Control fan art

A selection of Control fan art I made during 2020, around the time I was playing the game.

Control is an action-adventure game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published in 2019 by 505 Games. This is the first Remedy game I’ve played and I was in awe at how charismatic the cast is and how the gameplay was fun. The lore is conceivable, the narrative in general felt engaging and immersive, and the art direction is perfect.

I was also happy to discover Control has art done by Faraz Shanyar, one of my favorite artists. He is responsible for the ingame character’s portraits and other stunning official illustrations.

Symbology

I added onto the painting many lore references and a little bit of foreshadowing — spoilers below:

• The triangles as the ominous, omnipresent Board. Not only in the background, but also in Jesse and Trench’s silhouettes, and small details on their clothes.
• Organic reds (hiss) vs. geometric fractals (Polaris)
• How director Trench contrasts with Jesse (their colors, posture, and edges.)
• Jesse’s finger: “As above, so below”

Development

I started this painting in Procreate, which I found perfect to drag and rotate shapes around to find a nice balance and composition.

I sketched basic poses for Trench and Jesse as separate layers, then dragged them around and sketched triangles in the back until satisfied. Jesse was initially upside-down.

Once the basic elements were in place, I refined the main focus points.

Jesse Faden portrait

This piece needs some adjustments and anatomy fixes, but I still enjoy it.

Director Trench and Casper Darling

A Leyendecker-inspired sketch.

Spoilers: At the time, I was thinking about Darling showing Hedron samples to the director. Trench looks uninterested: He has been infected by the Hiss already.

Darling carefully placed the vial in a metal box. The Hedron sample was safe, contained, and would look good in their next video.

He couldn’t wait to show Trench a sneak-peek. This was something that could save the whole bureau.

“Zacharias had been complaining about hearing whispers,” Darling thought, while heading towards the director’s office, “now that I’m free, perhaps I could look into that as well.”

Misc. sketches – Emily Pope and Langston

My supporters and patrons have access to a high-res version of those paintings. Thank you! ♥

Patreon (hi-res sketches, art insights and more ♥)