While KoF has inspired a lot of competitive play over the years, its fighting mechanics aren’t the only thing that has appealed to fans all over the world. During its 20 years it also developed a number of appealing characters and stories.
While the game mechanics have inspired some great players to delived exciting performances in competitive events, the other aspects of KoF and other SNK series have also inspired a number or artists in their chosen craft.
Today we try to start giving some of these artists some focus, and we’re starting by interviewing Victor Lozada, an artist from Mexico.
DC: How did you get started with illustration?
VL: Well, I started with digital illustration like three years ago, I did a couple of drawings before these three years but I was not serious about learning and was not committed at all with practice so I don’t consider my previous drawings as experience ’cause I did one or two a year, and you can see this on my DeviantArt page, where I opened an account without even posting anything for like 4 years.
The interest for getting better came all of a sudden, I was doing graphic design for video games, it was more… adapting and resizing assets than really creating from scratch. And then I got some spare time every once in a while at work and started practicing cause I wanted to, one day, make a video game cover, I wanted to be in the creative team, not only in the production line. Once I started admitting I knew nothing, I started learning with a fresh point of view, and here I am, still learning and hopefully getting better.
DC: Is it more of a hobby, or do you have some paid work experience or specific aspirations?
VL: Currently it is more a hobby since I haven’t gotten paid yet for any of my illustrations, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time promoting myself without being really good. I rather spend that time practicing and improving my portfolio. But I do want to work doing this. I still am in the graphic design production line.
Yes, I have worked in the game industry for five years now, though I haven’t made it to the creative field yet. I still work adapting assets that are already made. Recently, a friend and I made a little, very simple, game for Android in our spare time just for fun. It was more of a test and we learned a lot in the whole process. We made some mistakes, we rushed to publish it before it was totally ready and it was not successful at all, but we learned a lot and we are planning to do something a bit more complex and more polished visually. Here´s the link to it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Lemurian.KipusFlight&hl=en
Blue Mary by Victor Lozada
DC: I noticed your gallery covers many different subjects, like nature, comics, movies, TV and games – what was it about KoF and Samurai Shodown that got your attention to draw their characters?
VL: I have always liked SNK characters since my childhood, me and my brother used to hit the arcades so often in order to play those games, he was way better at playing. I, on the other hand liked to spend more time looking at the art of those games in general, good times.
DC: What are your favorite games in the KoF and SS series, and why?
VL: My favorite characters from KoF were Terry Bogard, Iori Yagami, K´, Joe Higashi and Ryo Sakazaki, I always chose those. From Samurai Shodown I liked Genjuro a lot, like his bad ass personality and so skilled with his sword. I also liked Haohmaru and Ukyo a lot as they were very well thought, very well designed characters.
Genjuro by Victor Lozada
DC: You’ve done some pretty good illustrations of Vanessa, Mary and Genjuro – any other favorite SNK character you’d like to illustrate some day?
VL: Thank you, yes. I want to do a lot more SNK fan art, I don’t get tired of those characters, I don’t think I ever will and I have been asked to do Mai Shiranui a lot so maybe I will do that one next, hopefully soon. I’ll let you know. :)
