Today’s post is a sort of video collection – an endorsement for Stan Prokopenko’s YouTube channel, “Proko,” if you will. Proko’s channel is a great resource for artists, and the professional level of polish his videos receive makes them enjoyable to watch casually.
Proko has done several interviews with, and videos about Korean master artist Kim Jung Gi (sometimes Americanized as “Jung Gi Kim”), most of which revolve around Kim’s mind-boggling skills, and seemingly incomparable, intuitive knowledge of perspective, and anatomy.

!!! NSFW Warning !!!

Kim Jung Gi frequently draws explicit and/or erotic artworks. As a figure artist, he routinely draws naked people. If that sort of content bothers you, consider this your fair warning.

For reference, quotes will be cited, and a timestamp for the relevant quote will be provided as a hyperlink within the internal citation. Sources will, as always, be listed at the end of the page.

Introductions

If you’ve read my About page, it should come as no surprise that Kim Jung Gi is my favorite artist. It’s difficult for me to fully express the importance of Kim’s artwork in my life – discovering his work for the first time quite literally redirected the course of my life.
That said, even though I love him and his artwork, viewing his work can, at times, be very discouraging. He is a master artist, and sometimes I neglect the fact that he’s been drawing at a higher level than me for longer than I’ve been alive.

Realistically, it is unlikely that I will ever be as good of an artist as Kim Jung Gi. But, I think James Douglas put it best, when he said the following:

“I think a really important thing for us to do, in order to learn more, is to demystify artists that we look up to. It’s easy for us to look at a video of Kim Jung Gi drawing a panoramic scene, and regard it as something that’s impossible. But if you break down his process, and keep in mind the fact that he has many, many years of experience, we can, at the very least, aspire to draw at his level” (BECOMING A GI).

Please keep that quote in mind as you watch these videos.

“Kim Jung Gi – How to Become a Master”

“Kim Jung Gi – How to Become a Master” focuses on how Kim Jung Gi became a master artist, and how learning artists can apply Kim’s work ethic and skillset to their own learning process.

In this first video, Proko interviews Kim Jung Gi, asking him various questions related to his memory, his childhood, his time spent in the military, and other areas of his artistic experience. Generally, this interview/video is centered around Kim Jung Gi as a person. Who is he, and why is he so good? This video provided viewers with a more personal look at Kim Jung Gi’s life, along with a quick, relatively surface-level look at the methods he has used throughout his life in order to reach his current skill level. For example, his constant observation(s).

“[When I was in the military], I would draw in my head a lot. For example, uh.. When I was inside a military aircraft, waiting to parachute down, I would observe the internal structure of the aircraft, and draw it in my mind . . . I would keenly observe the gears and the guns, and try to touch them, and feel them if I could” (How to Become a Master).

As previously mentioned, the interview also covers some more miscellaneous topics, like his personality, and political correctness – the latter of which relates to Kim’s tendency to draw highly explicit erotic art, something his publishers have asked him to dial back.

“They tell me.. ‘Stop drawing stuff like that!’ Uh.. I used to draw whatever I wanted, back when I wasn’t famous – [it] was like thought-vomiting. But since I now have a reputation to keep, I have limitations. Ah, that… makes me a little sad” (How to Become a Master).

I echo Stan’s response to that statement.

“That makes me a little sad, too. The guy wants to draw genitalia – let him draw genitalia. They’re his drawings. It’s his art – his expression” (How to Become a Master).

I’ve been fascinated by Kim Jung Gi since I first laid eyes on his artworks. His impressive use of perspective, incredible knowledge of anatomy and mechanical forms, all crafted in his beautiful line-oriented style, completely changed what I believed was possible in art. This interview provided me with an invaluable look at Kim as a person, something which has served to assist in demystifying Kim’s seemingly impossible skill level.

“How to Draw like Kim Jung Gi”

“How to Draw like Kim Jung Gi” focuses more specifically on Kim Jung Gi’s unique skills – elements of his methods and style that make his work so impressive.

As stated by the video’s description, “How to Draw like Kim Jung Gi” is focused on “[analyzing] his methods, his techniques, and his process. . .” in the interest of, “[figuring] out HOW he draws” (How to Draw like Kim Jung Gi).
While the previous interview focused on Kim Jung Gi as a person, this interview provides a deeper dive into his style, and the various methods Kim employs throughout his artworks. Perhaps chief amongst these methods is Kim’s intuitive understanding and knowledge of perspective, something which relates to his constant observation of objects and forms.

“For instance, when I’m sitting down at a table, I look at the table in front of me, and compare it to another table in the room. I think about the relationship between the table and the people, and then.. a thought comes to me. Does the dimension of the table change as the table gets further away from me?” (How to Draw like Kim Jung Gi).

This can then be tied into Kim’s frequent use of cross-contour lines, lines which define the direction and volume of a form. Where contour lines are basically the outline or silhouette of an object, cross-contour lines wrap around that object, and give it three-dimensionality.

“You can utilize the stitching of clothing.. It can be a good indication of the folds, and.. the cross-contour line of the body” (How to Draw like Kim Jung Gi).

Of course, Stan asks about Kim’s frequent use of “fish-eye perspective” as well. Academically, the term used is “curvilinear perspective,” or “five-point perspective.” This is an outrageously difficult concept to understand, much less execute in an artwork, especially across a large scene without any underdrawing.

“Yes, I did study that as well. Fish-eye structure is a structure that was created out of my ego. That is, ego to include as much as possible on a single scene. Let’s say I’m in a coffee shop. If I were to draw the coffee shop, I can draw the left, middle, and right side. But, through this structure, I simply wanted to squeeze everything into one frame” (How to Draw like Kim Jung Gi).

The rest of the video continues to go into much greater depth on Kim Jung Gi’s interests, methods, and techniques, and it’d be pointless for me to repeat all of that information here. If these quotes or subject matters interest you, I highly recommend watching the rest of these videos. They’re incredibly interesting, and I think Kim’s extremely detailed style, built upon his detailed knowledge of various objects, will likely interest artists and non-artists alike.

Closing Quote

With all that said, I’d like to end on my favorite quote from the “How to Become a Master” interview.

Stan: “What do your siblings do?”
KJG: “Uh.. One, my little brother, works for a pharmaceutical company. And my little sister is married, and is an ordinary housewife.”
Stan: “Are they happy?”
KJG: “I think I’m the happiest.”

Sources

  1. Douglas, James. “BECOMING A GI II: Drawing in Curvilinear Perspective.” YouTube, uploaded by moderndayjames, 21 Sept. 2017, youtu.be/9MZbpVWVI7E.
  2. Prokopenko, Stan. “Kim Jung Gi – How to Become a Master.” YouTube, uploaded by Proko, 10 Dec. 2018, youtu.be/aoqu5SEFqRI.
  3. Prokopenko, Stan. “How to Draw like Kim Jung Gi.” YouTube, uploaded by Proko, 16 Dec. 2019, youtu.be/DmqFbgKWoao.


Disclaimer

All information in these posts is my own words, unless explicitly stated otherwise. None of this information is quoted, nor paraphrased, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Any similarities between my own words, and the informative sources/hyperlinks provided is purely coincidental, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
In any case where I am using someone else’s words (or imagery), the source will be cited internally, with a link to that source provided either within the internal citation, at the end of the post under “Sources,” or both.