It was later when I discovered the work of Syd Mead and Ralph Mcquarrie that I really got hooked on sci-fi and mechanical designs. ![]() I did gouache paintings of desolate swedish landscapes. Viktor Antonov‘s designs are of course very amazing but when it came out I wasn’t very in to sci-fi yet. I love the Half Life games, but I wouldn’t say they’re such a big influence. Can you tell us more about this side of your work and about your influences? The ambient retrofuturism, the remains of a old giant war and the feeling that the people live their quiet suburbian life amongst these impressive machines is really interesting. Your works remind the atmosphere and design of the ‘Valve Corporation’ video games (Half-life, Portal, …) but I think that your digital paintings go even further. Since I started working digitally I have slowly learned to find that natural feeling that I once had using real paint and real brushes, and it’s due to getting more familiar with the software and getting used to the wacom pen. I started traditionally with watercolor and gouache. Have you experienced an evolution in your style during the years? Once I have this I start over from scratch in much higher resolution and work up a detailed painting layer by layer with brushes that are very natural and textured. Sometimes I don’t use photos and start from a blank document but the idea is the same – to work up a sketch that contains everything important – the designs, the composition and the general palette. I use these as a starting point – I tweak the colors and sometimes sketch ideas on top of them – trying to find mechanical designs that fit the rythm of the landscape. I think I’m getting closer to 45 000 pictures in my archive. I have tonnes of photos that I’ve been taking for 14 years now. I always carry my camera and let the real world around me inspire me. I have pretty detailed ideas about everything I depict, but I’m not sure my stories are better than the stories people watching the pictures create themselves.Ĭould you tell us more about your process of creation? I have written some about the universe I portray, I collect ideas and notes, coupled with childhood memories and moods. ![]() So, Simon, what is that incredible universe all about? Is there a precise general Story behind your artworks or does it belong to us to create our personal tales? I would say that the places I grew up in and around are the singular most important influence to my work. I continued to spend a lot of time out on Färingsö though, since most of my friends lived there.ĭo you feel the influence of these places on your work? I lived there until my teens, when my parents divorced and I moved back in to town with my mother. 1987 my family moved to a house in the rural setting of Färingsö, a large island located in lake Mälaren, just west of Stockholm. I spent my first three years in a suburb of Stockholm called Sundbyberg. I was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 20th of 1984. Where and when were you born ? and where have you lived since? Interview with Simon Stålenhag, Swedish illustrator, great digital painter.
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