Yoji Shinkawa appreciation

[JParrilla]

I wanted to express my love of the art of Yoji Shinkawa. For those who dont know of him. He is a Japanese artist from Hiroshima, he is the lead artist in the Metal Gear Solid series. I truly love his style and the way he uses lines. His art has a sense of incompleteness to it that really gives it such character. His style is quite simple and the detail isnt very prominent. It appears that he uses watercolor for his coloring but im not sure. Its hard to explain his style it must be seen to understand. He uses certain colors in places that really shouldnt work, yet they do :) Im just wondering if anyone here is a fan of his art, If not im hoping to spread the word about my favorite artist :)

here are some links:
http://www.creativeuncut.com/profile_shinkawa.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoji_Shinkawa

and here are some pieces from the metal gear solid artbook: (the next to last pic has 2 smudges on the lower corners that I did in photoshop to go over the Konami logos.. I made the pic my desktop background and I didnt want the logos there :) )

[drd]

I always loved the MGS art but I never knew who did it, thanks!

I love his work, the lines are elegant and rough at the same time, wonderful.

This has inspired me to do some ink sketches, definitely!

[JParrilla]

np, glad to see you like it. I really love the 2nd one where he puts those straight white lines over snakes legs and arms. I dont know why but thats really interesting to me

[Jonas Heirwegh]

Yeah absolutely amazing artist, still one of my fav.

Too bad there is so little information about him except for the mgs art books.

That zone of enders artbook has some really cool design in there from him too.

[meowoot]

I really love the Metal Gear Solid series, I didn't know the artist's name until now though. His work is so instantly recognizable.

[JParrilla]

Ive been trying to get my hands on the 2 artbooks but I cant find them anywhere. They are available in pdf format but I really want the hard copies so badly. If I ever come across them Ill post the link

[JParrilla]

I was wondering if you guys could figure out what mediums hes using. Im really stumped. I read something about china ink in the MGS1 artbook but im not sure if thats what hes using. Also his coloring looks like watercolor but Im really not sure.

[algenpfleger]

He uses Pentel brushpens, I got one of those too, awesome tools, I think he talked about those in an interview somewhere on the web. Amazing, amazing artist.

[petitemistress]

he's done the Concept Art for another Hdeo Kojima game too, ZoE (Zone of The Enders), his robots are pretty badass, if you're a fan you should check it out...

hee he uses Pentel brushpens! thats so cool! I own the Pentel GFKP, which is amazing for variating lines and sketching... :)

[Juhani Jokinen]

Yoji Shinkawa was actually one of the very first artists to get me passionate about concept design- and still does today after so many years. I'm simply in love with his style.

Thanks for sharing those images!

-Juhani

[Maestro Andres]

Since somebody mentioned Shinkawa and ZoE (great game BTW), I remembered I have this link around about an interview that was done with him and the director of the ZoE2. So here it is if interested, pretty there are plenty more around the web as well.

Here is a list of the different sections of this interview:
http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/zoe2/english/interview.html

[JParrilla]

im so glad too see peoples interest in Yoji. He inspires me so much.. Anytime I feel down and not feeling practicing all it takes is a quick look in the MGS artbooks and I start drawing immediately :) Can anyone give me links to spme of the brush tips. I have prismacolor markers but they have a really different look, his work looks very watercolor like, the colors opacity is very low just like watery paint

[JParrilla]

I was also wondering about the 3rd piece I posted. I believe I read that he used china Ink and some kind of correction ink. Does it look like that could be correct? How is china ink applied? a brush or a pen? Also by correction ink does he essentially mean white out?

[jt4470]

I'm also a huge fan of his work.
I have no idea how he does it, haha.

He sketched the design for Metal Gear Rex on a train ride home (I think he does the majority of his work while communing to work).

[JParrilla]

Ya those train rides can be inspiring :P Hmm so ya ive never seen anyone achieve that black and white look that he does. Ive looked at some drawings done in china ink and it looks quite similar so i guess thats what it is

[jt4470]

Ya those train rides can be inspiring :P Hmm so ya ive never seen anyone achieve that black and white look that he does. Ive looked at some drawings done in china ink and it looks quite similar so i guess thats what it is

Yea, in an interview, that's what he says he uses.

[JParrilla]

Ok I got some brushpens to mess around with... all I have to say is AMAZING. They are so much fun to use and I am getting so many cool effects with them. My arts taking on a comic-esque type of look but not exactly. Its so hard to explain but I know I love it. These will definetely be replacing my time that I used to use in photoshop. Ive decided to put the digital away for a while until my skills are a lot better. When Im not studying and practicing my ass off sketching, Im gonna be using these pens like crazy. Thank god for Yoji or I mightve never bought em :)

[CheeseRoca]

I'm a big fan of Yoji Shinkawa as well! His work is so unique and well, MGS wouldn't be MGS if it weren't for his amazing character designs.

[waranghira]

yes, my god! :worship: worship:

he does awesome ultradynamic gestalt closure and his lines are so beautifully alive.

here's one of my faves:
391356

[JParrilla]

That image has been the desktop background on both my PC and my blackberry for almost a year now lol.. I absolutely love it

[Musselfarmstudios]

yes, my god! :worship: worship:

he does awesome ultradynamic gestalt closure and his lines are so beautifully alive.

here's one of my faves:


You sure this isn't an Ashley Wood drawing . . . he's done a good bit MGS work himself? I know he did most of the stuff in the booklet and Cover of Snake Eater . . . Yeah, Yoji is a huge inspiration!!!!!!!

Wait . . . never mind . . . I got it straight!

[waranghira]

You sure this isn't an Ashley Wood drawing . . . he's done a good bit MGS work himself? I know he did most of the stuff in the booklet and Cover of Snake Eater . . . Yeah, Yoji is a huge inspiration!!!!!!!

Wait . . . never mind . . . I got it straight!

yeah, its easy to distinguish the style apart if you seen enough of their works XD

Ashley is more tonal, and when he tries to mimick a bit the linear style of Yoji, he still makes it his. Most of Ashley's MGS works are done entirely in Painter whereas Yoji starts and finishes his lines in paper then colors it in either photoshop or painter.

[Grief]

i gotcha covered.


The Art of Metal Gear Solid Ver.1.5 (http://anonym.to/?http://80.251.112.149/vimanga/artbook/art.of.metal.gear.solid.ver.1.5.rar)
Art: Yoji Shinkawa
Download - 269.1mb

[waranghira]

i gotcha covered.


The Art of Metal Gear Solid Ver.1.5 (http://anonym.to/?http://80.251.112.149/vimanga/artbook/art.of.metal.gear.solid.ver.1.5.rar)
Art: Yoji Shinkawa
Download - 269.1mb

oh, lol 8D

nothing like a good Bartholemew Fatima...
or Robin Hood to be more pop.

well, I guess its hard to get a hard copy of this, anyway.

lotsa thanks, dude! :worship:

EDIT: its way too slow... good thing i've already have it in pdf, but im not sure if its 1.5 like the link you posted. Its longer than the cbr or jpg versions of 1 so maybe it is 1.5.
I torrented it some time ago, btw.

[Max Challie]

His style is quite simple and the detail isnt very prominent. It appears that he uses watercolor for his coloring but im not sure.

No, and no. Read this interview (http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/088/088856p1.html).

[JParrilla]

I've read just about every interview with or about the man lol so here's some info.. Almost 100 percent of his initial linework is done with a brush and ink or brushpens. He then scans and colors in painter.. I guess he might color with brushpens as well but lately its been painter. Another method used in his totally black and white work.. Is he will continually paint with a ink wash over and over to get a desired effect.. Then he uses correction ink which I guess is essentially a white out pen and adds cool lines.. One of the images I posted earlier shows this method. Also.. The mgs2 artbook is available to purchase.. Ill post the link when I get on my computer

[Max Challie]

I've read just about every interview with or about the man lol so here's some info..

..so why did your first post seem so puzzled?

[JParrilla]

My first post was made over a month ago....

[waranghira]

..so why did your first post seem so puzzled?

because by that time he only read as much as one or none amount interviews

EDIT: he beat me to it... by a minute, and i was slow enough to notice. XD

[JParrilla]

Thank you waranghira I thought that would be obvious but apparently it wasn't :)