Phil Strahl is a contemporary artist, as old as the Famicom and equally into pixels. He attended the HTL Ortweinschule for Arts and Design in Graz and holds a Master’s degree in arts & design from the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. When he is not painting pixels, he is more than likely to be otherwise concerned with them. Phil works and lives in Salzburg, Austria.
As clearly obvious, a strong inspiration are the iconic ingame graphics of the early home console games, especially those of the Famicom/NES and Super NES. But also PC games are of interest as long as the creators treated their pixels with respect.
Gaming aside also the influence of traditional and contemporary visual art, space and the Austrian landscape can be found hidden my work.
When painting after a template from a video game, I personally play the game in question on one of my original consoles (or in some cases on an emulator) and record my playing experience in order to select a perfect still.
I paint with Schmincke and Daler-Rowny brand oil colors on primed canvases. The size of the pixel varies but lies usually within 2 and 10 millimeters (0.08–0.30 inches). Any smaller and I would lose the gestalt of the pixels due to human inabilities to paint defined straight edges at such a size.
As reference I either print out the still on standard inkjet photo paper or work entirely from the screen on my desk while listening to podcasts, lectures or chiptunes.
Depending on the size of the canvas and the rendered pixels, a single painting takes approximately four to fifty hours of active work from inception to finish, sometimes more, not counting the time it takes each layer to dry due to the nature of oil colors, which can take several days or even weeks before it is possible to continue working.
► Find time lapses of my paintings on YouTube.
If you want to own a painting that hasn’t been indicated as sold, please with the painting’s name and your postal address for shipping. I will get back to you quickly regarding the shipping costs and further inquiries, if necessary. Of course you are also welcome to view and/or pick up the painting in person.
If there’s a painting that you would love to own but I didn’t paint yet, please feel free to regarding commissioning a piece. I am sure, together we can work out a scene that’s to your liking.
If you just want to say hi or get otherwise in contact with me, either message me on social media or write me .