Stan: This is Kim Jung Gi.
You’ve probably heard of him.
He does these amazingly accurate drawings from his memory, without any construction lines.
Everybody is amazed by his memory.
Even me.
Especially me.
My memory is embarrassing.
My name is Stan Prokopenko, in this episode of Proko I’m going to try to figure out
why Kim Jung Gi is so good.
What makes him one of the best draftsmen in the world?
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In this video we use a voice actor to translate Kim Jung Gi.
He’s from South Korea and doesn’t speak English.
KJG: I don't think it's gonna go well today!
Stan: Oh, and if you’re sensitive to nudity and sexual drawings, proceed with caution.
I drove up to LA when I heard he’s performing.
Maybe some of his skill will rub off on me.
He does events like this frequently.
He travels half the year.
The other half he spends with his family.
He said he tries not to draw too much when he’s home.
I don’t believe him.
He’s always drawing.
He draws on paper that’s way too big for most people to fill in an afternoon.
Not for him.
He’s the master.
And I said that he's performing.
It pretty much is a performance at this point.
He’s there to entertain.
Half the time, he’s cracking jokes.
KJG: I just made 3 mistakes. Just now!
Stan: People sit and watch him for 3 hours, completely mesmerized by the magic.
Some people ask questions.
Many are about his ability to visualize the drawing before he begins.
Audience: When did you realize you had a good memory?
Stan: Everyone wants to figure out how they can get this good.
How can I draw anything from imagination?
How can I get such a giant visual library in my brain?
Tell us the secret Kim Jung Gi!
I couldn’t help myself.
I asked about it too…
Do you think you were born with a better memory than most people?
KJG: I’d say that I’m able to remember and recall images for a much longer period
of time than most people.
But I also drew so much.
I probably drew way more than people think I have.
I never cared for academics, so while I was attending school I would be drawing from the
first period to the very last.
Stan: Most people assume he has a photographic memory.
But when I asked him about it, he said he doesn’t.
Of course some part of it is a talent he was born with, but we can’t overlook how much
that talent was developed.
Are you tired of everybody asking you about your amazing memory?
KJG: Yes, I wish they’d stop asking me about that.
Or about my brush pen.
If they ask me one more time, I’m going to refuse to do a live drawing session.
Audience: What kind of pen do you use?
Stan: Maybe we can find the secret in his childhood…
So what do you think are the main parts of your childhood that made you become such a great artist?
KJG: I’ve always liked drawing, even from a young age.
I’m not sure why, since there was no one else in the family that shared that interest.
But as for me, I’d draw on any blank piece of paper I could get my hands on.
I was already more visually advanced than my peers in kindergarten, drawing three-dimensional
objects when they were drawing in 2D.
And when people around me noticed my skills, I’d get compliments and affirmations, which
probably motivated me to pursue the arts even more.
I started drawing things that interested me. As I grew I started being able to draw
a lot of different things.
It’s definitely the support from my friends and the people around me that made me want
to try harder to improve.
And, ever since I was little, I had a specific dream.
I only had one dream.
So I never thought I had any other option but to become an artist.
My school life can be summarized in two activities: kicking a ball around and drawing.
Yeah, I was horrible academically.
I used to get scolded quite often.
And because I was the eldest son, they weren’t so keen on me pursuing the arts.
So although all my school reports said “artistically talented, would be good to encourage him to
pursue that field,” my parents never let me take any art classes.
It wasn’t until high school that they allowed me to, probably because they feared that I
wouldn’t get into any colleges at that rate.
They preferred that I go to a college of fine arts than no college at all.
They actually regret that they didn’t give me an art education earlier.
But aside from that, they were very supportive and great parents.
After high school-- I mean, even before high school they supported me in my studies, although
I had no interest in academics, buying fruits for me and sending me to private tutors, and
so on.
In a lot of Asian cultures, there are bigger expectations for the eldest child, and they
had big dreams for me.
It’s just that I didn’t follow them.
Stan: Kim Jung Gi doesn’t seem like the type of guy that would follow someone else’s dreams.
He does what he wants.
He says what he wants.
He draws what he wants.
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.
Stan: So what do you think about political correctness?
KJG: I’m not a fan.
I do try to be presentable, but I’m horrible at packaging myself up as something I’m not.
Stan: Are there any drawings you’ve done that are so offensive that you had to cut
them from your books?
KJG: Yes, actually.
I’ve been told that my drawings are misogynistic, and I’ve had people ask me why I draw genitalia.
Well, I draw them because they’re there.
And when I was younger, I found erotic content very fun and interesting.
Not to say that they don’t interest me anymore.
I still have a lot of naughty thoughts inside me.
I just have more people around me that keep me under control.
My managers, my co-representative Kim Hyun Jin, my disciples, and such.
They tell me, “stop drawing stuff like that!”
I used to draw whatever I wanted back when I wasn’t famous, almost like thought vomiting.
But since I now have a reputation to keep, I have limitations.
That makes me a little sad.
Stan: 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.
He kinda had his last hoorah in 2015 with the release of “Omphalos”, a collection
of the naughtiest of his naughty works.
What does your wife think of it?
KJG: She asks me, “how old do you think you are, to have so much naughty energy?
Just think about it, you’re the father of two children!”
Stan: Do your kids see those drawings?
KJG: Yes, I don’t really hide my drawings from my kids.
