Painting / Art – Skill progression guide

[EllaEstella]

Painting / Art – Skill progression guide (Level 0–Level 10)

In my current rotational play I’m testing different money-making skills with Zois dedicated to a single skill. Since I wrote everything down for future reference, I’m sharing my Painting / Art notes here as they might be useful if you’re considering investing into this skill.

Settings: 96-minute day

Update note (please read)

This post has been updated with my after-December-patch test run.
The biggest change in my run: painting XP per time is massively faster, and Small paintings now have noticeably shorter durations.

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Quick Summary & Key takeaways (after December patch):

• Books are consistent in my test run: ~4h per level (either 16× named Art books (“Digital Illustration using diverse color palettes” and “Hidden Art and Life”) @ 15 min or 8× standard unnamed Art Books @ 30 min (gives +1 Inspired)).

• XP gain with painting is now much faster: most level-ups take only ~2–5 paintings instead of ~9–10.

• Painting time drops a lot with higher levels & now there is a difference in time for Small paintings vs. Large and Medium:

  • Medium/Large: ~1h10m early → 46m mid → 26m late

  • Small: 40m early → 30m mid → 16m late

• Size differences are small: Large base value is only ~9–10% above Small (same quality).

• Perfect first appeared at Level 9 in my test run and felt more common at Level 10 → big money spike.

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General notes (Level 1 → Level 10)

1) Leveling via books (seems constant in my test run)

Two book types:

• Standard Art Book

  • 30 min

  • gives +1 Inspired

  • 1 book fills about 1/8 of the skill circle

• Named / specific Art Books (“Digital Illustration using diverse color palettes” and “Hidden Art and Life”)

  • 15 min

  • 1 book fills about 1/16 of the skill circle

  • These specific Art books do not count for the Great Painter Ambition, but does give skill gain

Per level-up (Level 1 → Level 10):

• 16× named books × 15 min = 4h
  OR

• 8× standard books × 30 min = 4h (also gives Inspired)

Conclusion: Both reading routes are ~4 hours per level. If you want Inspired anyway, standard books feel more convenient.

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2) Leveling via paintings (Updated data - after December patch)

Level-up	Medium/Large paint time	Small paint time	XP requirement (my run)	Approx. time spent leveling (my run)
Level 0 → Level 1	~1h10m	40m	Level-up happened shortly before first large painting finished	~1h
Level 1 → Level 2	~1h10m	40m	3 Large/Medium paintings	~3h30m
Level 2 → Level 3	~1h10m	40m	3 Large/Medium + 1 Small	~4h
Level 3 → Level 4	~1h10m	40m	2 paintings + 1 Small	~3h
Level 4 → Level 5	46m	30m	3 Large/Medium + 1 Small	~2h44m
Level 5 → Level 6	46m	30m	2 Large/Medium + 3 Small	~3h
Level 6 → Level 7	46m	30m	3 Large/Medium	~2h18m
Level 7 → Level 8	46m	30m	2 Large/Medium + 1 Small	~2h02m
Level 8 → Level 9	26m	16m	3 Large/Medium + 2 Small	~1h50m
Level 9 → Level 10	26m	16m	4 Large/Medium + 2 Small	~2h16m

Conclusion: There are likely hidden factors that influence skill gain speed beyond inspired / curios mood, but I can’t confirm what they are yet.

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3) Pricing behavior (base value stable, Pocket Market sell price fluctuates)

In my test run:

• Base value seems fixed by size + quality

• Pocket Market sell price varies, and does not clearly scale with your Art level
  (I had higher-level sells that were lower than earlier-level sells)

• What does change with level: chance to roll Excellent/Perfect increases

  • Perfect appeared first at Level 9 (my run)

  • Perfect was more frequent at Level 10 (my run)

This is why Painting becomes a “get rich” skill once Perfect is on the table.

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Painting time milestones (observed after December patch)

• Level 0–Level 3: ~1h 10m per Large & Medium painting / 40m per Small painting

• Level 4–Level 7: 46 min per Large & Medium painting / 30m per Small painting

• Level 8–Level 10: 26 min per Large & Medium painting / 16m per Small painting

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Unlocks (styles gained by leveling Art)

• Level 1: Still Life (Small / Medium / Large)

• Level 2: Portrait (Small / Medium / Large)

• Level 4: Landscape Painting (Small / Medium / Large)

• Level 6: Pop Art (Small / Medium / Large)

• Level 8: Abstract Art + Surrealism (Small / Medium / Large)

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Prices (Base value vs Pocket Market sell price)

Medium quality

Size	Base value	Pocket Market sell price (observed)
Small	48 Mew	57–62 Mew
Medium	49 Mew	59–63 Mew
Large	52 Mew	63–67 Mew

Good quality

Size	Base value	Pocket Market sell price (observed)
Small	160 Mew	229 Mew (single observation)
Medium	165 Mew	226–244 Mew
Large	175 Mew	229–258 Mew

Excellent quality

Size	Base value	Pocket Market sell price (observed)
Small	800 Mew	1298–1329 Mew
Medium	825 Mew	1300–1366 Mew
Large	875 Mew	1319–1481 Mew

Perfect quality

Size	Base value	Pocket Market sell price (observed)
Small	3200 Mew	6381 Mew (single observation)
Medium	3300 Mew	6136 Mew (single observation)
Large	3500 Mew	6794 Mew (single observation)

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Size comparison (how small the differences are)

Large base value is only about ~9–10% above Small at the same quality:

• Medium: 52 vs 48 Mew (~8%)

• Good: 175 vs 160 Mew (~9%)

• Excellent: 875 vs 800 Mew (~9%)

• Perfect: 3500 vs 3200 Mew (~9%)

In practice, sell price variance can be bigger than size advantage. Late game money is mostly about hitting Excellent/Perfect, not about size.

