In this inspiring digital painting study, Daniel Ibanez dives deep into the world of Nikolai Fechin (1881-1955), a Russian-American master artist known for his incredibly dynamic impasto brushwork and visceral textures. His expressive style and emotional brushstrokes make him an enduring influence, especially for artists seeking to balance realism with raw painterly energy. Using Rebelle painting software, we attempt to capture the essence of Fechin’s style in a modern way.
Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/UA3-MJFGYuE
Setting the Stage in Rebelle
To echo Fechin’s iconic texture-heavy technique, the canvas settings in Rebelle need to be dialed in for maximum impact. For this study, the texture scale is set to 100%, with a Gesso Rough canvas selected for that extra grit. Impasto depth is cranked up to 10, and paper texture is increased to enhance the tactile, sculptural look. These settings simulate Fechin’s dry-brush oil style, achieved historically by leaching oil from his paint with blotter paper, leaving behind thick, dry pigment. Let´s try to mimic this effect in digital painting with Rebelle’s unique toolset.
Gesture and Energy
A key component of Fechin´s approach is an emphasis on gesture and strong body movement. Once ready with the dynamic reference image, start with bold and dark strokes to establish the composition’s foundational rhythms. This stage is more about feeling than precision, focusing on motion and presence.
Color, Texture, and Exploration
Rather than relying on color-picking from the reference, try to mix color manually to mimic traditional oil mixing, using Rebelle’s naturalistic blending. The goal: to energize the entire canvas at once. In the tutorial video, Daniel Ibanez blocks in background tones and skin values early on to create harmony across the piece.
Switching to Rebelle’s “Paint & Blend” mode (shortcut “3”) allows for a beautiful interaction between new paint and what was already on the canvas. This technique creates rich transitions, mimicking Fechin’s nuanced interplay between smooth modeling and abrupt, textural edges.
Fechin's Influence on Form and Finish
Fechin’s portraits often blend soft rendering with knife-sharp textures and chunky impasto. This can be recreated by using Multicolor and Dirtybrush settings in the Oils properties in Rebelle, giving the strokes complexity and realism. Much like traditional oil painting, Daniel deliberately leaves some areas raw while others are carefully refined, striking that delicate balance between chaos and control.
From early block-ins to subtle shaping, the process of modeling form—especially on the face—should be a slow layering of lights and darks, almost like faceting a gemstone. This holistic buildup mirrors Fechin’s own method of constructing volume with planes and value shifts rather than outlines and flat shading.
What Fechin Teaches Us
Nikolai Fechin’s art is a masterclass in texture, expression, and boldness. Rebelle, with its unparalleled ability to simulate real-world media, offers artists a chance to explore this kind of painting in a digital space without losing any of the tactile magic. Whether you're a traditionalist or a digital enthusiast, Fechin’s work reminds us that it’s the energy in every brushstroke that brings a painting to life.
Happy Painting,
Escape Motions Team
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Daniel Ibanez is a fine artist and illustrator who works out of beautiful Colorado. He grew up plein air painting mountain landscapes and western imagery. He has a love of painting the human figure, portraits, and landscapes. Daniel has worked on films, comics, video games, and tabletop games. While his range of subjects is diverse, all of his work is rooted in his traditional art background. He has been an oil painter since he was 13 years old. His work covers a wide spectrum of subjects, from sci-fi illustrations to alla prima landscapes. He has a digital portrait painting class with Domestika and a growing YouTube channel for tutorials and demonstrations. Find him on Instagram and say hello!
