News

A look inside Yoji Shinkawa’s workspace

One of the most important people behind the Metal Gear franchise is art director Yoji Shinkawa, who has contributed a lot to the game’s look and feel, and its recognizable characters ever since the first Metal Gear Solid.

In the second episode of Kojima Station, creative producer Yoshikazu Matsuhana paid a visit to Shinkawa’s office.

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa

Shinkawa talked a bit about his job, showing how he worked. He told Matsuhana that he has been using brushes for a long time, and while drawing with a tablet feels similar, he still draws mostly on paper at home.

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-Snake-Computer

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-Snake-Computer-2

This is Shinkawa’s equipment:

  • WACOM CintiQ.21UX / DTK-2100/KO
  • Mac Pro/2.8GHz / Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Before, Shinkawa had a much smaller space, but about a year ago he moved to his current office, which is twice as big. Action figures and statues of his designs surround him. He is also wearing the Metal Gear Rising X Wired watch that he helped design.

Shinkawa also did a live drawing of Snake, using both a brush and a white-out pen for highlights.

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-Snake-Drawing

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-Snake-Drawing-2

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-Snake-Drawing-3

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-Snake-Drawing-4

And he showed the designs for some of the Metal Gear Solid V merchandise: the Fox Edition PlayStation 4, the Puma Jacket poster and a t-shirt.

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-FOX-Edition-PS4

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-Puma-Poster

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-T-Shirt

Here you can see a wall full of environments and character concepts for Metal Gear Solid V, such as Ocelot, Quiet, Skullface and Kaz (missing some limbs).

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-MGSV-Art

All in all a pretty interesting look behind the scenes. If you want to see it for yourself, check the episode from 40:42 onwards.

Kojima-Station-2-Yoji-Shinkawa-Waving

Source: Kojima Station Episode 2

Follow Us

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter