Interview
Kyounghwan Kim
The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly
FACE
AND HANDS
Kyounghwan says that hands are great ornaments and full of possibilities.
Artist PROFILE
Kyounghwan Kim
LOCATION: South Korea
FAVOURITE ARTISTS: Akira Toriyama, Yoshitaka Amano, Akihiko Yoshida, Kinu Nishimura, Range Murata, Shinkiro MEDIA: Photoshop, Procreate, Corel Painter www.instagram.com/tahraart
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 get inspiration from the countless art and content in the world… Going for walks also gives me time to think''
I’m currently working as a freelancer and also conduct lectures.
COLOURFUL
CHARACTER
Kyounghwan elegantly shows personality with colour and composition.
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.