blog - Martijn Schrijver

VESPER – CS2 Map: Creating a World for Counter-Strike 2

For the past year, I’ve been working on something quite different from my usual digital artwork: a complete map for Counter-Strike 2. VESPER is a bomb/defusal and deathmatch map set…

Animals in Landscapes: A Surreal Art Book by Martijn Schrijver

After years of creating surreal digital artwork, I wanted to bring a selection of the work together in print. The result is an artbook featuring surreal compositions built around nature,…

Why I Don’t Use AI in My Finished Artworks

Generative AI has changed the way images can be created. It has also changed the conversation around authorship, originality and the role of the designer. I have always approached digital…

Tools of the Trade

The tools are important, but they are never the starting point. I have worked with Adobe Photoshop for many years, using it for compositing, retouching, masking, colour, texture and image…

Telling Stories with Surreal Art

Not every image needs to tell a story. Sometimes an image simply needs to be interesting. But when an idea does have something to say, visual storytelling can make it…

Surreal Nature Art Through the Seasons

The changing seasons have always been a natural source of visual inspiration. Each season brings its own colours, textures and atmosphere. For this series, I used those differences as the…

Animals in Landscapes

A recurring element in my work is the connection between animals and landscapes. A tree can suddenly look like a face. A rock can resemble an animal. A landscape can…

Light, Shadow & a Touch of Magic

Surreal images can contain almost anything. But for the result to feel convincing, the different elements still need to belong to the same world. Light is an important part of…

From First Spark to Final Image

Sometimes it begins with a clear concept. For Tectonic Tortoise, it started with the phrase “If you don’t go to the mountain, the mountain comes to you.” Other images begin…