r/painting 5d ago

System Identity The Icon Contest | Community Update #1

Post image
6 Upvotes

To everyone here at r/painting,

It’s been one week since we launched our first community contest, and it's time for a quick update.

We’ve already received more than 10 original submissions, a solid start. But in a community of 5 million people, we know many artists are still finalizing their work or haven't jumped in yet. We want every voice involved in shaping our visual identity.

Here are the today's updates for the project:

What’s Changed?

- More Time to Submit: Based on your feedback, we're extending the contest to 20 total days. If the community needs even more time later, we will adjust.

- Cleaner Submission Process: To avoid confusion, we’ve permanently removed duplicate event flairs. From now on, every entry must use the orange System Identity flair.

- Keep Supporting Your Favorites: Browse the entries, leave feedback, and upvote the artwork you want to see representing this space. Share!

Want to Join?

It's simple:

- Medium: Traditional or digital painting (no plain graphic design or text-only overlays).

- Format: Center your subject. A square (1:1) crop works best since the final icon is circular.

- How to Enter: Post your artwork with any title you like and select the orange System Identity flair before publishing.

Whether you’re a longtime member or just found the contest today, there is still plenty of time to submit. Show us what you create. This is your house. 👁️🏅

NOTE: We will soon open community polls so everyone can help shape the future layout and structural rules of the sub together.


r/painting 12d ago

System Identity A New Chapter for r/painting: Our First Community Project - The Icon Contest.

Post image
27 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

As some of you may have noticed, the subreddit recently entered a new chapter with a new moderation team after a long period of inactivity. It is an honor to be here with you.

First: No new bureaucracy today. Just our first project.

Painting has become one of Reddit's largest spaces dedicated to Art. For almost two decades, since 2008, one thing has always been missing: an identity created by the artists who make this place what it is. So let's start there.

Today we're launching our very first Community Insight, the Icon Contest. You're going to like this.

Icon is the first thing every visitor sees. It needs to represent the real people, not only the team behind the scenes. Our space lacks this representation, you are invited to change that.

This is also the first step toward something bigger, a collaborative model. PS: Whenever it makes sense, major structural and identity decisions will be built directly with you.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for paintings. Traditional paintings are welcome, as well as digital paintings that faithfully emulate painted media.

We're not looking for logos, typography, graffiti, or graphic design, not today.

For the best result:

- Direct Crop Only: Submit a high-resolution image of the artwork only. Do not include easels, studio backgrounds, frames, or room environments.

- The Circular Layout: Keep the main subject centered so it works well inside Reddit's circular icon. (Preferred 1:1 or 16:9)

How to Participate

To keep the feed organized and easily indexed for voting, all entries must use this exact format:

Post Title: Your title must begin with the prefix: Icon Art: [Your Artwork Title]

Post Flair: Apply the official event flair: System Identity

You are encouraged to include a short paragraph in the text body explaining your inspiration and creative process. Great artwork tells a story, and the community would love to hear yours. You can make your work go down in history.

At first, submissions will remain open for 10 days. Your engagement can change this.

How the Winner Is Chosen

What would you like to see hanging on your wall at home? The community comes first. You choose. Upvotes, discussion, and overall response will guide the selection.

The moderation team will only perform a final review to ensure the winning artwork works properly as a Reddit icon. If the race gets close, we may open a second vote.

Artist Recognition

The final icon will remain clean, without signatures or usernames, so it can serve as a shared symbol for the entire community.

The winning artist will instead receive a dedicated Spotlight post from the moderation team featuring both the artwork and its creator.

---

The empty circle has been waiting long enough. The feed is yours, this is your house. Let's create something worthy of the space you built.🏅


r/painting 2h ago

Just Sharing Sharing my new painting "Xenofract". I think it's one of my best

Thumbnail
gallery
662 Upvotes

This project pushed me to the limits of my patience and skill. Mostly hand brushed with a bit of masking + airbrush to finalize the details, I wanted to give a final push before welcoming our first child in late August. Enjoy this picture of me next to the piece, with an exhausted smile, plus some detail shots. The painting is 48x60in.


r/painting 5h ago

Just Sharing "Ethereal Montana": an acrylic painting I made.

Post image
333 Upvotes

r/painting 5h ago

Just Sharing Just recently made this painting

Post image
80 Upvotes

I struggled a bit with the shirt but overall I think the whole thing turned pretty good


r/painting 22h ago

Just Sharing 2018 vs 2026 never give up 😂

Thumbnail
gallery
1.6k Upvotes

Was looking through photos of my older work and came across this beauty, it is so crazy because I thought that painting was so good back then. Can’t wait to see what another 8 years brings.


r/painting 7h ago

Opinions Needed Van Gogh study I made with acrylics

Post image
99 Upvotes

Made this painting last week, it was my first Van Gogh painting and I find his technique quite fun to paint.

What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment

Original: "Wheat Field With Cypresses" from Vincent Van Gogh

Acrylic on panel


r/painting 4h ago

Just Sharing Painted Pepe Silvia, oil on canvas.

Post image
54 Upvotes

r/painting 20h ago

Just Sharing I just finished this painting!

Thumbnail
gallery
774 Upvotes

This is "Shimmering Tide" oil on canvas


r/painting 1h ago

Just Sharing Painting a face alla prima (I'm working on a modern rendition of The Three Graces [Zeus' daughters])

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Upvotes

r/painting 23h ago

Just Sharing I painted on 10 meters

Thumbnail
gallery
1.2k Upvotes

I just joined in this sub and the first thing I wanted to share with you is this big-ass work I did for a course in my uni. I had only 4 days to submit 10m of paper with whatever drawn or painted on it and I came up with this small collection of hybrid creatures drawn in colored pencils with acrylic patterns painted in the background. For sure not my best work because I was so damn close to the deadline 😭 I’m actually also not very comfortable with using bright colors buut I wanted to try something a bit out of my comfort zone. What do you think?


r/painting 15h ago

Opinions Needed Is there a specific audience that would enjoy my art?

Thumbnail
gallery
229 Upvotes

Some of these are digital and some are paintings. I am struggling to find an audience for my artwork. What are your thoughts on these pieces? Do you think they would sell? Appreciate any general thoughts on my work as well! Thank you xx


r/painting 3h ago

Just Sharing ‘ The Lament of Medusa’ oil painting by myself

Thumbnail
gallery
24 Upvotes

Had this exhibited for a little while but unfortunately no sale

150 x 100cm

Renaissance inspired


r/painting 22h ago

Just Sharing My oil painting

Post image
792 Upvotes

r/painting 5h ago

Just Sharing Bamberka, watercolor 🖌️ Do you like it?

Post image
32 Upvotes

r/painting 3h ago

Just Sharing Just sharing : In memory of Bob Ross from a Beginner

Post image
16 Upvotes

Today,as a super beginner, after learning with YouTuber Jonny Art, I moved forward to Bob Ross Oil Painting. I used acrylic painting to finish it within 2 days. Actually is hard for me to mix a color which can approach to Bob, so I used those colors I preferred. I like Bob said “ an happy accident”, painting in happy and without any pressure or nervous in every step of drawing. So I’m still enjoy the painting even though I know my shadow, colors and lights look a little abnormal. 😆 I think that should be a happiness from a beginner. Well, of course, if someone can help to talk to me how to draw the grass and the tree in different layers, I’ll very appreciated and glad to heard that !


r/painting 1d ago

Opinions Needed My mom thinks she can't make money as an artist, what are your thoughts?

Thumbnail
gallery
770 Upvotes

Hey everyone. I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this, if so MODs please feel free to take it down.

I was having a discussion with my mom about her art and was telling her that she could easily sell a few of her paintings to friends and colleagues but she doesn't believe that they are good enough to be worth paying money for.

I know she isn't a world class painter but I still think her work it's quite impressive and definitely could be worth trying to advertise.

What are all your opinions? I'm curious to see what people more in the know would say about her work..

Thanks in advance 😊


r/painting 10h ago

Just Sharing The first big painting I’ve done. It hangs in my living room.

Thumbnail
gallery
47 Upvotes

Pretty much what the title says.
It was fun, challenging…and in the end, I still find things to correct months later. Like a good artist lol.

Any insight also appreciated.

Take care


r/painting 17h ago

Just Sharing Between Light and Illusion: Remembering Tom Kinkade

Post image
163 Upvotes

I was acquainted with Thomas Kinkade in art school. He was good friends with Jim Gurney, also at Art Center, and the two of them wrote a terrific book together, "The Artist’s Guide to Sketching."

I was surprised and maybe a little jealous, when Tom went on to have massive success, especially since the person he presented publicly was nothing like the person I knew. People who read this Substack know that although I was raised in the Christian Science church, I’m not a believer in a supreme being. I’m best labeled an atheist. So I was struck when Tom came forward as extremely Christian, even signing his paintings with the Ichthys, a fish symbol of Christian faith. When I knew him, he didn’t have a hint of religiosity about him. I suspect his embrace of Christianity was fake.

This came to me full force when I visited my high school girlfriend, Beth Winzenried. I hadn’t seen her in years, and at some point I asked who her favorite painter was. She answered, “Tom Kinkade.” For middle America, his cottages and snow-capped mountains had made him the most popular living painter. What bothered me is that people had been sold a lie.

I don’t agree with people who run their lives by religious belief, but I have even less patience for people who exploit that belief to make money. Tom presented himself as a devout Christian, but in private he took drugs, drank, and had affairs. We all have our faults, but very few people position themselves as the extreme embodiment of one virtue while living the opposite in private.

Many artists are terrible people. If you love Caravaggio as much as I do, never read about his private life. Picasso by all accounts left a lot to be desired as a human being. Even Rembrandt, one of the greatest painters who ever lived, had a messy personal life. None of that stops me from enjoying their work, but none of them marketed themselves as paragons of virtuous living.

I love Monet’s work, and in some ways Tom’s resembles his, with the same broken color and soft edges. But Monet avoided the sentimentality that pervades Tom’s paintings. Monet let the subject speak for itself. I think people embraced his work because it conjured a world that never existed with no violence, no conflict, no racism.

Some might call me a hypocrite for loving Norman Rockwell’s work, after all, didn’t he do the same thing? I don’t think so. Rockwell didn’t just paint two people praying, rather he set them in a coffee shop with everyone around them looking on in confusion.

He didn’t just paint an optimistic young man gazing toward the future, rather he painted that young man beside his father waiting for a train, one looking forward, the other looking back. The older you get the better that picture is.

With Rockwell, the more you study the picture, the deeper it gets. With Tom, the more you study it, the shallower it gets. Rockwell had an edge as he thought deeply about his pictures. Tom’s pictures pour on the syrup, then add an extra dollop for good measure.

Which brings me to Tom’s friend, Jim Gurney. As much as it galls my cynical side to admit it, Jim is the real deal. After his success with Dinotopia, I kept waiting for him to dump his wife, move to LA, start dating a supermodel, and buy a Ferrari.

It never happened.

He’s one of the few genuinely nice people I know, without a cynical bone in his body. I don’t know Jim’s religious affiliation, if he has one, but if you wanted a model for how to live a Christian life, you could do worse than Jim Gurney. He writes a Substack that’s one of the few I read regularly (besides my own).

He’s privately good and publicly good. Tom, by contrast, performed the life of a saint in public while living quite differently behind closed doors. I’m certainly not a perfect person myself. I’ve probably broken eight of the ten commandments (no murder or adultery, yet). But I’ve never sold a fake image of myself to get people to buy my paintings.


r/painting 5h ago

Just Sharing Ocean Dropout, Paintranger, Acrylic Marker and Resin on Wood Panel, 2026 [OC]

Post image
13 Upvotes

r/painting 1d ago

Just Sharing Blank canvas - my workspace in acrylic

Thumbnail
gallery
1.4k Upvotes

r/painting 1h ago

Just Sharing Hand-painted Lotus Pond Mural – Weeks of Layering, Details & Patience 🌸🎨 [OC]

Post image
Upvotes

I recently completed this large lotus pond mural inspired by the calm beauty of wetlands. The composition features blooming lotus flowers, broad leaves, and colorful water birds to create a peaceful natural scene.

The video shows the finished artwork and some of the details. I'd love to hear your thoughts—what stands out the most, and what would you improve for my next mural?

Constructive criticism is always welcome!


r/painting 6h ago

Just Sharing I like how there's a nekid lady throwing hands behind her

Thumbnail
gallery
15 Upvotes

This was on the back of a cardboard I was gonna throw away, it's three years old and i SO DID NOT NOTICE The tiddies I thought it was background bs


r/painting 3h ago

Just Sharing Alla prima landscape, oil on canvas by me

Post image
9 Upvotes

r/painting 1h ago

Just Sharing it's not evening yet

Post image
Upvotes