When they want something to draw on I give them my sketchbook, and sometimes it has erotic
drawings in it.
They seem fine, to me at least.
My son just says, “dad, you’re a pervert.”
Kim Jung Gi isn’t the type of guy that does what others want him to do, but he had no
choice when it came to the military.
In Korea, every man has to serve 2 years.
Yet even in the military, he would find clever ways to avoid doing some things.
Before I joined the military I heard that people, mostly those of a higher rank than
you, would ask you to draw all sorts of drawings if they knew that you were an art student,
like their girlfriends or their families.
So I pretended to draw badly on purpose, and they didn’t really ask me too many favors.
I really disliked these types of commissioned works.
I don’t even draw my own family, so why should I have to draw someone else’s?
There was another art student that joined a few months after me who ended up shouldering
a whole lot of this burden, and when he later found out that I was actually very good at
drawing, he got a little annoyed.
Stan: The first year is so intense, he says he couldn’t draw at all until he became a corporal, about
a year and a couple months in.
KJG: I would draw in my head a lot.
For example, 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.
Of course, it was a little scary, but my interests overrode any fear.
I would keenly observe the gears and the guns, and try to touch and feel them if I could.
Stan: It seems like there’s 2 major things he does that makes him, him.
He’s always observing.
He’s always focusing on how things look, and saving that into his visual library.
Audience: What traits do you have that make you a great artist?
KJG: Uh, first of all...
Observation skill?
Stan: See... Told ya.
KJG: In Korea, there’s a public bath house.
So let’s say, if I want to draw humans, then it’s an easy access.
Instead of drawing in a sketchbook, I would just sit there inside of a hot tub and I’ll
just watch how people scrub their back.
Yeah, then it would just be a study.
People used to look at me in the public bathhouses like, “what are you doing here?”
Stan: When you learn how to draw a human, or you understand the mechanics of the human
body, it’s easier to learn how to draw animals.
There’s a lot of similarities between the anatomy.
After you learn how to draw a lion, drawing a tiger becomes easier.
It’s just a matter of studying them enough to figure out the differences.
KJG: So once you start to understand the content, you can manipulate them or you can change
them however you want, and even merge them with mechanical elements, or human to an animal.
It's really just… it’s an application.
And that’s how you can be more free while you draw.
To deliver your ideas.
Stan: He said he drew this helmet based on a helmet he saw at an exhibition in New York.
The aviator goggles are from the Air & Space Museum in San Diego.
But he’s not drawing the exact helmet and goggles he saw.
He’s adjusting them and combining them with the other helmets and goggles he’s seen in his life.
KJG: How I work is not to deliver 1-to-1 accurate photo image to you guys, it’s more about
using visual communication to make you believe what you see is correct.
Stan: The other thing, the second thing that makes him, him, is of course, he draws a lot.
He reinforces things in his visual library by drawing them.
KJG: I think the foundation is drawing a lot.
And as for myself, I alternated between drawing whatever I wanted and studying basic concepts.
When I get stuck in my drawings, then I would go and flip through some books or observe
the world around me.
And when I figure out the answer, then I’d go draw some more, and repeat.
The fans on the facebook live streams are telling him he needs to rest.
This is nothing guys.
I mean I did this when I was in kindergarten, this is nothing guys, cmon.
Stan: In Korea there’s an arena for the League of Legends video game.
He was commissioned to do a drawing 3 meters tall by 8 meters wide.
That’s 10 feet by 26 feet!
He said he drew for 2 weeks straight with breaks to sleep and eat.
Probably to use the bathroom too, although he didn’t say.
Maybe he never takes bathroom breaks.
Maybe that’s his secret.
Lim Hur: I told him he can take a break, it’s been an hour, and he says “no, I have to finish this.”
KJG: Guys, don’t move, okay? No bathroom break!
Stan: Do you enjoy the process more, or the final result?
KJG: I enjoy the process more.
First of all, nowadays I draw like it’s a habit.
I sit down, and I draw.
So it’s as natural for me as breathing.
I’m not even thinking about what I’m drawing most of the time.
If I can’t think of anything to draw, I just draw a person first and keep adding to it.
See, I still find drawing fun.
And I hope that I don’t lose that sense of joy for a long time.
Stan: He said that in 10 years, he doesn’t want to travel so much.
KJG: I hope to be a little more relaxed and composed.
I don’t want to draw so much for the purpose of showing other people, but rather for my
own sake.
And I hope that I still have the joy for drawing that I have now.
Stan: When he’s not drawing for the show, he’s in the back, drawing in books that
people bought.
Everybody that comes buys a book.
So he does 30+ drawings that day.
And that’s in addition to the 1 big one he spent 3 hours on.
It really is like breathing to him.
He even draws during our interview.
He says that when he travels he’s always drawing to discourage people from asking him
questions.
I don’t believe him.
I think he looks for any excuse he can get to draw.
Drawing is breathing.
As long as he’s breathing, he’s happy.
He’s happy because he follows his gut, he does what he wants.
He’s happy because he gets to do what he loves, all day.
Lim Hur: Thank you everyone for watching the last 3 hours!
Stan: This is Kim Jung Gi.
You’ve probably heard of him.
He draws a lot.
Everybody should be amazed by how much he draws.
Even me.
Especially me.
I should draw more.
KJG: Bye bye! Thank you!