Simon Stålenhag

Simon Stålenhag is a Swedish artist specialising in retro-futuristic digital illustrations that focus on nostalgic Swedish countryside environments that show an alternate history in a world he has created.

Growing up in a rural environment near Stockholm, and began illustrating local landscapes. Stålenhag experimented with science fiction artwork after discovering concept artists such as Ralph McQuarrie and Syd Mead.
Initially starting as a side project, his work began to evolve when he created a backstory for his illustrations, focused around a government underground facility. In parallel with the real-life decline of the Swedish welfare state, large machines slowly fail, having the eventual result remain a mystery.
He uses a Wacom tablet and computer. Initially attempting the use various physical media to mimic a more traditional style, after switching to digital methods he puts a lot of effort into making the digital brushes behave naturally and preserving a certain amount of 'handwriting' in the brushstrokes. The majority of his work is based on pre-existing photographs that he takes which are then used as a starting point for a number of rough sketches before the final work is completed.
Swedish Museum of Natural History
Stålenhag produced these images in 2014 for the exhibition Fossils & Evolution at the Swedish Museum Of Natural History in Stockholm. In 2019, they were published in the book 'Urtidsbilder', with accompanying texts by science journalist Anna Davour. He drew these 28 illustrations after he rediscovered his childhood interest in dinosaurs and contacted the museum to see if he could do anything. In 2016, he followed these with illustrations of hypothetical results of a rising ocean under climate change for Stockholm University's Resilience Centre.
Promotional Artwork for the Video Game 'No Man's Sky'
​Published Books
Initially having his artwork available online, he later released them for sale as prints before turning the illustrations into narrative books.
The first two, 'Tales from the Loop' and 'Things from the Flood', both focus on the construction of a supermassive particle accelerator called the Loop. With his third, 'The Electric State', ​covers the western United States centering around a girl and her robotic companion traversing the fictional state of Pacifica and his fourth, 'The Labyrinth',  following three survivors emerging from an underground enclave for an expedition onto the wastelands of the surface world.
2015
2016
2018
2021
Using Kickstarter to Crowdfund
Link to the Kickstarter page
Television Show - Tales From The Loop Adaption
How His Work Has Influenced Me
I was inspired by his flat, parallel view he uses for his interior compositions. I really like this use of a direct view that makes you look straight at the objects in the room, giving it an intense and unsettling quality. I also think that these interior shots are simple yet are able to capture so much about whoever resides there without having to show the person. I took inspiration from his colour palette on the right, wanting to create a similar rundown look.
In this illustration I was inspired by his bold colour palette that is incredibly striking. I also really like his use of cropping as it creates a tight, enclosed and an almost otherworldly quality. 
Both the palette and subject matter influenced me with this illustration. While he gravitates the sci-fi elements, I wanted to create my own supernatural take on it as that is what inspires me the most. I wanted to incorporate his bold use of shadow and dramatic lighting as well as keeping the colours vibrants.