Kim Jung Gi is a South Korean animation artist and visual comic. Kim is the artist of popular Illustrations such as Tiger the Long Tail, McCurry, NYC, 9/11, and Spy Games, which he created in collaboration with other amazing authors. Gi is an artist able to visualize the drawing clearly before he starts jotting down any lines on the paper. His ability to work on something without the requirement of a photographic reference or a rough sketch has helped him amass a large following throughout the years.
The wonderful South Korean artist has also attempted to register his name in the Guinness Book of World Records under the illustration category as the longest drawing by an individual for Fisheye Art. Kim has been an internationally recognized artist ever since his live drawing went viral at an event in the Bucheon International Comics Festival in 2011. The famed illustrator has published many sketchbooks of his own and has also illustrated books for other authors, as mentioned before.
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Early Life, Family, And Education
Kim Jung Gi was born in the city of Goyang-si of the Gyeonggi Province in the northern part of South Korea in 1975. He is not as open about his parents as he is with his art. The South Korean artist has not mentioned the identity of his parents or siblings to the public due to his wary nature.
After receiving a sketchbook as a gift at the age of 6, Kim started getting interested in drawing. At an early age, his interest developed into a passion and led him to attain a formal education in fine arts. Due to Kim belonging to an underprivileged family, he used to entertain himself by doodling various images.
Some of his favorite things to doodle were fish with scuba gear and floating in the air, bicycles, and even himself with clothes or shoes that he didn't have for himself. He used to draw things he had seen or places he wanted to visit or even from what he heard on the TV or radio. This habit developed into the ability to draw amazing art pieces without having revisualized them time and again. Therefore, Kim Jung Gi's memory is the biggest creative asset he possesses.
Kim Jung Gi started drawing at a young age. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons.
During the age of 19, Kim joined a Fine Arts School and majored in Art and Design. Furthermore, Gi continued his studies at Dong-Eui University in Busan to attain more knowledge about fine arts. Jung Gi served in the South Korean army, Special Forces Unit for two years following his graduation from Dong-Eui. These experiences enabled Kim to further understand life and a deeper connection to life and art, along with an ability to visualize much more stuff and draw them.
Kim Jung Gi's career was greatly assisted by his interest in arts since his childhood and the path he took in college.
Career As An Artist And Net Worth
Kim officially debuted as a comic book or a Manhwa artist in 2002 with Funny Funny, although the South Korean had worked on multiple comic books before that. Kim kept true to his art style despite the Japanese art trend in Korea during the early 2000s because of a small group of fans he had gained online already. As mentioned earlier, Kim participated in the Bucheon International Comic Festival in 2011. After a video of Kim's live drawing at the festival went viral on YouTube, his real rise to fame began. Subsequently, the Korean Manhwa artist got invited to countless comic events, including ones in France, the US, and Japan.
During the time Kim's been involved in drawing professionally, he has released six sketchbooks containing more than 4,500 pages of sketches and drawings. Kim has established Ani Chang - Academy of Fine Arts, an institute focused on teaching comic animations and drawings to spread his knowledge to the upcoming generation. Despite him being rather busy due to having tight schedules, Kim provides art lectures whenever he gets the chance. Additionally, Kim has collaborated with various popular artists and authors such as mentioned below.
| Collaboration With | Published Material | Other |
| Seung-Jin Park | Tiger the Long Tail aka TLT (Manhwa) | Kim illustrated six volumes of the comic from 2007 to 2009 |
| Bernard Werber |
Paradise (Novel) Third Humanity (Novel) |
The novels were published in 2010 and 2013, respectively |
| Jean David Morvan |
Spy Games (Comic) McCurry, NYC, 9/11 (book) |
The comic was published in 2014, and the book about a photographer and Journalist, Steve McCurry's life after witnessing the events of 9/11 was published in 2016 |
| Katsuya Terada | Drawing Sketchbooks | the talented duo published the sketchbook in 2017 |
Kim Jung Gi has also collaborated with various video game companies in Korea and Japan. Additionally, he has also worked on countless comics in Europe and the USA as a cover Artist. All these projects are bound to generate a huge amount as Kim Jung Gi's net worth.
Kim's sketchbooks available on Amazon, and given below are the books along with their respective price.
| Published Year | Price per sketchbook |
| 2007 | $186.30 |
| 2011 | $217.58 |
| 2013 | $187.97 |
| 2015 | $265.65 |
| 2018 | $223.81 |
The sales figure of these above-mentioned books is huge in Korea and Japan along with the US and European countries like France and Germany. The sales of these sketchbooks in itself would make up a large amount of money. Additionally, all the collaborations he's done throughout the years would also contribute a lot to Kim Jung Gi's net worth. Furthermore, Kim would also have a steady income via his Arts institute and lectures.
All the riches Kim has amassed throughout the years would surely allow him to live an amazing life with the ones that he loves.
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Relationships And Personal Life
Just as previously mentioned, the South Korean artist is not open to media about his personal life. However, in 2017, Kim posted an art piece on Twitter with the caption, "I married the driver." This resulted in his fan believing that the talented artist had already tied the knot.
Kim Jung Gi is very secretive about his relationship and love life. Image Source: Flickr.
Furthermore, a website dedicated to Kim Jun Gi also mentioned that he was already married and even has two kids. The identity of Kim Jung Gi's wife and children is still a mystery. But we hope the artist opens up about his personal life in the coming days.
Trivia And Fun Facts
- Kim's online lessons are offered by Kazone art academy.
- Throughout his career, Kim has taught Manhwa at various private schools and universities.
- Kim created The Heritage Asylum during the Guinness World Record attempt.
