Manga Mondays ~ Kim Jung Gi

Following his studies, Kim served two years of mandatory military service. This experience allowed him to get up close to a multitude of weapons, which he memorised and draws upon as reference.

Kim has worked on multiple comic books, his first in 2003 was called Funny Funny, published in Young Jump. He has also illustrated 6 volumes of Tiger the Long Tail (TLT) written by Seung-jin Park. More recently Kim collaborated with Jean-David Morvan on comic book Spy Games, published by les Editions Glénat. Currently available in French with the possibility of it being released in other languages soon.

Not contempt with keeping busy producing comics and a very popular sketchbooks series, Kim teaches at and manages an art school, AniChanga.

Though Kim Jung Gi does have a distinctive manga style as a middle ground, he also swings from very realistic to a more simplified and exaggerated style. Another important part of Kim’s work is his ability to work completely without prior sketches or a photographic reference. He has mastered the ability to visualize the drawing clearly before making a single mark on the paper.

“I observe things all the time. I don’t take references while I’m drawing, but I’m always collecting visual resources. I observe them carefully on daily basis, almost habitually. I study images of all sorts and genres.”

Watch an excellent video of him demonstrating this ability here.

You can also find more of Kim Jung Gi’s work here, here and here.