oil Painting
• 18 Minute Oil Painting
• 15 Minute Oil Painting
• 13 Minute Oil Painting
• 12 Minute Oil Painting
• 10 Minute Oil Painting
• 9 Minute Oil Painting
• 8 Minute Oil Painting
• 5 Minute Oil Painting
• 2 Minute Oil Painting

✏️ Here are some pencil drawing videos:

• 10 Minute Pencil Drawing
• 4 Minute Pencil Drawing
• Sketching Evolving from Painting
• Pencil and Oil Paint Compared
• Colored Pencil

Practicing Specific Weaknesses | Portrait Oil Painting

I tend to practice and repeat specific themes when it comes to portrait painting. This seems to manifest itself most often with concepts or features that I view as weaker areas. Earlier in my painting journey, probably for the first 150 or so oil paintings, I honestly really needed to practice everything. So, I didn’t narrow in as much on specific concepts or weaknesses, because arguably everything was somewhat of a weakness – I worked on broad concepts, like basic blending, building shapes freehand, and how colors interact. However, I feel like now I’ve gotten my feet under me to some extent painting portraits with oils. And so I tend zero in on certain things I want to develop.

One big emphasis lately has been natural sitting poses – I’ve had some spectacular failures (at least in my view) and some solid efforts at the end of 2024 and start of 2025. My hope is to keep working at depicting subjects in normal relaxed poses until those solid efforts mostly overtake the rough ones. I have also wanted to work on hands a bit more, and the painting featured in this post was an effort to practice both referenced concepts. This portrait study was painted on 12 X 12 oil paper and was my 236th 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.

Shop link related to this piece:

• 
  Woman in a Comfortable Chair Legs Crossed, Giclee Art Print
  $85
  Buy via Etsy

This piece turned out to be one I really like, although for some reason I’ve had trouble getting a really exact true-to-life scan of it. I actually tried to make this the “last painting of the year” in 2024, which is apparently a difficult task for me, because it always seems like I plan everything out and then somehow slip another one in just before the year ends. The YouTube video I recorded featuring the painting’s time lapse is all about how it exemplifies a bunch of goals for things I want to practice in 2025. Of course, I ended up painting two more right at the end of the year, so it’s technically not even my 2nd to last of 2024. But, it was a good effort towards practicing (and not hiding or obscuring) hands. And I think the sitting pose turned out exactly as I planned, which made for good effort towards practicing those natural looking poses or positions.

Some other topics explored in the embedded video: As I’ve mentioned previously, 2024 was my 2nd full year of painting, and my number of paintings decreased significantly compared to the 1st year. But I averaged more time on each piece, which I think is a natural progression. I also finally invested in some painting equipment upgrades like a real easel, large glass palette, and more of my favorite brushes. And I started some new side projects, like building an artwork catalog/transaction tracking app, and started writing another book. And as I said, the featured portrait exemplifies some of what hope to push towards more in 2025 – improving composition, detail, and figure aspects that I’m weaker on.

Here are some additional details of the video I shared on YouTube, including materials used and some other information. I’ll also embed the Shorts video, although it’s kind of redundant to the Instagram Reels post, as I typically just share the same edited vertical time lapse on both platforms. As I mentioned, it was my 236th total oil painting and was originally done in December 2024. The main video I’ve embedded is about 7 minutes, and is similar in format and presentation to some of the others I’ve done (also linked after the timestamps).

🎨 Here are some other painting walkthroughs:

• 20 Minute Oil Painting
• 18 Minute Oil Painting
• 15 Minute Oil Painting
• 13 Minute Oil Painting
• 12 Minute Oil Painting
• 10 Minute Oil Painting
• 9 Minute Oil Painting
• 8 Minute Oil Painting
• 5 Minute Oil Painting
• 2 Minute Oil Painting

✏️ Here are some pencil drawing videos:

• 10 Minute Pencil Drawing
• 4 Minute Pencil Drawing
• Sketching Evolving from Painting
• Pencil and Oil Paint Compared
• Colored Pencil