Paul Corfield initially applied to art college and study technical illustration but turned down his offer to pursue a career in an engineering firm which would later prove to allow him to become the artist he is today. With computers taking over a few years later, work as a technical illustrator would have proved to be difficult. Whilst working at the engineering firm, Paul met his future wife Sara who has supported and helped him throughout his career as an artist. Sadly, Sara was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder which would affect heavily upon Paul’s family and as an artist. However, 5 weeks after the birth of their first child Sara made a full recovery and four years later, Paul and Sara had their second child. In 2002, Paul was offered an opportunity to take a voluntary redundancy from the engineering firm which would allow him to push his career as an artist for which he received full support from his wife.

Paul Corfield tends to either have sketching days or painting days which he rarely mixes, preferring to focus his creative energy. When sketching, Paul puts his headphones on and fills his head with his favourite music which enables his ideas to flow. When stuck, Paul changes the style of music depending on the style he is trying to achieve. Sketching days can vary from focusing on one drawing all day or scribbling one after the other. Once Paul is happy and perfected his composition, he will then project his sketch onto the canvas in order to copy accurately the lines and shapes which he originally has in the sketch. This a technique inspired from his early style of photorealism. Once onto the canvas made of smooth french linen, Paul adds a red/brown wash in order to get rid of all the white and to give a base before painting over. He then proceeds to scrub painting onto the canvas using a limited amount of colour palette which he builds in layers and blends using a cloth. This technique can go on for 4 to 5 layers until Paul is confident that his painting is complete. If so, he then signs it and will not go back to rework it.