# Yoji Shinkawa

Yoji Shinkawa (Japanese: 新川洋司, Hepburn: Shinkawa Yōji, born December 25, 1971) is a Japanese artist. He is best known as the lead character and mecha designer for the Metal Gear franchise. He has collaborated with Hideo Kojima on many of his games.

## Biography

Shinkawa was born in Hiroshima on December 25, 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 art director for the later console ports of the game, and as the lead character and mecha designer for the Metal Gear series. He served as the art director for all Metal Gear Solid games, while providing character designs for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. He is the lead artist and character designer for Kojima Productions.
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. He drew inspiration from French artists such as Mœbius. Shinkawa used felt-tip pens, especially the Pentel Brush Pen, as well as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. He is a fan of heavy metal, and artists such as Megadeth, Rage, Killswitch Engage and Yngwie Malmsteen.

## Works
### Video games

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1994 | Policenauts | Mechanical design |
| 1998 | Metal Gear Solid | Art director, character design, mechanical design |
| 2000 | Metal Gear: Ghost Babel | Illustrator |
| 2001 | Zone of the Enders | Mechanical design |
| 2001 | Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | Art director, character design, mechanical design |
| 2003 | Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner | Art director, mechanical design |
| 2004 | Fu-un Shinsengumi | Illustrator |
| 2004 | Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater | Art director, character design, mechanical design |
| 2005 | Fu-un Bakumatsu-den | Illustrator |
| 2006 | Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops | Character design |
| 2008 | Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots | Art director, character design, mechanical design |
| 2010 | Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | Art director, character design, mechanical design |
| 2013 | Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance | Character concept design |
| 2014 | Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes | Art director, character design, mechanical design |
| 2015 | Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | Art director, character design, mechanical design |
| 2017 | Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Zombies Chronicles | Illustrator |
| 2019 | Left Alive | Character design |
| 2019 | Death Stranding | Art director, character design, mechanical design |
| 2025 | Death Stranding 2: On the Beach | Art director, character design, mechanical design |

### 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)