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Level-by-level notes (my test run)

Level 0

• 4 paintings to reach Level 1

• ~1h10m per painting

Level 1

• Example: base 825 Mew (Excellent, Medium)→ Pocket Market sell price 1300 Mew

• Example: base 176 Mew (Large, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 252 Mew

Level 2

• base 160 Mew (Small, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 229 Mew

• base 49 Mew (Medium, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 59 Mew

• base 165 Mew (Medium, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 226 Mew

• base 875 Mew (Large, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1399 Mew

• base 800 Mew (Small, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1298 Mew

Level 3

• base 175 Mew (Large, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 251 Mew

• base 165 Mew (Medium, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 242 Mew

Level 4 (time drops to ~46m per painting)

• base 52 Mew (Large, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 65 Mew

• base 175 Mew (Large, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 248 Mew

• base 48 Mew (Small, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 61 Mew

• base 49 Mew (Medium, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 63 Mew

Level 5

• base 48 Mew (Small, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 61 Mew

• base 825 Mew (Medium, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1366 Mew

• base 52 Mew (Large, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 63 Mew

• base 49 Mew (Medium, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 59 Mew

Level 6

• base 875 Mew (Large, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1481 Mew

• base 800 Mew (Small, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1329 Mew

• base 49 Mew (Medium, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 61 Mew

• base 52 Mew (Large, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 67 Mew

• base 825 Mew (Medium, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1365 Mew

Level 7

• base 175 Mew (Large, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 242 Mew

• base 48 Mew (Small, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 57 Mew

• base 49 Mew (Medium, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 60 Mew

• base 52 Mew (Large, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 67 Mew

• Outlier: reached Level 8 with only 6 paintings (cause unknown; not mood-related)

Level 8 (time drops to ~25m per painting)

• base 875 Mew (Large, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1427 Mew

• base 165 Mew (Medium, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 229–234 Mew

• base 48 Mew (Small, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 62 Mew

• base 175 Mew (Large, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 232–258 Mew

• base 52 Mew (Large, Medium) → Pocket Market sell price 63 Mew

Level 9

• Perfect first appeared here (my run):

• base 3500 Mew (Large, Perfect) → Pocket Market sell price 6794 Mew

• base 875 Mew (Large, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1319–1343 Mew

• base 165 Mew (Medium, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 244 Mew

• base 175 Mew (Large, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 229–255 Mew

• This level-up took 12 paintings (my run)

Level 10

• Perfect more likely than at Level 9 (my run)

• base 3300 Mew (Medium, Perfect) → Pocket Market sell price 6136 Mew

• base 3200 Mew (Small, Perfect) → Pocket Market sell price 6381 Mew

• base 875 Mew (Large, Excellent) → Pocket Market sell price 1370–1474 Mew

• base 175 Mew (Large, Good) → Pocket Market sell price 240–252 Mew

[LennyOgg]

Awesome! Thank you so much

Have you maybe noticed if there have been some new paintings added compared to a few months ago? My Zois haven’t painted for a while.

[EllaEstella]

I had the feeling, yes. But might also just be a coincidence that I did not see these in previous saves. But at least for the later unlocks I saw paintings which I did not had before. It also seems strange that the Zoi sometimes paints the same motive 5 times in a row and then all of a sudden you see completely new paintings never seen before.

[LennyOgg]

Haha yes ^^’
Thanks for letting me know, I’ll let them paint again then.
I really like the ingame paintings, it’s just such a hassle that we have no possibility to store them.
The house is already full with paintings I want to keep ö.ö
Sadly we can’t even save them with the room they’re in.

[Samuriko]

I love painting as a skill.

It’s a bit too good though, the best paintings should sell for 1.500 mew (and lesser quality adjusted to while keeping the lower level/quality selling prices as they as as they end-up costing money until you start selling for 100-150 at least). But instead of jumping from 250 to 1200, it could jump to 350, 500, 700, 1000, and the best ones at 1500.

Even 1500 with the pocket market markup might be a bit much but since those are the 10%, I think this would fit perfectly.

There’s a mod to x10 the sale prices of paintings.
Maybe I should seek out where it is hidden in the modkit and make the 1.500 price thing a mod.

Awesome guide, and yeah 10% what was it felt like even without writing down the math.

[EllaEstella]

@LennyOgg here are a couple of the paintings, some of these I did not notice a couple of months ago.

It would be great if we could store them for later to decorate the house etc.

@Samuriko I agree with you that this skill is really crazy in terms of money making and compared to other skills very overpowered. In this save where I am basically really focused with single Zois to make a living without a job, each with a different skill, it is even more noticable for me than before.

My poor programmer is struggling to get to Level 4 after one week and nearly unable to pay his bills because the payout is so low on the early levels vs. my painter is at Level 10 after one week, has spent all of the starting funds for the house expansion and on top has now earned 88k within one week.

[LennyOgg]

Oh wow, thank you! I really haven’t seen them! Leander kept painting the same ones over and over again so we stopped. But these are really nice and worth to start painting again.

[EllaEstella]

I have updated the guide above with after December patch observations. Painting is now leveling way faster compared to before.

I actually did not expect this skill to be adjusted as well as this was not really leveling too slow. Where the update was urgently needed was programming, instruments etc. skills which were really leveling crazy slow before the update. For painting I must say this is now probably even too fast and given the amount of money which you can make with selling the pictures painting can now be a massive money maker even within the first couple of days. It now only takes about 25 in-game hours to get to Level 10 and if a Zoi dedicates e.g. 3 days completely to painting he can reach Level 10 very early and fast.