Sakiroo

Sakiroo
2008 taking photos
Native name	최상현 (崔相賢)
Born	Choi, Sang-Hyun (1980-07-29) July 29, 1980 Bucheon, South Korea
Nationality	South Korean
Known for	Illustrator, character designer
Website
sakiroo.com

Sakiroo (Korean: 사키루) is a South Korean illustrator and character designer, born Sang-Hyun Choi (Hangul: 최상현; hanja: 崔相賢), in Bucheon, South Korea. The subjects for his work are varied^[1][2] and include caricatures of sports figures.^[3] He has been involved in exhibits and projects (see below), including those in South Korea, France, England, United Arab Emirates, China, Singapore, United States, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela. He lives and works in Bucheon, just outside Seoul.^[4]

Life

Sakiroo received no formal education as an artist.^[5] He said that due to not having a lot of childhood toys, he drew faces of his favorite characters on paper and fashioned them into an origami type of story to play with.^[4] He began earning money for his drawings when he was twenty.^[6] His first jobs were "special dot mini character" designs for the internet communities for Neowiz "SayClub" and "Avatar" in 2000, and for SK Communications and Cyworld "Mini-rooms" during 2003-2007.^[1][7] In 2005, he posed as an "artist" model for clothing brand MLB Korea, and along with his artwork, in an ad for KT&G.^[8][9][10]

For a book cover project in Singapore, artists were asked to choose a book that had been influential to them. He chose Stephen R. Covey's "Principle-Centered Leadership," which he said played an important part in determining his life’s path. "Despite having no formal training in art, he left a nine-year career in the corporate sector to realise his dream of becoming an artist."^[11]

"Sakiroo" is a name that he made up from syllables and sounds that he likes "Sa" "ki" "roo," wanting to distinguish his choice to become an independent artist.^[12]

Style

His work has been described as "a multitude of illustrations and cartoons full of color and extravagance,"^[13] "inspired by cartoons and manga," influenced by "Asian themes,"^[14] and combining "hand-drawn illustrations with digital coloring — using his own color theory." ^[15]

In an interview with KOCCA he said he mainly works on paper, which allows him to sketch in coffee shops in Seoul, without computer graphics.^[6]

Others' works that have influenced him are Yusuke Murata's Eyeshield 21,^[12]Akira Toriyama's illustrations for Dragon Ball^[8] and Toei Animation's sequel Dragon Ball Z.^[14]

Selected Projects and Recognition

• 2006: Interview and live drawing illustration for a singer’s album, Mnet TV, Seoul, South Korea^[6][16]

• 2011: NOW magazine cover, Maracaibo, Venezuela^[17][18]

• 2011: "8 Players Illustrations" for ESPN The Magazine, United States^[19][20]

• 2012: Wall painting, Korean and Colombian artist's group, Wynwood, Florida^[21][22][23]

• 2012: Sakiroo X Jean Paul Egred, Duo Musician Illustration, "Rock It", Wynwood, Florida and Bogota, Colombia^[21][22][23]

• 2012: Dot objects design for Jellyfish Entertainment VIXX 2nd M/V & Album, Seoul, South Korea^[24]

• 2013: Design competition judge, "Cut & Paste: Characterized Seoul 2013", Seoul, South Korea^[6][25]

• 2013: Speaker, Design class, The College of Architecture, Art, and Design at Mississippi State University. Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi^[26][27][28]

• 2013: Speaker 2013 Illustrators Deathmatch, Querétaro Mexico ^[29][30][31]

• 2013: Concept illustration for VIP lounge large mural, Diageo's Seoul Johnnie Walker House, England^[32][33][34]

• 2014: "Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama" Futbol Artist Network, featured Major League Soccer "MLS Insider series", United States^{[35][36][37][38]}

• 2014: "Referee", Grand Prix winner (Al Sabeh Cement), "I Fell From a Unicorn", Bronze winner (Band-aid), for Impact BBDO Dubai, Dubai Lynx International Advertising Festival, Dubai, United Arab Emirates^[39][40]

• 2014: Speaker, Create Now 2014 - 대한민국, Adobe Creative Cloud, Seoul, South Korea^[41]

• 2015: Banner illustration, tutorial, Adobe Dreamweaver CC, United States^[42]

• 2015: Playing Art Edition Two, "Seven of Diamonds", Digital Abstracts Magazine, Spain^[43]

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2012: "Korea Sports Art 2012", Mokspace Gallery, London, England^[44][45][46]

• 2012: "Red Bull F1 Sports Art 2012", Seoul, South Korea^[47][48]

• 2012: "According To Them, East! Meet West", Spaces Gallery, Wynwood, Florida and Bogota, Colombia^[21][22][23]

• 2013: "I Love You Man", Bottleneck Art Gallery, Brooklyn, New York^[49][50]

• 2013: "Read Carefully", Kult Gallery, Singapore^[11][51][52]

• 2013: "Human Movement", Surim Cultural Foundation, Galerie 89, Paris, France^[53][54][55]

• 2013: "The Big Bang Theory Artist Series", Warner Bros. Television booth at San Diego Comic-Con International, San Diego California^{[56][57][58][59]}

• 2013: "The Physics of Friendship: A Tribute to The Big Bang Theory", Gallery Nucleus and Warner Bros. Television, Alhambra California^{[60][61][62][63]}

• 2013: "Ichabod", Lacuna Artist Lofts, Chicago, Illinois^[64]

• 2013: "From Seoul to Mississippi", Visual Arts Center Gallery, Department of Art at Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi^[26][27][28]

• 2014: "Books That Moved Me", National Library Board Read Fest 2014, Kult Gallery, Singapore^[65][66][67]

Publications

His Own

• Sang-Hyun Choi, "사키루의 캐릭터 & 도트" (2005), ISBN 9788959520107

Included In

• Yang Liu, Fantastic Illustration (2011), ISBN 9789881607553
• Dopress Books, Always Me!: Self-Portraits of Global Illustrators (Inspire Series) (2013), ISBN 9781908175168
• Kenny Scharf (Introduction), Andrew Kaufman (Photographer), AK Foto (Photographer), I'm in Miami Bitch! (2013), ISBN 9780989512305
• Sendpoints Publishing, Beyond Illustration: Designs & Applications (2014), ISBN 9789881683403
• Hightone, Magic Paintbrush by Illustration (2015), ISBN 9789867022929

References

External Links

• Official website