Yoji Shinkawa - Definition and Overview

Yôji Shinkawa (新川洋司, born December 25, 1971) is a Japanese illustrator and conceptual artist. He is most famous for his character, environment and mechanical designs for the Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders video game series.

Born in Hiroshima, Shinkawa began working for game developer Konami in 1994; he was the first artist in the company to receive an "S"-grade evaluation for his portfolio. He first worked as an art director in the home console versions of Policenauts.

Shinkawa's illustration style is generally praised as original and artistic yet technically accurate. According to himself he is inspired by anime-related artists like Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Yoshitaka Amano, but also more western-related and less contemporary artists such as Frank Miller, Aubrey Beardsley and Willy Pogany. He is also a big fan of French artists such as Moebius.

He uses ink pens with a brush-like felt-tip and both Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter for his creations.