Community Spotlight is a regular feature that highlights and celebrates amazing fan projects in the Remedy community. For today's article, we're focusing on the gorgeous and nerdy work of Rist, who has been filling our timelines for months with her amazingly sweet Control artwork.
The world of Control is exceptionally strange, filled with items mysteriously linked to impossible powers, and objects that choose their own fate. The characters are certainly peculiar; seamlessly understanding and excepting the situation around them, despite the ever-shifting rooms and otherworldly creatures stalking the corridors. Today, I wanted to spotlight Rist, an incredible artist within the community, whose stories into Control's bizarre universe are delightfully quirky, beautiful, and an absolute joy to see.
Chances are that if you're on the
Control side of Twitter, you've already heard of this amazing artist. Even almost two years on, Rist is one of the most prolific artists in the community, and her work is always a real treat to see suddenly on your timeline. Each piece feels something new and while she's got an iconic style, she's also someone unafraid to try something new, from bold line-art exploring the game's symbolism, to stunning explosions of colour in pieces continuing the game's story or even a
physical Jesse Faden figure.
The thing I love about Rist's work is just how absolutely joyous everything feels. Her subjects, her use of bright or pastel colour, everything is balanced so perfectly. But there's also something behind the work that I really enjoy too. You know when someone is so enthusiastic and loves a subject, and as they write or talk about it, you can hear it in their voice, as though they can't wait to share this detail they've found with you? Rist's artwork comes through like that! Her work is so joyous because it feels like it was painted with passion and out of genuine enthusiasm.
This past year, it's felt like everything has become muted. There are articles about how people who are fortunate to still be able to work are facing burnout due to the lack of routine, socialisation, and being able to get away. This thing has impacted our work, our social lives, and even our hobbies. I still love the things I'm passionate about, but it's still harder to write posts this past year, to read my favourite book series, or play my favourite games. Rist's passion and love for the game clearly show through in everything that she does, with each piece feeling like a celebration of the work it's inspired by. Seeing artwork like this brings that love back.
We recently reached out to Rist, to ask about her creative process. You can read the interview below!
First of all, we'd love to know a little more about you! Can you tell us about yourself?
I’m Rist, a Chinese college student majoring in physics. I used to love science, but now I prefer art and dream about learning game design after graduation. I’m gradually becoming a hardcore gamer because I love digging out what game developers want to tell us and the secrets behind the games. I like to create animation memes/write science fiction in my mind while listening to music, and that keeps me energetic all the time. ;)
In your spare time, you create these absolutely amazing pieces of Control artwork. When and how did you get your passion for art?
When I was a junior high school student, I was obsessed with drawing my own characters in my textbook and specifically in my notebook. I like to draw some certain subjects' anthropomorphic characters like physics and chemistry, or chemical compounds. (It looks like Furry but I'm not sure if it is Furry.) I thought this would help me to change the impression of those subjects and enjoy learning. After becoming a college student, I have a lot of spare time to play video games. I haven’t drawn human characters before and I’m not good at drawing them either. But after playing Control, I suddenly fell in love with its amazing story and decided to make fanart and now over 90% of my works are human characters, lol.
How did you develop your style and were there any artists that inspired you?
The artist of the game
Undertale,
Temmie, inspired me a lot by her art. Her adorable art style always made me feel warm inside. But I think I will never reach her level of drawing.
Where do you start when designing new pieces and do you have a routine or tradition when creating something new?
Mostly in my mind, while listening to music or lying on my bed. I'm very dependent on my inspiration, but my inspiration seems to appear randomly, so when it doesn't appear, I can only wait for it. If it appears, I will start drawing in the shortest possible time and devote 120% of my passion to it.
How and when you were introduced to Remedy's games?
Maybe later than you think ; 3 During my senior high school vacation, I searched the Internet for "are there any great narrative games to recommend? "and I found Alan Wake. I love Alan Wake and am looking forward to the sequel. And on another vacation, my friends recommended Quantum Break to me since I love physics very much. However, I didn’t realize that they were both Remedy’s games. Then after I went to college, I heard that Control is a new weird style game. I love new weird fiction! So, I beat the whole game on 2020 New Year’s Day, and, I found Alan Wake easter eggs in it. Then, I: “WOW, REALLY?! THE SAME DEVELOPERS?!" and then I became a HUGE Remedy fan.
What made you decide to create artwork for Control?
I like to search for those stories secrets that were not told by the game directly. They often appear in documents, recordings and conversations, and some even hide in the surrounding environment. I've played Control main game eight times, DLCs four times in total and I could always find some new details in different playthroughs. These stories/secrets/details attracted me, I love them VERY much, so I decided to make my fanart to let other gamers notice them.
From start to finish, on average, how long does it take you to make a single piece? And what's the hardest aspect or most time-consuming part to get right when creating them?
One fanart per night on average, but due to schoolwork or lack of inspiration, the time may double or triple. Despite all this, I never felt that it took my time too long because I enjoyed the process of creation. I'm not a professional artist, so the most difficult part for me is that I don't understand the structure of the human body very well, need to find a reference and I often draw incorrectly. Haha, hope I can draw better one day!
A huge thank you to Rist for taking the time to answer these questions, and for her amazing artwork! You can follow her adventures on Twitter and Instagram!
