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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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This post features a step by step walkthrough of my portrait oil painting approach. Although I’ve shared a few walkthrough videos on YouTube of my process, I wanted to create something that was a bit more sequential and organized, as well as a bit longer, to really capture how I approach these alla prima portrait oil paintings. It just so
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The vast majority of my oil paintings are done on Strathmore 400 series oil paper, which is a treated linen that feels somewhat rigid like canvass. I am very much a creature of habit, so part of it is that I’m used to how it feels and how paint acts on it. But it’s also pretty cost effective, and storage
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I had an itch to get some practice with dark oil painting color blends, partially inspired by wanting to improve on a prior portrait painting that featured tons of darkness with small bright highlights. I thought I’d take a shot at similar concepts again, really pushing myself to practice some blends. With this piece, I used a few different mixes
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One of the painting highlights of 2024 for me was getting to participate in the Postcard Art Exhibit (PAE). It’s a charity event that is hosted in different locations, and the one last year was fairly close to me in McKinney, Texas benefiting the Millhouse Foundation. I don’t have much experience with art shows, but this was a ton of
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I’m currently experiencing an internal struggle with the start of my process. Most artists I follow start their oil paintings with a background wash or base layer of color, which helps eliminate the bright white from their canvass or paper and potentially makes blending easier. But, for most of my 240ish oil paintings, I have started my loose outline without
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Sometimes I just paint without any specific reason or goal, but with this piece I actually had a couple specific things I wanted to practice. I was talking with some colleagues about my appreciation for John Singer Sargent’s paintings, particularly Lady Agnew of Locknaw. I love the way Sargent captured the nature of light on fabric, and a nature instinct
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Almost from the start of my quest to learn to paint with oils, I’ve been captivated by expressive eyes in portraits. It’s something I’m drawn to just when I’m admiring paintings by other artists, so I naturally gravitated to wanting to learn how to emulate the same effect. Unfortunately for me perhaps, I learned quickly that it requires a subtle
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