Counter Strike is a very interesting game, it's one of the first 'realistic' games to move away from the fantasy setting that earlier game/arcade titles had, it's the first game with an "afterlife" (players don't instantly respawn like in unreal tournament, etc) where you can move the camera around and spectate the map while you are dead (you can even see things, like outside of the map, or inaccessible areas, while dead, that you cannot see or access while alive). More and more, on the older version's of Counter-Strike (Counter-Strike: Source, from 2004, in particular), people are not playing the game as it was intended to be played. On Counter-Strike: Source right now (as of 2026), more people are playing a gamemode called "Surf" instead of the traditional combat-based bomb defusal or hostage rescue gamemodes.
Surf is a gamemode that is based purely on movement, and the most popular type of surf is called "Skill Surf", where players slide down ramps with incredibly precise movements to try and complete a course as quick as possible. High level surfers have unique styles of movement and which maps they like the best, surf is really not that different from a type of dance. People compete for the world record (fastest completion time) on specific surf maps. In skill surf there is no violence or fighting element at all, and no weapons present whatsoever. In a way, the rise of Counter-Strike Surf has largely transformed Counter-Strike: Source into a nonviolent game. Counter-Strike has a history of 'interventions' - most notably Velvet-Strike - seeking to address the hyperviolence present in the title. It's absolutely worth it to read more about velvet strike and look at the Sprays gallery since that is what this work is *heavily* inspired by, and because it is an *incredible* project. Velvet-Strike had a big impact (especially a negative impact from players who had their games interrupted by the 'interventions'); but did not have a permanent effect on the game like Counter-Strike surf does.
The below images (with the exception of the paintings) are character studies, or small pieces about the T (terrorist) and CT (counter-terrorist) living inside of Counter-Strike; and what happens to them now that surf is the predominant way of playing older CS.
The paintings are studies of community-made counter-strike maps; with a focus on 'zombie escape' (another custom gamemode), since these maps are laid out with choke points/etc, and the landscape of the map shapes what will happen at certain points (similar to how the landscapes/backgrounds of narrative renaissance paintings are formed around what is happening in the painting).
All images may be clicked to enlarge.
