Falcoon

Tatsuhiko Kanaoka, better known by his pen name Falcoon (ファルコン), is a Japanese artist that has been working with SNK since 1998. Falcoon has been involved in several iterations of The King of Fighters franchise and was directly in charge of the Maximum Impact series. His alias is also the name to a location in Kimino Yusha.

Profile
While Falcoon went to art college, he started drawing when he was. According to Falcoon, he learned to draw and to improve his skills by himself. Starting his career as a fanartist, Falcoon joined SNK in 1998 after an interview. Falcoon worked as a designer when he joined SNK, doing pixel art for several games, such as The King of Fighters, before being asked to work as illustrator.

By 2005, Falcoon, besides his duties as an illustrator, was working as the producer of KOF: Maximum Impact. Soon after SNK Playmore returned to the SNK brand, Falcoon was attached to the SNK Entertainment division as art director and illustrator.

Style
For illustration, Falcoon solely uses Photoshop. His art is recognized by its heavy emphasis on muscle and weight for both genders (the proportions vary though it has a very anime-like influence), 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, while he looks at books, movies and magazines for inspiration, he prefers create from his own mind because he worries he'll get too influenced, so 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." Falcoon claims that, after becoming a professional illustrator, he no longer looks after other illustrator and prefers to consider them competition since he fears it would influence him too much.

Criticism
Falcoon has quite a variety of fans and detractors. Grievances seem to be most prominent when concerning design decisions in the KOF: Maximum Impact series, usually regarding original characters for KOF: MI which said critics may feel don't fit in with the style of the main series, in addition to some of the alternate costumes for pre-established characters. This is a result of these alternates usually being radically different from what's already set in place, bearing little resemblance to the previous design without accounting for consistency with the theme of the character (as opposed to alternates in other 3D fighters, which typically suit the character they're designed for).

SNK works

 * Xtreme Rally (1998) - first work; part of debugger team
 * SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash (1999) - Card designer
 * Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 (2000) - Illustrator (promotional)
 * SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 (2001) - Main illustrator
 * SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos (2003) - Illustrator (promotional, cover image)
 * The King of Fighters 2003 (2003) - Illustrator
 * KOF: Maximum Impact (2004) - Character design
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum (2005) - Illustrator
 * The King of Fighters Perfect Reader (book) (2005) - Cover
 * Garou Densetsu The Legend of Wild Wolf (pachinko) (2006) - Select illustrations
 * The King of Fighters XI (2006) - Illustrator (special ending artwork; also part of story development)
 * Tokyo Game Show 2006 Iroha Goods (2006)
 * SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS (2006) - Producer, guest illustrator
 * The King of Fighters (pachinko) (2006) - Select illustrations
 * The King of Fighters: Another Day (2006) - Original character designer
 * Garou Densetsu Special (pachinko) (2007) - select illustrations
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (2007) - Producer, character design
 * KOF Maximum Impact Regulation "A" (2007) - Producer, character design, concept and art direction
 * The King of Fighters 2 (pachinko) (2007) - Select illustrations
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match (2008) - Art director, illustrator
 * KOF x Garou Densetsu (2013) - Card illustrations
 * The King of Fighters XIV (2016) - Authoring
 * Kimi wa Hero (2017) - Character illustrations
 * SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy (2018) - Illustration
 * The King of Fighters, NESTS-style and Ash Line stamps
 * Part Time Stories: Kyo & Iori (webcomic) (2017) - Author