Critical Shift — Cutscene Illustrations pt.1

Cutscene illustrations for Critical Shift, developed by Rhinotales studio (Hello, Kazakhstan!).
This first batch focuses on early-stage black-and-white frames - at this point another artist was handling the color pass, so my task was nailing down composition, staging, and mood through value work alone.
This project spanned a couple of years, and the challenges kept evolving - different scenes demanded different tools and approaches, from intimate close-ups to large-scale supernatural set pieces. The skill growth over that period was steep enough that by the end of year two, I had to revisit and repaint the earliest cutscenes so they could hold up next to the later work.
Huge thanks to Alexander Pavlenko, my art director on this project, for sharp and thoughtful feedback that pushed the work forward every step of the way.
Rhinotales are not only excellent professionals but genuinely great people to work with - I can't recommend them enough.
More cutscene work (including full-color frames) coming in the next posts.