The First Horseman

The process

From first sketch to finished painting.

1. First post · February 27, 2026

   

   Here is a collection of some of the thumbnails created to illustrate Conquest. A Heroic and Charismatic King mounted atop of a white steed. A crowd of townsfolk are enthralled in celebration at his presence. In the distance looms foreshadowing. Which of these compositions catch your eye?

2. Stage 2 · February 27, 2026

   

   Since the beginning of the idea of painting conquest, way back before the fellowship even started, I knew Jackson Wrede was the man for the role. He has that vintage old Hollywood Handsomeness. A strong presence with a charming smile. The Goal for illustrating Conquest is to represent a presence of security, beauty, truth, and love. With little resources on hand, I created a make shift crown out of packing foam and a golden chocolate wrapper. In the rare case that I find AI useful and guilt free is moments like this where it helped me turn my shit arts and craft crown into something better representing.

3. Stage 3 · February 27, 2026

   

   Sifting through the photos I took of Jackson. I decided to do some quick studies of a few. The expression in this painting will be important. A dashing smile? A stoic stare? I can't decide.

4. Stage 4 · February 27, 2026

   

   Venturing out during several of my personal weekends, I sought out Horses to pose and photograph. It is not an easy task getting up and close to horses without connections. I am very thankful to both fellows Emma Garay and Agustina Forest for going out of their way and asking favors to get me in front of these beautiful horses on separate occasions. It is tricky to capture a horse in the position I imagined. My best bet was to record video and scrub through the footage looking for that perfect gesture and lighting combination. I have hours of footage to look over.

5. Stage 5 · February 27, 2026

   

   While refining the idea and composition of this painting. I have been spending some time studying my new references and some horse anatomy. Thank you to local sculptor, Elijah Evenson, for hooking me up with anatomy books and resources. I look forward to studying the workings of horses more to strengthen the accuracy and presence of the white horse front and center of the painting.

6. Stage 6 · February 27, 2026

   

   Welp... I have sold my soul and resorted to the use of AI. Shown here in these 3 images are only a selection of the AI slop I have generated and tore my eyes out sorting through over the past few weeks. Trying to get a better visual based off my ideas and compositions. It is frustratingly difficult getting it to generate what you want. Trial after trial after trail... Posting this to be as transparent as possible on the work that is involved in the evolution of this painting. More to come.

7. Stage 7 · March 10, 2026

   

   To better help familiarize my self with the colors of the future scene and to get comfortable with the nuances of Jackson's face, I started a small study of Conquest wearing a crown. Painting always gets me in a meditative state and it puts me in the mindset to think through problems. That is my excuse of getting some brushes wet while I further investigate my narrative and composition.

8. Stage 8 · April 23, 2026

   

   Here is the general composition agreed on. In order to sell the idea I used my photoshop skills and a collage of AI generated images as well as hand painting digitally over the image to create this mock up. With the project approved, The next step is to rid the image of AI and create my own vision while still keeping the general key points of the composition.

9. Stage 9 · April 23, 2026

   

   Gathering boat loads of references from hiring models and capturing my own photoshoots, to searching out images of armor, castles and all things medieval.

10. Stage 10 · April 23, 2026

    

    Composition variations. I did these by digitally painting in photoshop. Using my own references and poses to build the composition from scratch. The composition is getting close, but it needs more. More dynamic movement and energy. Time to experiment and solve this problem. Not sure who is reading this, if anyone. It would be cool to receive comments and input from those out there following along. If only the comment section worked... ;)

11. Stage 11 · June 19, 2026

    

    Color studies. Taking Inspo and color notes from some of my favorite Miyazaki Films. Keeping the 60/30/10 rule in mind.

12. Stage 12 · June 19, 2026

    

    Charcoal block-in using soft vine charcoal. Using a simple crisscross grid to help me place the important elements. I plan to paint directly over the vine charcoal without any sealant. Allowing the drawing to wipe away as I go and letting me adjust and redraw as needed. My goal is to keep it fresh without becoming a slave to matching the reference image 1 to 1

13. Latest · June 22, 2026

    

    Continuation of the initial block-in