Hi everyone! There is definitely a learning curve to this - hopefully you can see that this is one went better than the first try.
Being this painterly is just a lot of fun, and I don't care if it gets "enough" likes right now. What is enough anyways? ^^
Wishing you a great end of the week, take care.
Simon
2023-04-27 19:29:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
Here are a few sketches that got further than just a random scribble which got thrown out immediately. I'm not sure yet which one I'll actually paint first, but mainly thought about keeping the composition as simple as possible without being boring.
Have a nice week!
2023-04-25 13:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
As you can see, I'm still experimenting around with "how to paint", but not so much as to what I paint. Hopefully, this looks pleasing to you even though it feels a bit like being a toddler who's taking his first steps.
The sensation of painting loosely feels great though, as it is kind of the opposite of what I did my whole life. This effort to gain balance is probably best to ultimately know what you'd like to do - to test out both sides of the spectrum.
H...
2023-04-22 17:17:05 +0000 UTC View Post
So here it is - the return to lineart (that some of you have awaited for long). The composition of this painting was interesting to create, I tried thinking about the large masses when creating it. Sheep are somehow a symbol of peace for me, as long as there is some grass to eat, they'll be happy. I should probably learn from them ^^
Anyways, to those that hope that lineart will be by style from now on - I don't know. To those that think I'll return to pixel art with the next pieces, I...
Hi all!
The feeling of posting this here is quite scary - I don't know how many of you follow me because of my pixel art rather than my art in general. I hope to still have you like my art for WHAT it paints. I'm trying to illustrate this scene with lineart for silhouettes, and then actually painting the landscape.
The thought of changing my style again is scary, and I don't even know if this means that I'll actually change it. I just know that if we have subtle "whispers" ...
2023-04-13 17:03:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi all! Painting things that are more mystical of sorts feels right. On the danger of the scene being too "sugary" - it was fun nevertheless.
Over the years, there have been many artists who got accused of only painting "eye-candy". I personally never understood where this notion of "art should make this exact moral statement" or it "should be realistic its scenes" (not talking about the style).
All art is illusion. The artist chooses what they want to create, there ...
Hi everyone!
Yesterday was a long and emotionally draining day. After feeling pretty burned out, sitting into a room, listening to fantasy music and just sketching away for an hour did wonders for the soul. Looking at the Hildebrandt Brothers artworks made me realize that I'd like to paint more in the realm that feels like it's coming from a fable. That doesn't mean it has to be from an actual fable, but at least feel more dreamy than what I paint right now.
To explain the sketch - t...
2023-04-06 19:32:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello everyone!
This was a piece that took so long in its takeoff that it was only yesterday morning when I contemplated about posting an update for you, so that you know that I'm still alive. At first, there were several attempts to hit the mood with gloomy weather, then nighttime, then sunny like the end result shows. After almost throwing the complete painting overboard but realizing I like the idea, but not the planned lighting, I decided to stick with it and somehow finished it ra...
This scene started out exactly like most of my ideas - starting with a sudden idea, followed by a sudden and fast sketch, and then feeling like the idea is finished somehow. Usually, the painting starts immediately after this. This time, I forced myself to explore at least some slight variations with it first before committing to the painting part.
My aim is to make the weather cloudy and grey, and then have the windows and lantern send out warm light.
I recently saw some of...
2023-03-27 19:02:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
Painting this was a constant struggle between trying out brushes that are rather soft, and those that are hard. There are pieces of pixel art that look so amazing exactly because they don't make soft transitions between their colors, but rather let the human mind make that transition. In the end, as you can see on the barrel or rocks, I went for the soft version. Striking the balance between these two is probably where the gold lies.
Anyways, recently, I feel th...
2023-03-23 19:54:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi!
Here is another small cottage, as there are never too many of those.
I'm thinking about making it a bit more secluded, with more trees hiding the house a bit more. Deciding the basics in the sketch makes sense in my opinion, but not every sketch that works should be followed rigorously.
We'll see where it takes me in the end - that is also one of the reasons why painting is such an amazing journey!
Have a nice week!
Simon
2023-03-19 12:43:52 +0000 UTC View Post
This one unfortunately misses the sketch and process, I was experimenting with my style a bit more and chose to return to lineart for a bit again, which is why I used the same layout for this painting as one of my older pieces. When experimenting with style, it is always important to stay in the comfort zone regarding to what we draw or paint.
Ultimately, the lineart was finished, yet it just didn't "catch" me, which is why I returned to pixel art with a pretty high resolution again and...
2023-03-12 18:18:05 +0000 UTC View Post
The next wallpaper pack is here! Hopefully you'll enjoy this one.
Simon
2023-03-10 08:21:20 +0000 UTC View Post
So uhm, here's a bit of a style change. Not completely different to be sure, as this is also still pixel art (760x545px), but I definitely wanted to get more painterly with this. I just loved going into the impressionistic side with the colors, especially in the clouds and foreground.
I am currently thinking about adding lineart again as well, but we'll see where it leads, I'd definitely have to do a way bigger canvas for this.
I hope you enjoy this one!
Simon 2023-03-08 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
I want to share with the next sketch. You will probably be really surprised by my style change with this one, I want to get more painterly, to enjoy the colors more, get more expressive and make broader brush strokes. In short, pixel art made the transition from drawing to painting for me, and I'm excited to show you where the next piece leads to.
Hope you're having a wonderful week!
