Falcoon

Who is Falcoon?

Tatsuhiko Kanaoka, better known by the art-name Falcoon, is a Japanese artist formerly working for SNK Playmore. He has been involved in several iterations of The King of Fighters franchise.

After graduating from Kyoto Seika University, Falcoon started as a fan-artist doing renditions games of different companies, such as The King of Fighters, Street Fighter, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. From here, he grew quite a fanbase that made SNK Playmore take note. Falcoon entered the old SNK in 1998 as a card designer for SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash. He was chosen to create the ingame artwork for SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom. Falcoon mostly contributed on character designs and was responsible for the character artwork for The King of Fighters 2003. He was responsible for the alternate designs and new characters seen in the KOF: Maximum Impact series, and was the KOF:MI series' producer and art director. Falcoon left SNK Playmore sometime in 2008 or 2009 for undisclosed reasons. All projects related to the Maximum Impact series were officially cancelled in October 2009.

His art is recognized by its heavy emphasis on muscle and weight for both genders, shaded with sharp gradients and highlights. His designs are also influenced by the bizarre yet colorful clothing found in Japanese street fashion, particularly Lolita and Fruits fashions. In several interviews, he insists that he uses no reference for his work, relying only on "strong images from memory". He was once an avid gamer and loves to visit the local game center on his time off. He hopes to make games where people can practice them like a sport and "perfect their skills like I used to."