Great in theory and has potential. However, your paintings either don't sell at all, or someone bids on them right away. You would think even a lousy painting would sell eventually and a great painting might sit for awhile. It would be nice if you could price the paintings yourself, or if a patron could commission a painting. It is very repetitive with little actual gameplay. I just wish this game had more. More of everything: More cash management, paint colors, type of patrons, an ability to customize your studio, maybe advertise your gallery, customize your character, choose what type of patrons to cater to, have lots of different types of paint brushes, choose your location, etc. At this point, this should really be a free game because there just isn't much content.

I drew a cat spreading its butthole and got paid 232 bucks. I tried it in real life and I got referred to a therapist. 4/10 simulation needs to be updated to 2018 standards.

does not have waccom or surface pro pen compatability, anyone hoping to draw with a tablet be warned.

Passpartout: The Starving Artist is an art simulator in which you are a painter trying to make a living from your paintings.
You start off in a garage where you sleep on a dirty mattress with just a lamp, art supplies and your creativity to keep you company.
Bills keep rolling in and if life wasn't hard enough, art critics keep visiting you and telling you how bad your art is.
You eventually learn what the critics like to see and you'll start selling paintings, and as you progress you unlock new tools, new locations and also new critics that like to see something entirely different.

It took me a while to figure out why nobody wanted to buy my paintings, and the amount of negativity made me sad and frustrated.
It didn't matter how long I worked on a painting, it was often not good enough!
If I did too much the critics would say it was to complex, if I did less they said I was rushing, If I tried something in between they didn't like the colors... There was always something wrong!

You can't pick the paintings back up to start re-working them, If you made a mistake there is no un-do button and if you go to the next chapter in the game you won't take your previous made paintings with you even though you haven't sold them yet.
There are only 3 tools, with a size slider and 24 colors to choose from, which just isn't enough in my opinion.
The story is short, and the ending feels abrupt and unsatisfying.
However, the game does offer multiple endings which gives it replay value.

The game runs smooth and the graphics look decent.
I loved the soothing music which was fitting perfectly and often gave me inspiration for a new painting.
You are free to paint whatever you like, even if it is porn or gore, and that was the biggest plus for me.
It's a unique and interesting concept, and great for people that enjoy drawing.
I personally really wanted to enjoy this game too, but sadly enough... I just didn't.

Passpartout: The Starving Artist sounded like one of the great concepts I’ve heard on steam. You paint art, artists come by judge your work and pay you money based on how good your work is.

Seems simple enough, but it also seems like it just wrote the hugest check that it’s not going to be able to cash. A game that can judge art? That would truly be something.

Passpartout fails that test, but in all honesty, I feel like any game that attempted that bar would fail. Computers can’t really tell us what’s good art, it can only tell us what it’s programmed to think is good art. That’s fine if we understand the limitation of the system.

The real issue I have with Passpartout isn’t that it fails this test, it’s that it lacks a lot that would be nice to have in addition to this.

The game starts with you in a garage and you make a painting, spending time on it, and then try to sell it for money. This is the entire game. People come by look at your art, and some will make an offer if you’re lucky. Now hopefully someone will buy your first painting. Some people will come by and bash it. If you make a canvas all of one color you might hear “Single Canvases. So Overdone” Makes sense what to do.

In fact, the original area starts to get interesting as it seems like the longer you “work” on a painting the more money you get. That’s fine but until you figure out what you’re doing, you won’t get real money. Finally, you’ll find a good patron and for me it was Steve. Steve liked my work. He would give me a hundred dollars after a while and I grew to like Steve. So I made Steve painting after painting and ignored everyone else, even the cheap baguette seller.

I eventually got a critic to come and move me to the next level. I beat another level in a similar way, and reached my final area that I did the five color paintings. I started to hate my life and the game because I wasn’t doing inspiring art, I was just making the same picture over and over.

I didn’t know if I was doing it right or wrong, and in fact, much of the game I wasn’t sure why I was selling painting A and not painting B, as the clues the game was giving me often was a little lacking. However I could consistently find one person who liked my paintings in each area, and after you figure out what they are keying into, the game becomes easy to just paint for who you are targeting.

Perhaps that’s what the game wants to say, that the art becomes less about self-expression and more about commercialism. Perhaps it wanted to say that art is more about the public than the person. Perhaps I’m looking too deep, but the message of the game is there. It’s interesting I suppose.

But often the in-game messages are even less clear. I often got a complaint of “Why couldn’t it be more original?” I didn’t see this on the original picture I did, but I saw it often enough after it. I also got attacked for not enough energy in my pictures. It might be interesting if the game understood my last picture, and demanded new work from me, but by the last chapter, I was just literally throwing the same five colors on a canvas as fast as I can and selling them for thousands. So originality didn’t seem to matter.

These complaints though range from obvious (mostly color complaints) to obscure, and I would have gladly given some of my in-game currency to get a minor lesson to understand what I was doing wrong.

