Overview
Achieve the minimalist ending. Read. Paint.
Introduction
The minimalist ending is arguably the hardest judging by the Steam achievement completion rates and forum complaints. This guide will help transform you from a pathetic weiner drawing turd into an artist.
Act I
You’ll start by appealing to the punks. They have spiky pink and purple hair. They love bright colors, so you can generally score well by smearing red all over for a background. Punks want bright colors, contrast, and some attention to detail. Draw your brush strokes at high speed for extra points. You can basically just draw a bunch of zigzag lines on top of each other in different colors. They dislike browns and greys for some reason, so try not to use too much.
Benjamin the hipster will buy almost anything you make as long as it isn’t pink. He’s the guy with the beret and a backpack full of baguettes.
Here are some example paintings that will do well with the punks:
Act II: The Revenge
Act 2 is where things start to get harder and where you’ll get into minimalism. Before you delve into minimalism, you may want to make 2 or 3 paintings for the punks while you still can. Try to earn an extra week of cash in case your paintings aren’t liked.
After you’ve ruined a canvas or two for cash, it’s time to get started on minimalism. The key here is to use as little detail as possible. Most of your paintings are going to be composed of solid color bars. Try to keep your brush size large, your brush strokes low, and don’t use too many colors. To start off, try making some basic 3 color flags. Vary the size and direction of the colored bars. Large fields of vibrant color can offend the minimalists, so try to keep your stronger colors confined to a small area. Keep it simple. Once you get the hang of it, have some fun with it. Add another color or two. Large circles are easy to draw with the brush. Try representing something like a night sky within the limitations. For example, you could paint the background dark blue, make a large dark yellow circle to represent a full moon, and then put a thin grey line underneath to represent a cloud bank. Remember to keep it under 5 brushstrokes.
Here are some examples:
Act III: The Sacred Stones
Act III is harder because the pool of buyers is much more critical of your work. There won’t be any punks here to give you money for nothing.
The first thing you should do is open a blank canvas, wait for about 30 seconds, and then place it on the wall. This will provide you with some easy money later on once the painting matures. After you’ve done that, its more of the same. Don’t rush your paintings or they’ll do poorly. The museum has a lot of space, so you’ll be getting many chances for sales. Try not to paint like Mondrian, which is a white canvas with black lines and a colored square. These paintings won’t please the minimalists after you’ve pooped out a few. Have fun with it.
Again, keep your brushstrokes large and don’t use too many colors or strokes. Once you’ve sold enough, there will be a popularity chain reaction and you’ll become a master minimalist.
How Paintings Are Judged
Each individual NPC has their own criteria for judging your art. In general, Minimalists want a low color complexity and high originality. Complementary colors will help your painting sell for more. Each individual minimalist has a certain taste for colors and will hate your painting if it uses the colors they hate. If one of them comments on your garish taste for color, just leave the painting there until a different buyer comes.
Your brush technique is also judged. To be safe, take at least 15 seconds with each painting and keep your brush velocity low. Placing a circle without moving the brush has a velocity of zero. Try to use less than 5 brush strokes.
Conclusion
Hopefully this guide helped you to get that last ending and finish up your achievements. If you’re still having trouble after reading this guide, post some of your paintings the minimalists didn’t like in the comments and I’ll help critique and structure them more towards minimalist taste.
Thanks for reading!