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Welcome. I'm Thomas Schmall, currently living in Amsterdam. On this page you can see what I do in art (digital and traditional) and video games. Below is my blog, where I post sketches, news and random stuff. You can also visit the picture gallery, with all the work archived.

If you want to buy originals check out the info page. You can also commission me to paint your portrait. And I like to paint people on events - if you're interested, or have other ideas, you can email me.

Exhibition Thomas Schmall 2010 Portrait Ilse Portrait Dirk Portrait Maroesja

March 2, 2010

Anna 2 – finished

Filed under: oil — Tags: , , — Thomas @ 11:06

I showed the WIP earlier – here is the finished version. The digital version doesn’t really show that I used gold paint in some patterns, was a lot of fun.

Anna 2 - oil on 50x40cm linen canvas

Anna 2 - oil on 50x40cm linen canvas

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February 24, 2010

Gaming Should Stay Real

Filed under: games — Tags: , , — Thomas @ 22:44

Hm, so this is my first post about games. A friend advised me not to mix too many topics here, but I think all these things interconnect. There is some advantage in bringing them together. Having some bigger plan there :) so I’ll keep at it.

Below you see a talk first posted on fury.com – mainly about Facebook gaming. That has become huuuuge business. Jesse Schell mentions some stunning numbers. He’s a very good speaker and makes some predictions about the future that are not far off.

(Taken from a fox @ fury blog entry).

His main point is that many recent gaming successes, including Facebook, are based on small psychological tricks. He paints a picture of the future, where we are surrounded by those tricks – with actual game designers affecting our behavior with social gaming included everywhere.
Games will leave the virtual realm – breaking through into our real life. He mentions that people look for more “real things and authenticity”.
Which brings me to my point, which he doesn’t mention: These games are anything but real. They are fake – and they are frauds.

Why are those Facebook games so successful?
A: They are played a lot because games like Farmville and Mafiawars make you think you have to fight your friends for points. And if you have more points, you feel better. Is there any real value there? I don’t think anyone is a better person because he has more points. So actually – these games make us care about things that are not real at all.
B: They are financially successful because they pull peoples money out in new ways. Michael Arrington (a once insider) writes about it – the title of the article gives the idea: Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem Of Hell. Interesting reads – in short: Those games scam you into using your credit cards. Or into giving away your personal details for virtual cash, which they then sell to advertisers.
In the talk above Jesse Schell mentions that kids are led by tricks to make their parents pay money for online games – he is well aware that its shady, but doesn’t seem to care. Rather he wants to be as soon as possible on the money making train.

And I think I can answer Schells question “What is it now that people are demanding reality, demanding authenticity”. It’s not really because “we’re cut off from nature”.
When I stand in front of a super market shelf, then I feel like I’m in a war. It’s me against those companies. I want good food, and they want to sell me cheap chemicals. They will lie to me (with advertisement) and they will use psychological tricks (putting smiling cows on the steak package) – and I somehow have to try to look through it. Not really fun I must say.

And I don’t think games should become like that. It’s abuse of people – of our social twitches. And just as the government tries to limit gambling, as it makes people addicted and loose money, so should these games be watched. Unfortunately the business is moving so fast, legislators will have a hard time catching up.

The game industry should stay honest. We should not abuse our power over peoples minds to make cheap cash. At some point people will look through it – and we will have lost their trust, just as the food companies and banks did.
And in the long term – as Umair Haque convincingly argues – I think honesty will pay out in cash too.

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February 16, 2010

Work in Progress Anna2

Filed under: work in progress — Tags: , , — Thomas @ 00:26

Here is another work in progress picture. It shows my progress a little bit. I work quite different than other people in the studio I paint at: I usually do the background first. It allows me to see a preview early about how the art will turn out. Details are easy to change – but changing the composition would be hard.
I have two more sessions for this one, so still enough time to finish it.
The lamp is a very interesting part – that’s why I’ve spent some work on it already. It is made of black metal, but because the light blends the viewer, it is probably not black to the eye. Such things are hard to see because the logical brain part tells you “this is black” – and even harder to paint. I’ll still try around with it.

Anna2 Work in Progress

Anna2 Work in Progress (oil on 40x50 canvas)

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February 2, 2010

Exhibition 2010 Announcement

Filed under: news — Tags: , , , — Thomas @ 21:10

Art Exhibition Thomas Schmall Flyer

Now I can finally make the official announcement for my first full single artist exhibition. I’m very excited, still lots to prepare. Please join me for the opening – everyone is welcome. Spread the message if you know people who will enjoy this. The more the more fun it will be :)

I will write some more updates. On the side you see the flyer. I will print this one shortly and spread it in Amsterdam.
Below are the details. Any questions or ideas about this? Let me know.

Opening:

Sunday 14th of March – starting at 16:00.
Everyone is welcome – there will be drinks and snacks!

Exhibition Times:

Friday 12th of March to 7th of April 2010.

Open every Friday and Saturday from 11:00 to 17:00 o’clock.

Location:

A gallery in Amsterdam in the Baarsjes area.

Galerie de Stoker
Witte de Withstraat 124
1057 ZH Amsterdam


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January 27, 2010

New Portrait: Lake

Filed under: portraits — Tags: , , , — Thomas @ 15:00

A new portrait from last week; her name is Lake Montgomery, she is a singer living in Amsterdam (I like her music btw). Did it two and a half hours; it worked – new record ;)

Also I’m off tomorrow to the Global Game Jam, where you make a game in 48 hours. I’m really curious how it will work out – I do not know yet my teammates, so I hope for some luck there. This means no painting this weekend, and maybe I’ll die when trying to carry my 20 kilo PC there. But if if all goes well I can post a game here… exciting!

