Carl G Sills / Art Novelist©

Interviewer: What inspired you to make the leap into fine art, specifically oil portraiture?

Carl G. Sills: I’ve had the privilege to continually nurture. I guess I consider myself an ART NOVELIST. As I paint, I’m also metaphorically writing a thousand-page book behind each painting in my head. I’ve had the privilege to use my talent for art direction, design, copywriting, website design, and brand building at a very high level, which is extremely fun and cool, but I’ve always been drawn to fine art. I started drawing and painting as a child. Creativity has always been central to my work as a Creative Director, and it continues to influence my work as a UX Product Designer.

In my career spanning over 25 years in the fast-paced, strategic world of branding, communications, and design, I started to feel primarily drawn toward something more intimate, more personal. In my corporate life, I basically tell stories manifested in the form of a brand, a product, or a service in a way that appeals to a target audience. Now, with oil paintings, portraits, and "art novels," I have the opportunity to focus on telling the story of individuals—their unique essence, their humanity, their spirit. It’s a natural progression for me, a way to continue telling stories, but in a much more personal and tactile way. Honestly, I haven’t really changed; it’s simply a different medium of expression.

Interviewer: Your corporate career spanned so many industries—fintech, retail, entertainment, and non-profits, just to name a few. How did that diverse experience influence your approach to art?

Carl G. Sills: Working across so many industries taught me the power of versatility and adaptability. Each sector had its own language, its own way of communicating and connecting with people. In a sense, that’s what I do with my paintings and portraits—each person I paint has their own story, their own language, and it’s my job to bring that to life on the canvas. The same research and strategic planning that helped me understand a brand or a market also helps me delve deeper into my subjects, capturing not just their likeness, but their essence. Whether I was working on a financial product or a hospitality brand, the end goal was always connection, and that’s the core of what I do now in my art.

Interviewer: You speak a lot about capturing the essence of your subjects. How do you approach that process when you’re painting someone’s portrait?

Carl G. Sills: It’s very much a process of immersion. Before I even pick up a brush, I spend a lot of time with the subject, understanding or imagining their personality, emotions, background—anything that might inform how I approach the portrait or painting. In many ways, it’s like the research I used to do for a branding or product design project, only now it’s on a much deeper, human level. Once I have a sense of who the person is or what the story is going to be, only then do the sketches happen, which eventually materialize into paintings.

Interviewer: It sounds like you’ve carried over some of the skills from your corporate career into your artistic practice. Would you say that’s true?

Carl G. Sills: Absolutely. The skills I developed—strategic thinking, leadership, attention to detail—are still very much present in my art. When you’re a Chief Creative Officer, you have to balance creativity with business goals, and you’re always thinking big picture while managing the small details. In painting, it’s not all that different. I’m still balancing creativity with precision, vision with execution. The only difference is that now my focus is entirely on the subject in front of me, and the goals are more personal than business-oriented.