Anime Clay
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My gateway artist into Korean anime art and still one of my favorite artists of all time, Kim Hyung-Tae. He broke all the rules, on anatomy, outfits, weapons, footwear and character design in general. And he did it successfully, influencing character designers world wide, and letting the world know what Korean style is. With the intricately detailed outfits and absurd anatomy of his characters, Kim Hyung-Tae uses a thick style of shading to render his characters in what I can best describe as “clay-like” — a look somewhat typical of Korean anime artists.
His work can be found in various art books — such as the Oxide series, and Apple (which he did the cover art for, shown here in the 2nd image). He also did the character design for the PS2 game series Magna Carta and the upcoming MMORPG Blade and Soul.
Kim Hyung-Tae’s official site is still under construction, but will be located here: http://studiosis.com/jam/
For the Magna Carta official site: http://www.atlus.com/magna_carta/
For the Blade and Soul official site (Korean): http://bns.plaync.co.kr/
For Apple Comic’s site (a Korean art website): http://www.applecomics.co.kr/
And for an interview with the artist: http://www.guupress.com/magazine/interviews/htk/1.asp