Hey peeps! Quick update today as I had free time (it’s my birthday yay!!), with a quick sketch of Big Boss aka Venom Snake. This relates to the story that Hideo Kojima will be leaving Konami, at the end of the year, after being with them for as long as nearly 3 decades! Since his time he’s produce classics, including what my pic is based on. Now talk is that it was leaked, that there was some internal power struggle between Kojima and his team and with Konami, which may have lead to things like Kojima not being listed on the Board of directors/executives etc like he was previously. But the biggest shock was to find that his name and his teams logo was removed from all MGS V: TPP promos and any previous games kojima produced, (though this has since been reverted on Kojima’s previous titles). At this point is like life is imitating his art, which leads me on to why it hurt me to see this.
As an artist, no matter what part of the creative industry your in, your work is your work. Yes, if your commissioned to do work for a client, or under the employ of a company etc, they are the owner of your work, but there must be some sort of acknowledgement of your work, even if said work is owed/licensed to the client/company etc, whether it be for a fixed time or indefinitely. I don’t need the Association of Illustrators to tell me that, and they most likely would say near as much the same. Having your name on something can be a courtesy, if the client/company etc, allows it. In other cases, like a painting, an artist signature means everything, to both parties! So imagine if the great grandmaster art painters had their names and/or any acknowledgment removed from history! Kojima had his name on practically every game his produced, and now Konami, who he dedicated his career to, wont even give him that courtesy, on what will be his last game, and his masterpiece.
Years ago, I did a mural at school, and it was to promote Geography, as part of a bunch of murals to represent different school subjects, which was done during an activities week. The mural was done on large plywood boards with acrylic paints. I only did the sketch, and it was already voted the best mural, which was later painted and put up in the Humanities block. About a year later, I found that my mural was destroyed by an new art teacher, for canvas for my ‘A’ Level art class. It rocked me the whole week, back then, I was ANGRY! I didn’t have the option to take it home with me. I had a photo, but it was lost years ago. Something things in life you can’t have back once there gone or cruelly taken away. This is my phantom pain. So it hurt to see people go through a similar experience.
I’m not worried about Kojima, as he’s a legend in his industry, and I feel he’ll form his own company with his team and get back to the spirit of ‘creating’. He’s certainly has influenced my work, and still does. So for you MGS fans, use that hashtag, that’s has become a thing in MGS community recently. Get Kojima’s name back on his final mission, before it’s September release! *salutes* #AHideoKojimaGame
Sorry for the rant, it still speculation in other aspects. Catch you peeps next time! Stay inspired always everyone! 😉
