Michael Hussar was born 1964 in Southern California. He began painting when he was 6 years old, although he had been drawing before that.[1] Influenced by his father who was a casual painter, he would often paint alongside him. He later attended the Art Center in Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Trained by painters Richard Bunkall, Dwight Harmon, and Judy Crook; and draftsmen Harry Carmean and Burne Hogarth. Taught Portraiture-Head Painting for almost 10 years at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA and continues to teach portrait painting workshops in the United States and Europe. Michael Hussar is known best for his oil paintings. Taking influences from the work of the old masters, he uses a combination of rococo, baroque and other classical styles combined with contemporary subject matter. Instead of canvas, Hussar prefers to work on gessoed wood panels to create paintings, as opposed to a surface mixing technique.[2] He prefers to work from dark value, to light, focusing on atmosphere before moving to detail. Many of his most well-known pieces, comprise a majority of white works with touches of red. In 2008 Hussar's painting, Hans Memling was featured in the group show In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor that took place at the Laguna Art Museum from June 22 - October 5, 2008. His clients include Kat Von D, Madonna, Warren Beaty, Francis Ford Coppola and Leonardo Di Caprio. Micahael's work can also be found in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. .