How would one translate an artist to a character class?

Bards cover musicians, Dancers are a class in lots of games, but what about ink/paint artists? How can you make one of those into a character class? How can you make their skills work against monsters?

I'd go with an illusionist spellcaster of some sort, painting so well that their work can be mistaken for reality, or even gains its own measure of existence for a short time.

Maybe this but mix it with alchemist in that you need paint, lots of it. The same way alchemists need ingredients for spells, a painter needs to gather up and use paint for everything they do.

Maybe go the 4e route and have their brush be an implement for casting their spells.

I wound up scrapping the project, but I once devised a game in which the "Painter" class was a mid-level spellcaster with the unique ability to alter terrain features.

I dunno how useful that idea is.

Literal happy little trees everywhere?

That's part of it.

>Sigil Mage, Caligraphy Spellcasting.
>Draw Kanji or Runes or your cultural preference of scribbles, cause effects based on the concept depicted.
>Arrange statues to cast shadows of particular symbols based on what time of day it is, or time of night with lunar shadows, so as to have a rotating set of safe paths for security instead of static defenses.
>Tattoo signs on people for permanent enchantments, or curses if they've earned it.
>Can't ever pick up books for fear of accidentally manifesting words from a page.
>Pick up artistry to avoid words for a while, start manifesting landscapes as illusions.
>Accidentally conjure creatures from canvas.
>Have to give up each new hobby.
>Music accidentally changes the seasons to disastrous results.
>Interpretive dance causes earthquakes.
>Give up, take on a life of aescetic living in simplicity with no expressions. Even the slightest aesthetics must be avoided for fear of what it may become.
>Persuit of plain-ness and blandness finally reaches a point of safety, stability, manifesting as an anti-magical warded protection.
>The monk sits in calm, seeking nothing, no expression, no creation.

>BBEG's new quest is to throw a How To Draw Anime book past the wards.

In ancient times, people themselves weren't called geniuses or prodigies, they were said to be blessed by a muse who inspired their art/invention/ideas. I think bringing this concept back to the class would be where it needs to go. The person would be a conduit for one or more muses to work through, inspiring masterpieces. Since this is for a PC and PCs must get stronger, the PC could obtain more muses to draw from, increasing their range of master pieces. To add some more fantasy too it, the muses could interact with the real world in small, subtle ways to help the person not die, further their goal, or just get them back to the canvas sooner. Things like small telekinesis or bits of extra luck would go far for a PC when constantly at work in the world around him.

But luck can only take someone so far, those poor muses (pic related)

Relm from FF6

Practitioners of the Arts,
Lifting spirits, breaking hearts.

Rather similar to bards, but affecting party members and enemies through paintings instead of music.