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’
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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
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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
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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
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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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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
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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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