A Sim Artist Painting in The Sims 4
Painting in The Sims 4 is a very good way to make money, but to be great at it you won't be holing your Sim up in a room and painting all day as you would in previous incarnations of The Sims. Mastering the skill requires you to take up a job in the Painter Career and choose between two branches at level 5. Both of them unlock the ability to buy an Easel with a higher Painting Quality rating which will boost the Sim's success at painting Masterpieces regardless of skill. A master Painter can make serious dough using one of these two Easels, and you'll earn enough to support the initial investment to make your own Paintings every day at work. More importantly, the career unlocks some special abilities, allowing you to earn more from Painting.
How to: Painting Cheats
Press Control + Shift + C then type testingcheats on and press enter. You can now set your skill level with stats.set_skill_level major_painting x (fill in 1-10) - we also have a full listing of Skill Cheats and a master list of Cheats in The Sims 4
The Painter Extraordinaire's Expressionistic Trait lets you make Paintings from extreme Emotions
Good Traits & Aspirations for Painters
Buy the Cheap Easel. If you want quality-boosting Easels, you'll have to join the Painter Career with your Phone
Getting Started Painting
Buy an E.A.S.L Easel for $350 from Buy Mode > Objects by Function > Activities and Skills > Creative or just search for Easel. With this, you can begin painting. There is a Painter Career that will get its own separate guide page, but this article will focus on the skill.
Painting Skill Level Advice and Unlocks
The following are the types of Paintings you unlock as you level the skill. There are also a couple of Social Interactions. You'll get 5x the amount of stuff if you also pursue the Painter Career. To make things easy, you could consider leveling Painting first to give your Sim more free time. Juggling the job and your skill is a bit difficult, especially with a family.
Unfortunately, you are almost required to join the Painter Career else you are stuck with the bad Easel, forever! It has a low Painting Quality, so makes it harder for your Sim to make great Paintings. Joining the Career will unlock better Paintings, so I suggest you do so. Another excellent reason is that it unlocks the ability to sell your artwork to the Art Gallery instead of the mysterious Art Collector - the Gallery gives 20% more than the face value of your non-Masterpiece paintings, so it's worth it! You will get more out of your painting, as there are lots of special rewards for joining the Painting Career and its two branches.
Painter Career Choices
The 'Patron of the Arts' Branch of the Painter Career lets you get the Pre-Owned Painter's Easel that boosts Environment, has an Inspiring Aura, and has a Painting Quality level of 7. The 'Master of the Real' Branch unlocks the Deluxe All-Season Easel that has a Painting Quality of 9 without boosting Environment. There are other choices between the two to be made, so you should see the Painter Career Guide.
What to Paint First
I started with small paintings, as they took less time and would give a return on investment quickly. Even if the painting isn't great, it is likely to at least get your money back. You can do large paintings on days off (if you're in the Painting Career) and sometimes put them on hold to take care of your needs and go off to work. Try to fulfill the requirements of the Painter Extraordinaire Aspiration as you go along. You can look ahead to see the requirements by pressing 'G', clicking change Aspiration, and looking at the 4 categories of unlocks you need to complete to get the Expressionistic Trait.
5 Million Views! My YouTube channel has grown a lot the last 6 months. I now have over 100 videos on Youtube and am nearing 50k subscribers. I'd like to invite people to check out my content and, if you like what I'm doing, subscribe!
Click to Enlarge. Collecting Paintings will let you later use them for Career/Aspiration Requirements
Selling Paintings vs Collecting Art
Once a Painting is complete, you can click 'Sell to Collector' to instantly sell it. When in the Painter Career, you'll unlock the ability to sell all paintings to the Art Gallery, which gives 20% more than the painting's face value. Masterpieces are the exception to the rule, as you can see below. Hover over the Painting on the Easel to see its name, quality level, and sell value. Putting the Painting in your inventory also allows you to sell it and see the price. You may like one of your Sim's paintings and find it's worth little money, so it can help you decide whether selling is worth it to you. Paintings made while under the influence of an emotion may also help to inspire that emotion in the room, so you may want to hold on to some of those.
Masterpieces' Sell Value
Whether you are in the Painter Career or not, Masterpieces are sold to the Art Gallery because they are exceptional pieces of work. This is the exception to the +20% rule - they will not sell for more than their face value, as they come with the extra value already calculated into the price you see because they are destined for the Art Gallery! Thanks to HelenP for pointing this out.
Admiring Works of Art can Inspire your Painter
Getting Inspired
Being Inspired will help your Sim make better-quality Paintings. Taking a thoughtful shower, reading a book, and doing other creative things will help your Sim become inspired. Use a Computer to go to Web > Browse Art will (almost always) make your Sim Inspired. Sometimes, after a Sim completes a Painting, they'll get another Inspired Moodlet which will make them Very Inspired. This is a good time to jump right into another Painting, and preferably a large one. The Painter Career will also give you the ability to Research Art References, Critique Paintings, and Gather Inspiration from them, so it will help you get inspired faster.
Talking to other Sims may trigger Emotions
Triggering Other Emotions for Different Painting Types and by Painting Auras!
Clean up in the Mirror and Try on Outfits to get Flirty, and take a Steamy Shower. So long as your Sim is happy, you'll get to paint a Flirty painting for $100. Once you have the Painting, you can use it to boost emotions. Hang it on the wall and click enable emotional aura (or disable) so that your Sim will be easier to put in that mood again - this works with all Mood paintings. Playful can easily be acquired by digging up deposits around the Neighborhood, getting time capsules, and collecting MySims Trophies from them. You can do Confident and Focused Paintings as well as other Emotions you can trigger. Hover over interactions to see what emotions are triggered, and stack those effects in your favor! If you get to VERY confident or VERY focused, your end-results will likely be better.
