Painting

“Painting is a science, and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may not a landscape be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but experiments?” – John Constable, Royal Institution lecture, 1836

Painting governs the creation and application of anything involving paint. Beyond crafting standalone works of art, painting can be used to bring color to walls, and nearly any surface capable of holding a coat of paint. In a world drained of color, this is no small thing. Painters provide warmth to the soul, and a well-placed splash of color has been known to lift the spirit and restore a measure of sanity to those who take the time to notice it.

Painters can also produce Pigment in bulk, a resource relied upon by several other crafts, but the primary draw here is the art itself. We have future plans to expand what this skill can do, but for now, Painting is, at its core, an aesthetic skill built for roleplay.

Getting Started

To begin, you will need to acquire some Painting Supplies. These can be crafted from either Engineering or Survival Crafting, or perhaps purchased from the Public Market.

Progression from there is simple. Painters can raise their skill by producing Pigment, which other crafts rely on, especially Printing, using several methods to mash plants and other natural resources down into usable color. Additionally, you can begin working on paintings right from the start, needing nothing more than some cloth and wood to get going.

Painting Jobs

Painting jobs are available in the city in the makeshift Painters Studio located just beyond the Scrapyard. At the start, the studio has a Daily Job for gauranteed skillgain to work in the studio to supplement your progression, and then once you've gained at least 25% skill, they will offer a Work Shift to Painters to touch up painted walls around town for a Scrip.

Creating a Painting

To begin, craft a canvas in Small, Medium, or Large size from the crafting menu, with availability determined by your Painting skill. This produces a blank canvas. Double-click the canvas to automatically open the Quality Crafting menu, where you can name the painting and add a description for flavor and roleplay purposes.

Within the menu, use the arrows beneath the picture graphic on the left side to cycle through available subjects to paint. The options available to you are determined by your canvas size, your Painting skill, and additional modifiers such as background, other skills, or Sanity-related themes.

Like other Quality Crafting projects, the painting tracks progress on a bar alongside a list of required materials. Filling the bar upgrades the piece to its next quality tier, and this process takes time and follows standard Quality Crafting rules for skill gain.

Once you're happy with the painting's appearance and quality level, click Complete Project to create the final item. You can change the painting's orientation using command '[Flip' to help it conform to mounting on a wall, and the color of its frame can be customized afterward using wood stains.

Viewing a painting grants a once-per-day Sanity restoration, which can be triggered on [look or Context-Click. The restoration scales with the painting's crafted quality. This is not a meaningful bonus, nor is it meant to be a resource players hunt down or optimize around, just a modest, pleasant reason to stop and appreciate someone else's craft.

Paint Cans & Their Uses

At 40% Skill, a Painter can craft a Paint Can, which can be filled with Paint to use both for interior decorating and more... avant-garde artistry!

Prepping the Paint

To begin, you'll need Paint, and a Paint Can, both crafted from your Painting Supplies. To fill the Paint Can, just double click on it, then choose the paint, which will fill it with uses. This basic step will provide you the primer, but to choose a color other than white, use a Dye Tub on the Paint Can to pick a different color. Once you're happy with the color, double-click on the Paint Can and it will open the menu to begin.

Painting Rentals

To use this feature, you must be the Owner or Co-Owner of a rental property. Using it outside of such a space will be treated as Graffiti. To begin, stand in front of the drab wall you'd like to spruce up and double-click a readied Paint Can to open the menu. Be mindful of the direction you need it to face, then select your preferred graphic. When you hit Apply, you'll be prompted to select the wall.

While anyone can apply rudimentary paint jobs to walls within their Rental Properties, skilled Painters are capable of far more intricate designs.

Graffiti

Anyone can throw up Graffiti, and it actually raises the Skulduggery, but Painters have access to more design options, and when paired with Skulduggery can allow for more graffiti sites to be up at once.

Characters with Forensics can gleam clues from the graffiti to determine who may have made it.

To remove Graffiti, just use water on the graffiti to clear it.

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