Lake (portrait), oil on linen canvas 50x40 cm

Lake (portrait), oil on linen canvas 50x40 cm

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January 24, 2010

Work in Progress: Yola

Filed under: work in progress — Tags: , , , — Thomas @ 23:38

An image I’m currently working on – I thought it might be interesting to show an in between step:

Yola - Work in Progress - Oil on canvas, 40x60

Yola - Work in Progress - Oil on canvas, 40x60


Luckily the model wants to pose once more in a couple of weeks – so I can tweak and adjust.

Comments and critiques are very welcome. I want to work on the hair more, just giving it more time. And when I’m at it, I can maybe change the body a bit. Even if I won’t change it massively: Its good when I have like two weeks rest in between, gives me a “fresh eye” for it.

And actually – upside down it looks nice. Maybe I’ll hang it up that way if it all works out :)

Yola flipped - Work in Progress - Oil on canvas, 40x60

Yola flipped - Work in Progress - Oil on canvas, 40x60

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January 21, 2010

From Dreams to Reality

Filed under: Uncategorized, science — Tags: , , , , — Thomas @ 03:45

Recently I found this talk by William Domhoff about dreams. It is always great when researchers talk about such foggy topics with so scientific methods: Just facts, numbers and logic. It’s not only that this helps to get a clearer picture of what is really going on – but exactly this dry approach leads to often very surprising and nearly magical surprises.

(Btw: I found his dream studies after looking at his amazing work about politics – his insights from “Who Rules America?” are just as astonishing.)

I love his ending remarks (watch it first, if you don’t like spoilers) – which start with a quote by Havelock Ellis: “Dreams are real while they last. Can we say more of life?”

An surprising idea – that maybe there is not really more to dreams than we think, but maybe less to reality. I am thinking about this a lot recently, I feel there is something to it.

There are some other things I wonder about. For example why these two worlds seem so different. It is not just replaying life. I dreamed a lot of stories recently, and while I find them amazing, none of them would work in a movie. I also aim at making my pictures more “dreamy” – but dreams don’t seem to give static normal images one could just paint down.
Here is a go at it by Arnold Böcklin (1827 – 1901) that makes me feel its worth trying. He was asked by an old lady to paint a “picture to dream oneself in”. The result is “Die Toteninsel” (“Isle of the Dead”). I took this photo in Berlin, where one of the four existing versions hangs. I can’t quite figure what makes it look like a dream, but it does totally work.

Arnold Böcklin   (1883) - Die Toteninsel (Isle of the Dead)

Arnold Böcklin (1883) - Die Toteninsel (Isle of the Dead)

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January 13, 2010

Yay for Snow in Amsterdam!

Filed under: oil, paintings — Tags: , , , — Thomas @ 13:48

As promised yesterday – and with a nod to Jacob Maris. :D
Was really cold but worth the pain. Lets hope the snow stays longer (or new fluff joins in), so that I can make at least one more.

Amsterdam (Prinsengracht) in the snow - oil on canvas (40x50cm)

Amsterdam (Prinsengracht) in the snow

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January 12, 2010

The Values of Jacob Maris

Filed under: art findings — Tags: , , , , — Thomas @ 05:54

Jacob Henricus Maris (1837 – 1899) is a Dutch artist I found in a gallery in Assen (little town in Holland).
This particular image I find amazing. The day I discovered it, I’ve put it on my desktop. After that I went to sleep – and I dreamed I am there. I was in a world painted in this style – I was walking around analyzing how the light behaves. Very inspiring dream.
I’m sure it will show in my works – actually I’ll post one probably tomorrow. In any way it got me really motivated to paint outside.

Town - by Jacob Maris (1837-1899)

Town - by Jacob Maris (1837-1899)

The sky nearly seems to glow out of that picture, wouldn’t you say? I think its his impressive use of values (a topic I think a lot about recently, I had neglected it way too long).
For one it works because he made the contrast strong – he resisted the normal feeling to make the city bright and detailed as it looks to your eye when looking straight at it. Interestingly though, he also did not make it very dark, but uses a very narrow value spectrum – that is the important trick. He only saved those darkest darks for the figure, which gives the image a focus and keeps it warm and bright.

I’m surprised this artist is not more widely known. Anyways – here are some more – enjoy and start dreaming!

Jacob Maris (1837-1899) - Bomschuit op het Scheveningse strand

Bomschuit op het Scheveningse strand - by Jacob Maris (1837-1899)

Jacob Maris  (1837-1899) - Stenen Molen

Stenen Molen - by Jacob Maris (1837-1899)

Jacob Maris (1837-1899) - Woman Oil

Woman Oil (not the actual title) - by Jacob Maris (1837-1899)

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December 16, 2009

Mezzo Concept Sketchgroup Drawing

Filed under: drawings — Tags: , , , , — Thomas @ 15:59

Digging out a scan of a drawing from a sketchgroup we had in Utrecht some months, since Nadia posted a painting on her blog. This is a collab of Nadia, Wanja and if I remember correctly also Stephan aka Duq.
We certainly wanna do more meetings – if you’re around the area here, and are interested – check this thread on Conceptart.org, where the meetings are usually announced.

Mezzo Sketchgroup Drawing

Mezzo Sketchgroup Drawing

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