Date Painted: October 5, 2019
Size: 16 x 20 canvas
A surreal space‑themed, Halo inspired landscape painting created for an art challenge
Now here’s a surreal landscape inspired by the classic Halo video game. Imagine camping deep in the north woods, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way like you see in those incredible long‑exposure photos. You close your eyes for a moment while waiting for the sun to fully set… and when you wake up, the sky looks like this. What would your first thought be
I painted this for an art challenge hosted by fellow artist and streamer Critter Art (Ryan McCulloch Art). You can check out his Instagram. Ryan McCulloch is an illustrator and character creator who does some fine work! He creates unique characters for children’s books and draws some pretty creative sticker concepts. Pretty cool!
The Inspiration
The prompt was “space”. I don’t usually participate in art challenges or prompts because they rarely fit my style. But this one felt doable. I’ve painted galaxy backgrounds before, and I’d been meaning to follow up on my last Halo inspired landscape painting. While searching for ideas, I found a Halo image on Google that sparked something — so I adapted it into a Bob Ross–style landscape with a sci‑fi twist.
Notes From the Easel
This was another painting where I pushed myself a bit. I’d seen the planet/moon technique done before and always wanted to try it. This scene was the perfect opportunity. I won’t give away the full method here, but I’ll give you two hints: a bowl and masking tape. You can probably guess the rest.
One of the things I enjoyed most was breaking out my non‑standard Bob Ross brushes. Anytime I get to use tools outside the usual lineup, I feel more creative.
The biggest challenge? Creating depth in such a dark scene.
When your background is already deep and shadowy, it’s harder to build lighter tonal values on top of it. Dark‑on‑light contrast is what creates depth, but when the “light” isn’t very light, you have to get clever.
The easiest part of the whole painting was the sky and everything in it. And honestly, it was the most fun too.
Prints Available
The original painting is not for sale at this time but I do have prints for sale in my Art Store.
I understand that not everyone has the budget or wall space for original artwork. Prints are a great way to get a high‑quality reproduction at a fraction of the cost, and they come in convenient sizes for offices, game rooms, man caves, or she sheds.
Halo Art Space Landscape Framed Poster
My most popular Halo art on Etsy, Halo Spacescape print, can now be yours to hang on your wall. Show it off to all your friends.
Hope you enjoyed this. I plan on doing more in this style in the future. In the mean time, subscribe to my social media channels or consider joining my email list to stay up to date on studio happenings, works in progress and new pieces.
Happy painting!