The issues I have with the game though is I’m not an artist, I’m creative by writing and programming, and maybe I’d enjoy it if I was writing reviews or short stories and getting judged on that. But art for me isn’t my field. I’m a programmer and Programmer Art is… well, let’s just say I’m glad I can’t upload images with this review (Check my screenshots if you really want to see my earlier works) So I don’t get the joy out of creating that some people do.

But more important than that, the game doesn’t really let you revel in the art you create. You don’t have a history. You don’t get to see how each of your paintings has done. If you haven’t sold the painting you can look at it or delete it, (screenshot and Twitter is available). A few of your paintings will be displayed at the end of the game, however, there’s no portfolio for the old work. Those five color drawings at the end of the game didn’t drain me as much as it should. I couldn’t go back and look at the novel and unique drawings and see my loss of style. Instead, I knew it because I experienced it, but overall the game didn’t show me it.

But that missing portfolio is a problem to me, I really would have loved to look back at some old photos I didn’t save, the fact I have to screenshot every picture feels wrong, I wish the game would have that feature because there are a few pictures I wouldn’t have minded seeing one more time.

It’s the gamification that doesn’t work here. The game wants to say something, and does it through a game, but if this was simply “you’re an artist try to sell stuff” it might have meant more. Instead it’s all about trying to get to the next level or go in a different art style. If this was more focused on an experience rather than a game, the message would be stronger. “I’m trying to do art and am subverted by the masses” is a stronger message than “I have to paint what other people want so I can win the game”.

So if I don’t like art, why did I play the game? Well, I hoped I’d be entertained by it. I was hoping the game might be interesting in something besides trying to judge art through a rudimentary system.

There are a few other considerations here. I wasn’t a huge fan of the art tools in the game. You eventually get three tools. I assume you always get the same three, but I got a normal paintbrush that had variable sizes, a spray can, and a pen which just felt like a slower paintbrush. It made some better angles, but overall the paintbrush was the only tool I really used. I wouldn’t have minded the tools you’d see in pretty much any paint program, such as the fill bucket, a cut and paste tool could work, an eraser (or at least ACTUAL white paint, instead of off-white) There are other minor things. How about letting me mix paints? There are 24 paints in the game and that’s it. No blending, no mixing, just 24 paints.

In addition, I wasn’t using a Wacom tablet, maybe that would give you better control, and make the game more interesting. If that’s the case, I could see that improving the experience, Too bad the game doesn’t save out your art (other than screenshots). Ultimately I think if I was really interested in the art, I’d rather have just played in Paint or Photoshop and save out the art and get a real person’s opinion of it. I might have spent more time on each picture as well, and since I could save and reopen them I can work on it some more.

So I was playing a game in a style that might not be for me (I’m definitely not an artist) without the perfect tool (Though I’d argue the mouse should be good enough the game doesn’t demand a drawing tablet) and to be honest, It makes it impossible for me to recommend it. However, if you’re a person who just oozes creativity, and you could just do drawing and sketches for hours on end, Passpartout might be good for you. I still think I’d recommend working on your own so you get a proper portfolio or the ability to save it, but if you just want to have some fun with art, Passpartout does do that.

I give this a non-recommendation on steam but I give this a 2.5 or a push rating. Maybe I’m being generous, but I just don’t really dislike this game, it’s just a game that’s not for me, similar to a horror game or really most multiplayer games.

If you enjoyed this review, or are just curious what type of games I do prefer, you can find my Steam curator page at this link. http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31803828-Kinglink-Reviews/

After drawing numerous fidget spinners I got bored.

I like this game as I often turn to art outside of Steam games and have done for the past few years. If you are a creative person, you may find some fun out of this game.

However, the fun won't last, the game is quite repetitive. You paint, you place for sale, someone buys or people dislike it and it never gets sold. You progress, yes but it doesn't feel rewarding as nothing really changes, you just repeat the game in a different setting.

The pricing isn't really worth it, you will probably touch this once and leave it and maybe touch it again in a year or so.

Wait until a sale to get your moneys worth.

Maybe I just don't get this game, or maybe there is nothing to get. I spent an hour and a half at essentially one screen making no discernable progress. You make paintings and then sell the paintings. You cannot spend the money that you make. It seemed to be going alright until no one wanted to buy my paintings any longer. I trashed the ones I had and made new ones, but it didn't seem to help any.
I am not sure what is supposed to happen, or how long it should take, but after that much time seemingly spent going nowhere I was pretty confident I did not want to continue.

So i bought this game, and after a while it started glitching and i couldn't play it.
I requested a refund, since it didn't work.
And didn't get my money back but yet still here I am.
I don't have the game anymore and I didnt get my money back.
That's just scam.

Came to this game thinking i was somewhat good at drawing & left the game feeling that my art isnt worth anything.
Sadge.