Throughout 2023, we want to celebrate those in our community who go above and beyond. Those whose talents brighten up our mentions on an almost daily basis!

With that in mind, our first blog of the year puts the spotlight on an incredible fan whose DEATH STRANDING charcoal portraits could be mistaken for photos. Meet Krystine, a talented community member from France.

INTERVIEW WITH KRYSTINE ART

Krystine, your work is incredible and we have been absolutely blown away with your talents. It’s a pleasure to be chatting with you! Our first question – Please can you tell us a bit about yourself and how long you’ve been illustrating for?

I’m a French traditional and self-taught artist. Even though I have always drawn, I used to work in the health sector (working with children with disabilities, and also as a medical-psychological assistant for elderly people with mental illness in an institute) but my passion for drawing was much too strong, and now I am more than happy that artist has become my full-time job.

How long does it normally take you to illustrate one of your iconic portraits? Can you tell us a bit about the process?

It takes me about 10/12 hours to complete a single 8×11″ portrait. I often share on the social media videos of my process, showing how I use charcoal in many of its forms, how I make the eyes, the details of the hair, eyelashes, how I work to create shadows and lights on faces.

We can see you’re a huge DEATH STRANDING fan, which is music to our ears. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

DEATH STRANDING is an amazing game with brilliant characters and a great story. I love the gameplay! I think It’s different from other games we know today. I had fun making deliveries and traveling this world, and it’s so beautiful to look at the landscapes in this game. The music is a big plus too!

How influential has social media been in getting your work noticed by the community?

Social media has been the best thing to get my work out there. When I created my Twitter account at the beginning of the pandemic, I didn’t know anyone, 0 followers, zero visibility and it didn’t work for me. But I kept posting my drawings every day, and one day Jeff Ross, the Game director of Days Gone, saw my drawings and helped me a lot to get visibility, and after that, several studios were interested in my work. I also think that when studios share our work it helps the artists gain a lot of visibility, which is then very motivating to create new pieces!

What’s next? Any character portraits 505 Games need to keep an eye out for?

I have a lot of new illustrations planned! Higgs, Amelie, Fragile, Die-Harman from DEATH STRANDING, but I’m also drawing Jesse Faden from Control again.

2023 is going to be fantastic with lots of art!

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us, Krystine.

Keep on keeping on!

Follow Krystine over on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Krystine_art

Do you want to get involved in any of our creator spotlight interviews going forward? We’re on the lookout for fans to interview so give us a shout if you want to see yourself on our website or here on Steam!

You can contact us via our 505 Games social media channels or here: https://505games.com/uploads/