Baconfry
Terrarian
I like to think of the Painter as a forum-goer who owns an art thread. (Like I would know what that's like.) I gotta say this on the Painter's behalf: I actually like many of the pieces he sells. But there's one problem with this guy that prevents his art thread from becoming successful.
He doesn't take requests.
That collection of 14 paintings? That's all he has, and that's all he can do. Hmph! A true artist cannot restrain himself to such limited boundaries! He must allow his imagination to expand outwards and be free! Or, at the very least, he should be able to look at an existing painting and copy it. That's what this suggestion is about.
I'd like to welcome the Painter to the "NPCs who are useful for reasons other than selling stuff" club! Currently composed of the Guide, Goblin Tinkerer, Dryad, Nurse, Stylist, Clothier (sorta), Angler, aaand... well, that's it. This new function, "Paint" (what else?), would open up an interface similar to the Tinkerer's "Reforge". One input slot, one output slot. And the input slot only accepts paintings. Now, for only 3
Some paintings generate when a world is created, some are only obtainable during holiday events, and there's one that you have to obtain randomly as a quest reward from that ungrateful whelp. Loads and loads of trouble to get extra copies of. Kind of makes you want to scream "for gosh sakes, Stefano, why can't you just draw the damn thing?" Hopefully that's something solved by the Paint function.
That's only the first part of the suggestion, though. I like to think that once the Painter has drawn something new, he'd spend his free time practicing and drawing it again. So don't be surprised if you find a new sample of familiar paintings available for purchase every day! (Up to four paintings that have been created before by the "Paint" function in the current world will appear in the Painter's list. Like items that were first sold to an NPC, they disappear when purchased, but the list refreshes every day.) The price is 1
Looks like that's it! I will take some time to highlight another gem of a suggestion, though. This one's by @Vikri: http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/sculpter-npc.7748/
And I'm pointing it out here because the Sculptor would be made even more useful if, like the Painter, he were able to create copies of statues that the player brings in. The suggestion is great, I strongly recommend reading it.
And thus we enter the obligatory "the suggestion is done, now I must encourage people to provide good feedback so this can develop further" section. What a bother! Just use whatever tools the forum provides to show your appreciation and share your thoughts, and have a nice day!