Simon McCall is a British contemporary new media artist who blends traditional impasto painting with modern digital design to create stunning abstract landscapes. His work is inspired by the breathtaking beauty of the English Lake District and the Cumbrian coast, capturing the colors, textures, and light of these rugged scenes.

Simon has exhibited at the Florence Arts Centre, Le Réglement, and Carlisle Cathedral, and was a finalist in the prestigious Anthology Magazine International Creative Awards. His art has found its way into homes, offices, hotels, and public spaces around the world, and he is the author of the book Digital & AI Art.

We asked Simon about his art, creative process, and inspirations.

Can you tell us about your background as a digital artist? How did you get started in this field?

When I was young I used to pencil sketch. I don’t even remember how that started, but by the time I was 11 years old I almost always had a notebook in hand and was always sketching or doodling something. But in my teens I gave that up in favour of other hobbies which I thought were more likely to impress girls!

Fast-forward a few years and the Pandemic struck. Working in healthcare, like many of my colleagues I was working 16 hours every day, I didn’t see my children for 9 weeks except by video call, and was resigned to the fact that being so frequently exposed to the virus at work would eventually mean catching it myself. I had all of these new emotions and fears coursing through me and I knew that I needed to find an outlet for them or risk being overwhelmed.

I tried writing a Blog, but I was just too tired. On my third or fourth attempt, while staring at an as yet blank page on the computer screen having typed a paragraph of gibberish then deleted it, I realised that while my hands were idle I had been doodling. I had intended to write about how exhausted my colleagues were and that is what I had sketched, but the sketch wasn’t good enough to convey the emotions from which it was born so I scanned it into the computer and played around with it until it became ‘Compassion Fatigue’. It was a dark period and that is reflected in those early pieces.

Your work draws from the English Lake District and Cumbrian coast – what is it about these landscapes that inspires you?

I live here, and for anybody unfamiliar with this part of the world it was the inspiration for “The North” in the TV series Game of Thrones.

Shaped over millennia by primordial forces of water and ice, it’s a rugged landscape. And shaped further by the rugged people who settled here…Saxons, Celts and Vikings. There is beauty and history in every direction here. So much so that it can make you feel important and insignificant at the same time. This landscape has inspired artists, sculptures, writers and poets for hundreds of years, it’s just my turn.

You blend traditional impasto painting techniques with digital design — how did that combination come about, and what do you enjoy most about working in this fusion?

I love to paint, but my painting isn’t delicate or detailed. I envy people who can do that but I’m far too impatient. So after I have heavy-handedly painted a canvas I photograph it and upload it to my computer, where it becomes the background to something else. Working on the computer I can be as delicate and detailed as I want, but more importantly…there’s an ‘Undo’ button!

You’ve mentioned that your work aims to represent landscapes rather than recreate them. How do you go about transforming a real-world scene into an abstract representation?

I do it the hard way! I think about the emotions or memories the scene triggers for me, while I draw it as accurately as I can. As a digital image I can slice it into layers of colour, texture, brightness or depth, then I start stripping layers away. The challenge is to see how much I can take away before the image loses its essence and stops evoking those emotions because I want to keep that, but only just. With what’s left I like to play around inverting brightness and colour, and swapping organic textures with man-made and vice versa.

Have there been any surprising or memorable responses to your work?

Not really anything like that, but I do find it fascinating how two people can look at the same image and see completely different things. I usually aim for my pieces to be abstract yet still recognisable. I definitely don’t always achieve that!

What is a dream project you’d like to make one day?

Yes, anything ‘By Royal Appointment’. So if Their Highnesses are reading this…

What advice would you give to artists looking to create physical products of their work? Are there specific challenges they should be prepared for, or tips to make the process smoother?

I think print-on-demand is the best option for most digital and AI artists, in fact I included a section about it in the book. It means that you don’t have a lot of money tied up in inventory waiting to be sold, and if you can have an item printed in the same country as the customer who has ordered it then you aren’t having to ship across borders. There are hundreds of suppliers to choose from, Gelato, Redbubble, Yoycol, Fine Art America, to name but a few.

But they aren’t all equal, they vary in cost, quality of the product and production/delivery timescale. So you need to think about your sales and marketing strategy. Are you promoting your products as high quality fine art, or at the low cost end of the market hoping to sell in volume, or are you placing yourself somewhere in between? Once you’ve identified your market you can look for a supplier that matches.

Do your research. Read customer reviews, ask about others’ experiences of particular suppliers in artists forums and on social media. Be aware of non-commital terms such as “estimated shipping cost” or “minimum delivery timescales”, they should prompt you to dig a little deeper. Once you have a shortlist of potential suppliers, test them by ordering some of your products. And these sample products you can sell, or display at exhibitions or fayres, or use them promotionally as contest prizes or giveaways.

Finally, don’t be afraid to use different suppliers for different products. It may take a little more effort to set up but then it should be pretty much self-sustaining so you can get back to focusing on creating and promoting!

What is a fun fact about you?

I am a self-confessed Geek! My daughters and I love ComicCons and cosplay. We’ll spend the winter building our costumes for the following summer, it’s something we all enjoy and can do together. One day I would like to take them to one of the big international Comic Conventions, I think they would love that experience.

Website: simonmccall.art
Facebook: facebook.com/simonmccall.art
Email: hello@simonmccall.art
The book ‘Digital & AI Art’ is available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon