To say that Yoji Shinkawa is soft-spoken is a massive understatement. Even though the 29-year old graphic artist is responsible for the cutting-edge visual design of Metal Gear Solid, and some of the most memorable character designs in recent memory, his humble demeanor is astounding – despite his accomplishments, he has all of the mannerisms of a nervous college graduate at a job application. Shinkawa-san was kind enough to take some time out of his rigorous artist's lifestyle to chat with IGNPS2 in Konami's Tokyo design studio.


IGNPS2: Your work on the original Metal Gear Solid really catapulted you into the spotlight. But how long have you been at Konami?

Shinkawa: I've been here since 1994, and my first game was Policenauts.

IGNPS2: In Metal gear solid 2, you're obviously the lead character designer, but how much control do you have over the personalities – as well as the aesthetic presentation – of the characters? Does Kojima come to you and say "We need this girl with a sniper rifle," and two weeks later you give him Sniper Wolf?

Shinkawa: It goes both ways, actually. There are times when Kojima-san will come to me with a specific character he wants, and then I just whip up a character design. But there are times when I come up with a character. For example, with Sniper Wolf, Kojima actually asked for a guy. But then I said "Hmm, what do you think about a young lady with a sniper rifle?" and he was like "Oh, great – let's do that." So there are times when I come up with my own ideas or my own characters to put in the game. I don't come up with any of the lines, or how they actually speak – my job is to make illustrations that inspire Mr. Kojima.

IGNPS2: What's your favorite medium to work in at this point?

Shinkawa: Right now, I'd have to say that my favorite medium is the brush. What I do is I like to paint with a brush, then scan it and take it into Painter on the Mac. I wind up doing a lot of retouching with Photoshop – but honestly, I like using analog stuff to start my illustrations.

IGNPS2: Have you tried doing any CG work?

Shinkawa: I haven't been doing any as of late – that's up to the rest of the staff who are assigned to polygon work. But I work with them very closely when they take my illustrations into 3D – we work together, and I give them directions, like, "Hey, let's move this to the right a little bit," so they can do it right away and I get instant feedback.

IGNPS2: When you create characters, how much do you take 3D into account? A lot of developers like to do sculptures before they ever touch a mouse.

Shinkawa: Right, right. I do sculpture for all of the mechs, like with Metal Gear Rex – I created an actual model for him. I also did a clay model for Metal Gear Ray, who's the dinosaur-type of robot. I show that to the polygon designers, and they work off that.

IGNPS2: Is it ever unsettling to see one of your 2D characters make the jump to 3D? While the first Metal Gear was really abstract, the new one's got insane polygon counts.

Shinkawa: To be honest, I was more impressed when it happened with the first one! It was the first time I'd ever seen my own creations turned into polygons, and at that point, I was really pleased. But at this point in time, I've gotten used to it.

IGNPS2: Do you think that the MGS2 look is going for staunch realism, as opposed to the slightly exaggerated look of the first game?

Shinkawa: Well, with this one, the models are so much more detailed than the previous game. With the first Metal Gear, everything was kind of abstract for two reasons. One, we couldn't really devote a lot of texture to the character's faces – that was a technical limitation. The second reason was because back in the 8-bit, sprite-based games on the Famicom or MSX or whatever, you just couldn't draw detailed faces. It was really up to the imagination of the players. They're the ones who put the finishing touches on the character's faces. Yet this time around, with PS2, we can't do that – we need to include all the details in polygon. They definitely look realistic, but at the same time, it's a tough job for us to do – like the eye movement, the mouth, the facial animations. It's a tough job.

IGNPS2: Right – with MGS, Snake didn't even have eyes, he just had a line of gray pixels. I think it's almost sacrilegious for Snake to have fully rendered, moving eyeballs.

Shinkawa: Actually, there was an internal debate regarding that! We were like, "What should we do with the facial features? Should we leave them up to the players' imaginations, in terms of filling in the missing eyes?" But with the Playstation 2, I guess we have to add in the little details like the eyes.

IGNPS2: Metal Gear's set in the near-future, so you're limited by the constraints of reality – but what's it like to do a futuristic mech game that's totally out there, like Z.O.E.?

Shinkawa: A lot of what you see in Z.O.E. comes from the "Mecha-Graffiti" I used to do before starting work at Konami – just stuff I had done in my sketchbook. A lot of aspects made it into Z.O.E. that would have been out of place in Metal Gear. I'd do a sketch, and say "No, this is too wild, too unrealistic," but all those over-the-top sketches have made it into Z.O.E.. To me, all the characters are very fantasy-oriented, and I'm given that freedom to do whatever I want to do with the designs. I'm having a good time with it.

IGNPS2: We've noticed that none of the mechs have feet – they just kinda taper off into points. Were all of the mechs intended to spend their entire operational lifespan in orbit or airborne? Do they ever walk around?

Shinkawa: Since these robots were intended to be flying around in space, they really don't need feet – that's why I never intended to actually design them. But because they're floating around in a vacuum, they need to be very quick – these are fighting robots, not robots who walk around and carry stuff! These guys don't need feet. The goal is for them to fly as quickly as possible. But when they do come close to the surface, these little skate things pop out – kinda like landing gear – that lets them glide over the surface.

IGNPS2: A lot of the Z.O.E. mechs have that smooth, organic look to them. Were there any particular anime films that rubbed off on you?

Shinkawa: Well, I've probably been influenced by all the giant robot animes I've seen in the past, so I can't come up with one specific title. As for the organic look of the mechs, it probably comes from the lack of joints that you see in a human being. These are fantasy robots – their movements aren't based on joints, but on these smooth, flexible pivot points, like human skin. It's something you don't see with modern-day, real-life robots. For example, Gundam can twist around his waist, but you can't see any joints there – it's probably the result of some super-technology that's way beyond the limits of our imagination.

IGNPS2: Even Metal Gear Ray's got some of that organic style – like the rubber, accordion-style patches that cover the joints.

Shinkawa: With Metal Gear Ray, I used a slightly different approach, but there might have some confusion in my head between Metal Gear Ray and the Z.O.E. robots (laugh). There's definitely some similarity there, especially with the smooth motion of the tail. I imagine it's based on some circular plate mechanism.

IGNPS2: The official Konami bio mentions that a lot of your robot designs come from ideas that popped into your head in school. What'd you watch when you were a kid?

Shinkawa: Hmm. I was a big anime fan. I watched a lot of Gundam, Five Star Story… I read a lot of manga as a kid, too, but recently, there haven't been much that have turned me on.

IGNPS2: What do you enjoy creating more – robots or humans?

Shinkawa: They're both fun. The funny thing is that when I'm designing mecha, I want to go back to human characters, but when I'm designing people, I start doodling pictures of mecha! (laugh) With mecha, the fun part is the imagination process – trying to come up with new designs, and realizing all of that on paper is very tough. They're both very different – but they're both fun.

IGNPS2: Now that you have more detail to play with in terms of 3D, have you been adding more to Snake?

Shinkawa: The sketchbook illustrations and concept art are the same, but when we turn them into in-game models, I tend to add more detail when I work with the modelers. For example, now you can see the seams on Snake's gear, and we can give detail to something like a little bag that he carries around his waist. Giving clear instructions to the designers is very difficult, so I'll do a lot of research – I find something in a magazine, and I tell them that this is the kind of thing I want Snake to carry.

IGNPS2: He's also looking shaggier this time around – that's one hell of a mullet. Are there any other characters who will be coming back with a different style or a facelift?

Shinkawa: Well, Revolver Ocelot's the same – he was an old man before, so he's still looking aged. But Otacon is a little different. He's experienced the first game, and he's definitely grown up a little bit. He's a tougher man now. Well… a little tougher. You can tell that from his face. As for other characters… we really can't give away who's coming back and who's not, so you'll have to wait and see.

IGNPS2: Whose team are you spending more time with – Z.O.E. or MGS2?

Shinkawa: I'm definitely a Z.O.E. person right now, because we're really close to wrapping up the game. I'm currently making a lot of fixes to the model textures, and I'm also working on the in-game lighting. All of the illustrations I'm working on right are for Z.O.E..

IGNPS2: What'd you think of the McFarlane toys?

Shinkawa: Well, I was really excited to see my characters in 3D when working on MGS, but it was a different experience to see the action figures based on my characters – they were actually tangible. It was really a delightful moment.

IGNPS2: Whenever I think of Metal Gear, I always think of cool illustrations, because there's so much 2D art in the game's interface, in the ads, even on the box. A lot of developers are content with rendering out high-poly models of their characters, and slapping that on the title screen. Do you think that 3D is ever going to replace the 2D style?

Shinkawa: There could be a day when that 3D style could wipe out the 2D stuff – but at least the initial designs still have to be 2D. You always have to take a pencil and draw stuff on paper. That's never going to go away.

IGNPS2: So you prefer a pencil over a stylus.

Shinkawa: All of the lines you see are drawn on paper with a brush. The thing with drawing lines on the monitor with a stylus is that the results you get are exactly what you originally intended. But with a brush, you get a lot of unintended lines – for example, the spreading of the bristles can make accidents; you're applying power to the brush, but then it scatters more than you intended it to. That's how we accidentally create cool effects, and that's something you'll never get while drawing on a computer.

IGNPS2: If you had unlimited creative freedom, would you just ditch the computer entirely and work in an analog format?

Shinkawa: It's a fun idea, and it'd be nice to do – but realistically, when you're drawing in a company, you're only given so much desk space… not to mention the fact that you're not allowed to spill paint everywhere, so I'll probably keep the Mac around. The cool thing about the Mac is that you can change colors instantaneously – let's say with Painter, I want to experiment with a darker blue, so I can just click a few buttons, and boom, everything change at once. Actually, the more I think about it, accidents can happen on the computer as well as with the brush. There was someone applying textures to the face of a Z.O.E. robot, and that person made a mistake and mapped the texture in a way I'd never intended. But I looked at it, and it looked cool, so I used that face for a different robot.

IGNPS2: In your book The Art of Metal Gear Solid, you talk about a lot of American comic artists. What have you been reading lately?

Shinkawa: I read a lot of Jim Lee's WildCATS, along with Hellboy. Initially, I was buying them in English and I didn't know what was going on, but eventually a Japanese-language version came out. I enjoyed that a lot more – the books were nicely done.

IGNPS2: What do you think of the current state of comics in general – both manga and American comics?

Shinkawa: I think that manga depicts more complex human relationships – matters regarding the heart. But nowadays, I'm not reading Japanese manga, because none of the recent ones have excited me. I definitely prefer the older manga – like Ashita no Joe and Ganbatte Genki, which are all boxing mangas.

IGNPS2: There's an ungodly number of those these days – I can't get on the train without seeing some salaryman reading a boxing manga.

Shinkawa: But still, the manga back then seemed to be better.

IGNPS2: Ever thought of doing a Metal Gear manga?

Shinkawa: Hmm.

IGNPS2: We wannit!

Shinkawa: It'd be cool to do a Metal Gear manga, but manga artists are very special kinds of people, and doing manga requires a totally unique – and different – skill than mine. I don't have that skill – I'm not a manga artist. It'd be really difficult to do one myself.

IGNPS2: Well, you managed to give the Snake character a major facelift with MGS – I can barely remember what the original MSX Snake looks like.

Shinkawa: When I did those Snake designs back then, I never intended to include the American comic look. The simple fact is that I like American comics, and that probably came out in Snake – but there never was an intention to make it look particularly Western. I don't know if you know about Tatsunoko Pro – it's a very famous anime company, and there's a very distinct style. If you look at something they do, you're like "Oh, hey, it's Tatsunoko Pro." I'm sure they've rubbed off on me. Actually, I've heard that Tatsunoko Pro style is influenced by American comics. And another person who I like – Yoshitaka Amano, who does Final Fantasy – worked for Tatsunoko Pro for a while, so there is that trend.

IGNPS2: Do you have any time to do non-work-related art?

Shinkawa: Right now, I have zero free time to work on illustrations outside of work. And even if I'm not at work, on the train, I do sketches… but all of those are work-related, too.

IGNPS2: Any advice you'd like to pass on to younger artists who'd like to work as character designers?

Shinkawa: Well, I still consider myself to be one of those younger character designers, so I don't know if I can give them a good message! But one thing I keep in mind when I design for games – I don't know if it's the same for anime or manga, because I've never done it – but I always keep in mind how a character should move in the game. If I don't do that, it might be impossible to move the end product. For example, in Z.O.E., with the main robot – one thing that I kept in mind, along with its motion, were the blood vessel lines you see on he surface. That's something extra you see that makes the character look interesting.

IGNPS2: Have any of your original sketchbook creations made their way into a game?

Shinkawa: Yes… the ninja, from the previous game. Originally, I thought it would be interesting to have a bunch of ninja soldiers, aside from the regular genome soldiers. I just drew the ninja, and Mr. Kojima really got into it. He was like "Wow, this character's cool!" and he eventually became one of the main characters

IGNPS2: Did you ever work as an artist's apprentice?

Shinkawa: Not really. As a small kid, I always enjoyed drawing. In my elementary school days, people would look at my stuff and go "Ooh, you're very good, you can draw very well," that's how it started. In my high school years, when I was preparing for college, I came Tokyo. I was born and grew up in Hiroshima, so I made the trek to Tokyo so I could take summer art classes. My high school art teacher also gave me a lot of advice, and helped me get ready for college. Once I entered college, I did a lot of oil painting, and that's where I refined my technique. As for my comic style, that's something I came up with myself – I didn't really pick that up from someone else. A lot of it comes from Amano, too.

IGNPS2: Are there any plans to do a follow-up to The Art of Metal Gear with your work from either Z.O.E. or MGS2?

Shinkawa: There are no solid plans at this point – but once I make an orderly pile of illustrations for either game, it would be nice to come up with another book.

IGNPS2: Have you produced more art for this game than previous titles?

Shinkawa: I've probably done more artwork for both of these games than I did for Metal Gear. Since I had to work on Z.O.E. and MGS2 at the same time, I haven't spent much time working on actual background art. That's something I have to start pretty soon. For Z.O.E., I've done more than a hundred rough sketches for the robots, and I'm still not out of ideas. I'm still coming up with more illustrations for Z.O.E..

IGNPS2: Speaking of backgrounds, we saw a lot of thumbnail level designs in your first book. Are you creating any environments for MGS2?

Shinkawa: I haven't been doing any level designing right now, but that's something the team's been after me to do. I'd better start on that pretty soon. Fortunately, some of the game takes place on the tanker, and a tanker's a tanker – there's plenty that we can use as reference, so I haven't done any level designing for anything you've seen so far.

IGNPS2: For your next project, would you like to break out of the mecha-military look, and go for something totally different?

Shinkawa: I probably would never do it... but it might be interesting to do design for a sports game.

IGNPS2: Say what?

Shinkawa: Well, there are so many sports games out there, but none of the designs or character motions I've seen so far have really hit me. I know there's a way to improve the characters or overall design in a sports game, and it's something I'd like to do.

IGNPS2: But aren't you constrained by the need for realism? A polygonal quarterback's gotta look like his real-life equivalent… though a sports team full of Vulcan Raven-style characters would be kinda cool.

Shinkawa: Not necessarily the characters – but the look of the screen, or the layout. All of the stuff we see in baseball games are what we'd see in a baseball game broadcast. What I want to do is add something like an MTV-style filter to that – something that would give it a very different look.

IGNPS2: Are there any other genres you'd like to try?

Shinkawa: Space racing.

IGNPS2: Like Wipeout?

Shinkawa: Maybe.

IGNPS2: So what have you been playing in your free time – if you have any free time?

Shinkawa: Actually, I've been playing a lot of Hokuto No Ken (Fist of the North Star)!

IGNPS2: Ohhh, God, no! Anything but that!

Shinkawa: Well, there's not much game there, but overall, it's really cool!

IGNPS2: Well, they recreated the movie in polygon graphics… but the game is… I'm at a loss for words here.

Shinkawa: Well, it's a character-based game, and it's based on a comic – that's how that kind of game should be pulled off!

IGNPS2: (Laugh) And I think we'll have to leave it at that. Shinkawa-san, thanks so much for your time.

Shinkawa: No problem.


Many thanks to Scott Dolph, Yoji Shinkawa, and the rest of the tireless team at KCEJ for their cooperation.

-- Colin Williamson, IGN





*Interview taken with courtesy from www.ign.com, article is reproduced in it's entirety with all credit given to the IGN crew*