Kyounghwan Kim

The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly

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Freelance artist Kyounghwan Kim is known for creating genre-spanning characters incorporating just about everything from spacesuits to medieval armour and animals. In his recently released character concept art class, Kyounghwan breaks down how he works, and we decided to catch up with him to learn more about his career, what it takes to be a concept artist, and why sketchbooks are still valuable in the digital age.

Tell us a little about your background as an artist. How did you get started and what has your career been like so far? I won the grand prize in a game character contest hosted by Nexon back in 2003. Starting with that award, from 2006 until now I've been a game character concept artist.

I'm currently working as a freelancer and also conduct lectures.

Which artists have inspired you the most, and why?

I'm mostly influenced by Japanese artists. This is because the games I've played since I was young were all from Japan. Specifically, the game art in titles released by Capcom, Square Enix and SNK.

Which tools do you use to create your work?

At first I used Corel Painter, but I've been using Photoshop and Procreate together since 2017.

How has your artwork developed over the years, and what has been behind those changes?

I majored in fine art when I was a student, so my early work was very painterly. But as I continue to work on game character concepts and come into contact with game art, I'm able to make the shapes more concrete. This makes it easier for the viewers to see the direction I'm trying to convey. I think my art has changed accordingly as my understanding of the game industry has gradually increased.