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When young African artists pick up their brushes, digital or otherwise, they are doing more than creating images. They are claiming creative ownership, placing lived experience at the centre of global visual culture, and challenging the idea that African stories must be filtered or flattened to be understood.
Increasingly, some of these stories are finding unexpected platforms. One of them is the world of video gaming.
With over a billion downloads globally, PUBG MOBILE has evolved beyond a game into a cultural space where art, identity and entertainment intersect. It is also becoming a platform where African creatives are finding international visibility, fair compensation and meaningful professional experience.
A key visual rooted in lived African experiences
One such opportunity emerged through the Ptopia Design Project (PDP), the game’s global design initiative that invites artists to contribute original work to its ecosystem. In 2025, four young conceptual artists and illustrators from Cape Town’s Academy of Digital Arts were commissioned to create the key visual for an African themed PDP competition.
For the team, Chiedza Davies, Marisa Schulz, Pablo Elliott and Roelien van Jaarsveld, the brief was clear. Avoid a generic African aesthetic and instead draw from authentic, lived references.
The result was a richly layered illustration that felt both specific and expansive. A contemporary female figure inspired by Zulu cultural dress anchors the scene, surrounded by everyday details that many South Africans would instantly recognise. A minibus taxi marked with the spirit of ubuntu, a marula tree heavy with fruit, wildlife and city life existing side by side.
Rather than presenting Africa as exotic or symbolic, the work embraces the ordinary and the real. Humour, pride and contradiction sit together comfortably. It does not try to tell every story, only a few honest ones, told well.
That authenticity has travelled far. Since launch, the illustration has generated more than 7.5 million impressions globally across in game placements, digital channels and social media.
Respect begins with fair reward
Beyond reach, the collaboration highlights something equally important, recognition and remuneration.
The artists were credited, paid and publicly showcased. This is a small but significant shift in an industry where emerging creatives are often asked to work for exposure.
For Carla Kirsten, Concept Art Head of Department at ADA, projects like this provide more than portfolio pieces.
“Being associated with a platform of this size places young artists in front of an international audience and gives them real world experience that is difficult to access early in a career,” she explains.
For Davies, the opportunity marked a personal milestone.
“It was my first paid job and my first real client. Working on something as big as PUBG MOBILE felt surreal. It was scary at first, but incredibly validating. It made me realise my skills were industry ready.”
Supporting a stronger African creative ecosystem
The partnership forms part of a broader effort by PUBG MOBILE to nurture creative talent across the continent. Through initiatives like the Africa Rising Designer programme, the platform works with African institutions to identify promising young artists, place them in professional environments and compensate them fairly for their work.
It is a model that prioritises mentorship, ownership and fair pay, the building blocks of a sustainable creative economy.
More importantly, it ensures that African stories are told by the people who live them.
Because when African artists illustrate the worlds we play in, they are not simply decorating a game. They are reframing how the world sees the continent, on their own terms.
041Online takeaway:
This collaboration shows that local talent can compete globally without compromising authenticity. From Cape Town studios to international screens, African creativity is already shaping the future of visual culture.
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