"ADMIRAL DONALD DUCK"
©️ Disney 2025
©️ Disney 2025
Oil on linen | 48 × 36 in. (122 × 91.4 cm)
Referencing a 1939 Donald Duck short called Sea Scouts, this painting is inspired by late 19th-century military portraiture.
Here, Admiral Donald Duck stands as an esteemed, confident leader, posing with pride—completely unaware of his crew in the background as they spiral into chaos. This dichotomy is still funny to me.
A note on design: I didn’t want the tip of Donald’s spear to feel too menacing by being sharp. This sounds contradictory, but it was important to me that Admiral Donald, though a figure of influence and authority, didn’t have any threatening elements to his character. It would have betrayed the humor of the situation if he did. So, I softened the brushwork when painting the spearhead, and it worked out well. Such softness can help things feel like they’re receding into the background, too, so softening the spearhead also gave the spear itself a bit more depth.
Timelapse for Admiral Donald Duck
