Kim Hyung-Tae has become the most well known Korean anime artist, defining the Korean style of anime (as opposed to Japanese styles) that has influenced artists worldwide and expanded the anime style as a whole. As one of the first artists who I owned an art book by and knew by name, I feature Kim Hyung-Tae’s art work again here on Anime Clay as one of the artists I know best and admire most.

Kim Hyung-Tae’s main work is in character design, designing the characters of the Magna Carta series and the upcoming MMORPG Blade & Soul (which I would highly recommend checking out if you like Kim Hyung-Tae’s aesthetic, because it is an entire world of it with a lot of customization). His characters have a truly unique feel to them, typically having an incredible amount of detail and complexity. There is a quality to the materials and forms of his designs that feel thick and heavy to me which I can best describe as “clay-like”. This clay-like quality is perhaps most obvious in the hair of his characters, which are rich in form and smooth with a heavy liquidity. 

The other quintessential aspect of Kim Hyung-Tae’s art is his extremely stylized and exaggerated anatomy. I have heard a lot of people complain about and attack the anatomy of Kim Hyung-Tae, and every time I am confused. People seem to act as if Kim Hyung-Tae is trying to be realistic, and judge his art based on how inaccurate it is to realistic anatomy. I do not understand how anyone could think that Kim Hyung-Tae was ever trying to be accurate. Furthermore, I do not understand why anyone demands realistic anatomy from any artist of the anime style — a defining part of anime is to stylize and exaggerate anatomy. Even outside of anime, artists have been distorting the human body for centuries, in sexual and non-sexual ways, at times much further than Kim Hyung-Tae. With those contradictory critics aside, I admire Kim Hyung-Tae for his extreme twist on anatomy and the balance that he has found between expressive forms and the human body with the anime style. 

• Official Site (under construction)
• Blade and Soul official site (Korean)
• An interview with Kim Hyung-Tae 
• Apple Comics (Korean art book website where a few of Kim Hyung-Tae’s books can be found)
• You can also find many of Kim Hyung-Tae’s art books at Amazon.com
• Original Anime Clay Post

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