A painting that takes ~2 hours, yet is worth $1400 without Marketable! It would have sold for nearly $3,000
Getting Rich from Painting
Getting Very Inspired is key to making Masterpieces that are worth a lot of money, along with the Creative Visionary Reward, which raises success rate for Masterpieces. Take also the Marketable Reward to increase the base price of your Masterpiece Paintings. This will sell them at over double their pre-Marketable base value! All this combined makes the Sims 4's Painting Skill super profitable, and one of the easiest ways to make money in the game.
Full List (Pictuers) of all Paintings
A 'list' of the different paintings can be found on our Forum here. Officialghosts has painstakingly arranged them and taken screenshots. Addons may change this to incomeplete.
Acting | Archaeology | Baking | Charisma | Comedy | Cooking | Dancing | DJ Mixing | Fishing | Fitness | Flower Arranging | Gardening | Gourmet Cooking | Guitar | Handiness | Herbalism | Logic | Media Production | Mischief | Mixology | Painting | Parenting | Photography | Piano | Programming | Robotics Rocket Science | Singing | Vampire Lore | Veterinarian | Video Gaming | Violin | Wellness | Writing
We now have a Youtube Channel with over 50 guides in video format to go along with the huge site I've already created. Check it out and consider subscribing if you like my style.
This is inspired by a new series in which I start at toddler and gradually take on the major bonuses. Here's a link to the full playlist!
I now have a guide page to Tiny Living Stuff where you can learn about Murphy Beds, the new death, as well as the lot bonuses you'll receive if you manage to keep the size of your lot down with this new pack's Tiny Home Lot Type.
New I now have a guide to Making Super Sims in The Sims 4. Look for a text version within the next 72h. It won't have THAT much more info but it will help out as a checklist.
This was inspired by a series, "Let's Play a Super Sim" in which I start at toddler and gradually take on the major bonuses. Here's a link to each part for people who are interested. You can also see the Let's Play as a Playlist on Youtube.
#1 Making a Top Notch Toddler
#2 Starting Childhood
#3 Finishing Childhood Aspirations
#4 Parenthood Character Values
#5 Teen Goals
#6 Finishing Teen
#7 Max Teen + Clubs and Tiny Living
#8 Adulthood - Vampire + Reward
New #9 Master Vampire
The Sims 4 Discover University has been announced for November 15 for PC/Mac and December 17 for Xbox and Playstation 4 consoles. Click to learn more about the pack, see my summary of the livestream or read our FAQs below.
Other Guides to Discover University:
New Lot Traits: Study Spot and University Student Hang Out
New: Discover University FAQ: Gameplay Features
New Video The Sims 4 Discover University Gameplay Tips Video
More videos coming soon!
Readers who use adblock or those who'd like to thank us for our efforts can now pledge $1/$5 monthly via Patreon to help us retain the freedom to do what we love to do.
We now have a Videos page, where I'll list every submission to our Sims 4 Gameplay Guides Channel. I'm taking feedback seriously, improving recording and sound quality and other issues with my video guides. Let me know what you think and subscribe for more like it. If you comment on the videos page with a request I may bump it higher on my to do list (no promises though!). Here is a listing of all videos released to date, in order of release:
Sims 4 February Patch Summary
Get Famous: Celestial Crystal Crown
Visit My Channel to Subscribe!
Get Famous First Impressions
First Person Mode (Sims 4 Update)
Get Famous Acting Livestream
Livestream Summary (Latest Patch News)
Patch News: COMING SOON
The Sims 4 Get Famous Expansion
Archaeology Guide (Jungle Adventure)
Jungle Adventure Gameplay
Nerd Brain and Computer Whiz
Spa Day Review and Gameplay Guide
The Sims 4 Whims & How to Use Them
Ambrosia Ingredients and Raising the Dead
The Sims 4: Making a Super Sim
The Sims 4 Careers (Improved)
Seasons Holiday Decorations Guide
Cool Kitchen Stuff
Patchy (Scarecrow)
Laundry Day
Painting Skill
Pregnancy Cheats
How to Woohoo & Try for Baby
Skill Cheats
Playing a Moocher
Sims 4 Writing Skill
Father Winter's Baby
Flower Shop Seasons/Get to Work Retail
Beekeeping Video
Disclaimer This site is not endorsed by or affiliated with Electronic Arts, or its licensors. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The Sims and The Sims 4 Logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts, Inc. Game content and materials copyright Electronic Arts Inc. and its licensors. All Rights Reserved. All original Guides on this site © Carl's Guides
Comments (17)
I need to know is there a mod where you can invent to put in TS4 where custom paintings jpgs can be added for them to paint. I been waiting the last 10 years from TS2 - TS4 for it to come if you can email me cheers!
I am having trouble finding information on a question I have. My sim is a painter and I have decorated her house with her paintings. If I upload this house into the Gallery, will her paintings be there for others to see? or will there just be white canvases all over the walls?
Thanks
There's a thread on the forum showing all the available paintings if you are interested.
All the Paintings
Also a thread explaining the value of the different genres and skill based multiplier.
Skill Based Values The post from DarkWalker is particularly good.
Guide to Cheats
EA Bug Report
Photography Skill
But with the Expressionist Reward reward trait 'Inspired' should be enough to get a masterpiece fairly regularly. Very Inspired would increase the odds again.
I found the best way to crank out masterpieces is to put inspiring decor in a room, fill it will items that have a high "environment" such as the Knight Armour, and use the Black Easel (Deluxe all-season Easel).