Simon
2023-03-05 11:14:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Few know of the old gardens for Hesinde, the Goddess of Healing and Wisdom.
It is said that in moonlight nights such as this one, bathing in the small basin unlocks your the insight to what you what you kind of knew, but could not grasp for years.
As you can see, I decided to go for a night scene. it has been a long time since my last night scene - and I feel like I could definitely improve since then. Looking forward to my next piece, even though I'm currently stuck in that gap o...
2023-03-01 17:54:34 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
I felt the urge to paint a garden somehow, and learning to paint characters is something I can definitely get behind when it means painting statues^^
Currently, I'm thinking about turning this into a night scene though, but we'll see. I plan to make the statue carry a transparent gem, and I'm looking forward to paint it! Otherwise, this painting won't have too many elements in it, so nailing those colors is of utmost importance.
Anyways, wishing you a great ...
2023-02-24 21:03:12 +0000 UTC View Post
As the sun began to set behind the jagged peaks of the mountains, Aela arrived at her hometown nestled deep in the heart of the range. She had been away for three years, honing her craft as a gem cutter in the bustling cities of the lowlands.
Aela, inspite of the opportunities in the city, had always known that she would return to her hometown someday she knew she would be able to offer her expertise to the village and continue the tradition of gem cutting that had been a p...
2023-02-19 08:09:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone! Looking forward to paint this one, it will be a lot of fun trying to realize the blue shadow on the wall near the lake. The scene should show a crater lake in the mountains, and most of it will be in shadow except for the house.
As you probably noticed, there is also a character there - I am still struggling with the thought of having him there or not, but I don't want to rule it out.
Anyways, I hope you have a great weekend!
Simon
2023-02-10 21:59:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
As usual, this one started with the sketch that you can see, but then I finished it so fast that I don't want to post the sketch first, and then wait another 3 days to post the full painting - so here you go!
Really enjoy painting these small items, it's just a lot of fun thinking about the actual details of something that is not too big or important.
I hope you have a great week!
Take care.
Simon
Hi everyone!
So this one took a 180 :D
Originally, I really loved the piece with the cliffs in the background, but the more I painted (and I was pretty much done with), the more it felt like the piece had no space to "breathe" - it felt confining to me.
So as I learned to sometimes just trust my gut, I completely threw the idea overboard and started painting clouds. I wanted them to have a ethereal feeling, as the place in the painting is the home of a legendary healer - th...
2023-02-01 11:07:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
This will be another daylight piece. I recently thought about adding a close foreground to my paintings - the danger is that they could turn out to be too distracting, catching too much attention, but it is worth the risk as they make you see more depth in the piece.
Looking forward to paint all of this, I connect way more with this piece than with the last one 😊
Take care everyone!
Simon
Hi everyone!
This is one of the first times for me of not liking the piece too much. Sure it's not bad, but I somehow miss the connection to it that I usually have with my pieces.
The colors were cool to paint though, loved giving it those subtle hues.
This is a temple for Peraine, the goddess of harvest and hunting.
Anyways, I hope you still like it despite me not being too enthusiastic about it.
Have a great week!
Simon
2023-01-25 16:12:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
Time for another daylight scene again! The pillars and rocks in the high grass will be white, which leaves a lot of room for strong blueish and yellowish colors on them.
Painted the temple elements in red here so you can actually see them, sometimes I feel like a sketch is so clear to me but somebody else won't recognize anything ^^
Anyways, have a great week!
Simon
2023-01-22 13:58:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
Got another wallpaper pack for you! Thank you for being here and watching the Islands of Argenta unfold before you!
Enjoy!
Simon
Hi everyone!
Argentians understand the word "temple" differently than us. For them, a temple is any place that is separated from everyday life, a place that was built or is used to gather, pray or share wisdom.
Absolutely loved working on this one, the amount of stones intimidated me at first, but it all comes down to creating an illusion in the end, and not painting out every single small stone by itself. The idea of the standing stone had to be ditched, it was either too light, ...
2023-01-15 13:32:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
No idea why humans are so fascinated by standing stones, but I'm definitely one of them.^^
This painting will be done in a soft evening light, maybe even most of it will be in the shadows to keep it sombre.
This is 500x350px, so quite large again. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!
Have a nice weekend!
Simon
Hello there!
This time there is no process of this painting, I'm sorry. I actually started painting this way larger than it is now and on one single layer, then transformed it into being much smaller. It is now still 600x420 pixels large, which is quite big compared to my usual pieces. I pretty much rushed through most of the groundwork and completely forgot to document the progress from time to time then. Next time, I'll have a process documentation again, don't worry.
I real...
2023-01-09 14:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
Thank you so much for traveling with me on the art journey for yet another month.
This will be something to experiment on. I actually already started painting this one, trying to go to "normal" digital sizes and kind of oilpaint the whole thing. I then realized midway that I would be able to find a midground between getting more painterly and still have it be pixelart, so I'm painting it in a rather high resolution now, twice as big as some of my earlier pieces ...
2023-01-06 21:20:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone!
Wanted to share with you a new artwork that feels a bit like returning home to me, as I hope it does for you as well.
It also taught me some new techniques, showed me that painting mountains is fun and somehow made me want to paint snow. I know I say this all the time, but my next piece will actually be a snowy piece, the sketch is almost ready and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you.
Happy New Year! I hope the year brings you exactly what you need!