{"id":298376,"date":"2026-02-23T16:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/298376\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:57:14","slug":"this-veteran-concept-artist-ditched-digital-to-go-back-to-oil-painting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/298376\/","title":{"rendered":"This veteran concept artist ditched digital to go back to oil painting"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK-based artist Fred Gambino has been working as an illustrator and concept artist for five decades. That’s included work for people like Mazza Animation<\/a> Planet, Out of order Studios, Framestore, Codemasters and Cartoon Network.<\/p>\n

Originally working with acrylics and oils, he switched to digital art software<\/a> before reverting to water-soluble oils on board, paper and canvas. Here are four examples of his work, including from his Dark Shepherd novel.<\/p>\n

Breel and the Dismantler<\/p>\n

\n

\"Oil\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fred Gambino)<\/p>\n

This painting in oils on canvas features Breel, the main protagonist from his Dark Shepherd novel, which was published by Newcon Press. There is a process video on Fred’s YouTube<\/a> channel.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Junker<\/p>\n

\n

\"Oil\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fred Gambino)<\/p>\n

Fred painted this piece in oil on primed board. \u201cI wanted to paint as loose a picture as I could. As far removed from my early \u2018every-nut-and-bolt\u2019 paintings as possible,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Titan Sky<\/p>\n

\n

\"Oil\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fred Gambino)<\/p>\n

This was an oil commission based on an early digital image that marked Fred’s transition from traditional to digital. It’s on a 30\u201dx30\u201d on canvas. Again, there’s a video on YouTube.<\/p>\n

Roche Limit I<\/p>\n

\n

\"Oil\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fred Gambino)<\/p>\n

This was inspired by a scene from Fred’s second novel Reality Rift, number two in the Dark Shepherd trilogy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You can see more of Fred’s work on his ArtStation profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up to Creative Bloq’s daily newsletter, which brings you the latest news and inspiration from the worlds of art, design and technology.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX<\/a> to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.<\/p>\n

Get the gear<\/p>\n

Want to experiment with the same medium for your art? See below for deals on water-soluble oil paints. Also see our guide to the best oil paints<\/a>, the best oil paint canvas<\/a> and the best oil paint supplies<\/a> in general.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK-based artist Fred Gambino has been working as an illustrator and concept artist for five decades. That’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-298376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}