Yoji Shinkawa

is a Japanese artist. He is best known for collaborating extensively with video game director Hideo Kojima as the lead character and mechanical designer, and art director, for most of his games, including the entirety of the Metal Gear Solid franchise and the Death Stranding duology.

Biography Shinkawa was born in Hiroshima on 25 December 1971. He began working at Konami after graduating from Kyoto Seika University. He first worked as a debugger for the PC-98 version of Policenauts. He moved on to serve as the art director for later console ports of the game, and as the lead character and mecha designer for Metal Gear series, working alongside Hideo Kojima.

In his work, Shinkawa was inspired by anime and manga artists like Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Yoshitaka Amano, and western artists such as Frank Miller, Aubrey Beardsley and Willy Pogany.

Works

Video games

Other works Novels Urban Hercules (illustrations) Metal Gear Solid (cover illustration) Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (cover and interior illustrations) Metal Gear Solid Substance I: Shadow Moses (cover illustration) Metal Gear Solid Substance II: Manhattan (cover illustration) Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain (cover illustration) Point of Impact (cover illustration, 2013 Fusosha Mystery edition)

Films Godzilla: Final Wars (monster and mecha designs) Pacific Rim (Poster design, Japanese release)

Toys Frame Arms/Frame Arms Girl (mecha/character design for Byakko) Project M (mecha/character designer for Takara Tomy)

Trading cards Magic: The Gathering – Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (Satoru Umezawa) Magic: The Gathering – Special Guest: Yoji Shinkawa Secret Lair (Phyrexian Metamorph, Tezzeret the Seeker, Skullclamp, Solemn Simulacrum)