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REMEMBRANCES OF A KOF ILLUSTRATOR: AN INTERVIEW WITH EIJI

The KOF series is wildly popular on the Asian continent, too. So this time we thought we'd go a little international!
Let's welcome WING YAN and KING TUNG who have created the popular KOF comic series in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong
USEFUL INFORMATION!
Hong Kong USEFUL INFORMATION!
This's confidential.
Here's the secret to buying comics in Hong Kong.
Actually, you can't find them just anywhere.
Word has it that open-air book stands carry them.
These can usually be found near the subway entrances or dim-sum shops.
So here it is.
It says go to WANCHAI 188 Shopping Center to find games, plastic models and toys, along with comic books.
So tell us where your pseudonyms come from.
We just took part of our names- HUNG and CHOY-from our names HUNG WING YAN and CHOY KING TUNG. We thought it would be easy for our readers to remember.
OK, please tell us what titles from the KOF series (hereafter, KOF) you have been involved with.
We did illustrations for the DC edition of KOF 2001 and KOF 2002, and we worked on the comics for KOF 2001 to 2003 along with KOF MI, which we're working on now.
You're working on a comic for KOF MI now?!


A lot of characters from SNK games created up till now appear in this series. What did you think about that when you first got involved with this?
Initially I had mixed feelings of dread and joy (Laugh).
What I dreaded was whether Japanese KOF fans would accept the style of our illustrations. What made me really happy was that we were able to create the official illustrations for SNK.

Which character among them all from what game were you most happy with?
WING YAN: For me it was Kyo Kusanagi from the Orochi Saga.
KING TUNG: For me it was K' from the NESTS Chronicles.

Among the characters that didn't appear, is there one character you thought, "Man, I really wanted to put that guy in the game."? Which character from which game would that have been?
I wish the Orochi from KOF '97 would have been added to the NESTS Chronicles, too.
Which original KOF character do you like?
It's can only be Kyo Kusanagi and K'!
Which character did you think, "This guy's really wild!"? What characteristic makes him special?
Iori Yagami, of course. With his grudge against Kyo and when he enters his blood rage, I think he's really original.
Which character or characters did you personally think would be popular? And which did you think were less popular than you'd thought?
The characters who got the reception we thought were Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami. Angel was less popular than we thought. We thought it was strange that she didn't become popular since she was strong and H-O-T.
What do you worry about most when you're drawing, or which character is tough to deal with?
Iori Yagami. That hair style especially (Yikes), since its shape changes dramatically based on the angle you draw, so it's awfully tough. EVERYONE AGREES (Laugh).
I think there must have been characters you drew well and some you didn't, could you come right out and tell us who they were?
I'm good at drawing Kyo Kusanagi, and K' is hard for me to draw.
When I'm drawing a character I refer to the official character illustrations, but when their look changes with the artist so it's tough to get the image right.
Getting away from the characters...
If there was something you thought was good about dealing with KOF, could you tell us what that was?
The best thing was that the Japanese fans accepted our illustrations.
OK, you can tell me now. If there was a part of the job that made you think "Aw, man, give me a break!" spit it out. (Laugh)
As you can guess...SNK is really strict in checking our artwork (Laugh).
Yeah, I wish they'd cut us a little slack (Laugh).

Yeah, I guess that's the roughness that comes from their love of KOF. (Yikes)


Do you guys prefer drawing digitally or with pen and paper?
We like both, but when you work with paper it's easier to control your drawing, and working digitally makes it easier to change things.
When you draw on paper what sort of art materials do you enjoy using?
I use mechanical pencils, markers and brushes.
Do you doodle? What sort of doodles do you draw?
That's a given!
When I was a kid I often used to draw flip cartoons on the pages of my textbooks and doodle heroes.
...The classes were really boring...(Yikes)

Wow, a bit more honesty than required...(Laugh).


I know you can't toss all the work you have now aside, but if someone told you that you could, what would be the first thing you'd do?
I'd like to take a trip somewhere.
I'd like to go shopping in Japan again! I've been there twice before, but I'd like to go again and have some fun there.

Please tell us your memories regarding KOF.
(A particularly memorable incident at work, any failures or inside anecdotes-anything will do.)
I had to complete three illustrations in a really short time once.
I wanted them to be a real masterpieces, but I didn't have the time...(Yikes).
Along with that, there's the pressure when we get grief from our fans or SNK rejects some of our artwork...anyway, that's real drag.

What sort of hopes do you have for the future of KOF?
I hope it keeps going on from now on and doesn't end with a dream match.
Finally, let me ask you this. What is KOF to you?
There are a lot of unique characters and they all have their peculiar style of fighting. And the character designs are awesome-even just a quick glance at them and they're hard to forget.
I hope you guys keep coming up with more remarkable characters.
HUNG WING YAN & CHOY KING TUNG
WING YAN & KING TUNG
CURRENT WORK:
Producing and publishing comic books.

EQUIPMENT THEY USE:
Power Mac OS9
HDD 40GB 512MB


FAVORITE SOFTWARE:
Photoshop 5.0, PAINTER
(for illustrating)
Freehand, QUARK
(for designing comic books)


IMPORTANT THINGS IN THEIR LIVES:
Balancing work and private life.
Since both of them are married they can't ignore their families. [Their wives would rip them to shreds.(Laugh)]


FAVORITE THING:
Reading and watching movies.

ADVICE TO PROSPECTIVE ILLUSTRATORS:
Don't fear suffering and have "faith" in your own work.


 Since Tonko was really busy at the time this interview was conducted by e-mail, and he took great effort to remember his KOF experiences for me.
 I hope he continues to be creative and preserves the unique quality his work has.


KYO KUSANAGI
by WING YAN

K'
by KING TUNG
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