Sometimes, while reading through mentions and hashtags, we stumble across someone so talented, it stops us in our tracks. That’s exactly what happened this month, when we discovered the incredible work of Daniar, a super talented artist, who also happens to be a DEATH STRANDING super fan. We just had to celebrate Daniar’s work as part of our #DSPorterSpotlight series. Enjoy!

INTERVIEW WITH DANIAR @DOrynbayev

Hi! It’s great to have you on board for this month’s #DSPorterSpotlight piece. Your work is incredible and honestly, it totally blew us away! Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?

Hello! Thank you for having me. My name is Daniar. I am a comic book artist from Kazakhstan. I have been drawing since childhood, thanks to my Mom and Dad and my sister, who provided me with books and American comics from the beginning. Artists who influenced me greatly are Hayao Miyazaki and Yoji Shinkawa.

You mention in one of your posts that you’ve put hundreds of hours into DEATH STRANDING and DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT. What is it about this game that makes it so special to you?

I’ve spent 393 hours in DEATH STRANDING and 255 hours in DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT. DEATH STRANDING is an outstanding game. Its story, visuals and music are very beautiful to me. The gameplay is rich and unique. I just enjoy walking in that magnificent virtual landscape of UCA using structures left by online Porters. It brings me peace. Also I live in Almaty city at the foot of Ile Alatau mountains so the open world of DEATH STRANDING feels like home.

Can you talk to us about your artistic process when working on an illustration?

Sometimes ideas for fan art come spontaneously and sometimes I spend hours thinking. After finding an idea I start quickly sketching. If it doesn’t look bad, I proceed to model and arrange the simple scene and fix the camera angle and FOV in SketchUp with my 3D dummies. It helps me to keep the body proportions and perspective. After this, I simply make a screenshot of an arranged 3D scene and draw on top of it in Photoshop. Sketch, line, shadows, color and color overlay FX. Done!

Do you have a favorite character to illustrate from DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT and if so, what makes them so special to you?

I draw Sam Porter Bridges most of the time. I don’t know why. All the characters created by Hideo Kojima and drawn by Yoji Shinkawa are excellent and have a lot of details. I enjoy drawing each one of them.

Do you have any advice for new Porters who might be about to play DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT for the first time?

I have no advice, but I’d like to ask the new Porters if you build a Zip-line please upgrade it to lvl2. Also donate some Container Repair Spray in Postboxes on the way from Port Knot City to Capital Knot City. Thank you! Keep on keeping on!

Thank you so much to Daniar for taking the time to answer our questions! For previous community spotlights, head to:

https://505.games/DSPorterSpotlightTimeline

DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT

STEAM: https://505.games/SteamDSDCLaunch
EPIC: https://505.games/EpicDSDCLaunch
APPLE MAC: https://505.games/DSDCMacAppStore