Author: AJ Grenader (Page 5 of 8)

The image that is shown above is the promotional art for Metal Gear Solid, a tactical stealth game created by Konami. The lead concept artist Yoji Shinkawa, is responsible for the character design of the Metal Gear games and is famous for his abilities to draw figures with strokes and value. He also is extremely talented in drawing mechanical titans, vehicles and armor. Shinkawa was heavily inspired by movies such as Top Gun, Alien and Terminator and often incorporates concepts of sci-fi, mechs, and war themes in his work.

Shinkawa is a digital artist and incorporates value by creating contrasting shadows and gamma in his pieces. He often uses techniques that make his images part of a mist or emerge from smoke. He emphasizes certain part of the face with shadows to create a dramatic scene or a threatening aura and uses lighter tones of gray or color on clothing with careful shading and cross-hatching to emit reflection. I chose this piece in particular because I admire his work and am fascinated by his shading techniques and his use of tones. I felt this piece conveys the mysteriousness and menacing atmosphere of the characters he creates just with figure and shadows alone and was a perfect example on how one could understand value in illustration.