Kinu Nishimura

Kinu Nishimura (西村 キヌ, Nishimura Kinu, born sometime in 1969 in the Hyogo Prefecture) is a Japanese illustrator, character designer, and game creator. She is mainly known for being one of Capcom's main designers. Her real name is unknown -as her alias originated from her mother's maiden name- and she is affectionately referred to as "Kinu-sensei". Her bloodtype is A.

History
During her first year in middle school, she cleaned up Tomonori Kogawa's drawings for Combat Mecha Xabungle. She decided to pursue art for her career during her second year. While she was attending the Kyoto University of Art & Design, she touched up illustrations done by Akiman (who was a big inspiration to her) for Final Fight and Magic Sword. She was hired by Capcom in 1991 and was one of the first artists in the company to illustrate primarily with Photoshop.

Games

 * The King Of Dragons - monster illustrations, promotional artwork


 * Saturday Night Slam Masters - in-game character portraits


 * Street Fighter II - (also for Champion Edition-Turbo): promotional and main illustrator


 * Varth: Operation Thunderstorm - promotional illustrator


 * Armored Warriors - character design, promotional illustrator


 * Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness - character designer, promotional illustrator


 * Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara - character designer, promotional illustrator


 * Rival Schools: United by Fate - promotional illustrator


 * Street Fighter III: New Generation - (also for 3rd Strike) character designer, promotional illustrator, in-game artwork


 * Gaia Master - character designer, promotional illustrator, in-game artwork


 * Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 - main illustrator (alongside Shinkiro), promotional illustrator


 * Cannon Spike - character designer, promotional illustrator


 * Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 - main illustrator (alongside Shinkiro), promotional illustrator


 * Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower - package illustration


 * War of the Grail - character designer, promotional illustrator


 * Street Fighter IV


 * Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds - promotional art

Miscellaneous Capcom works

 * Studio Bent - All About Capcom - cover, miscellaneous illustrations


 * Capcom Design Works - published by Famitsu - cover, miscellaneous illustrations


 * Vampire Graphic File - cover, miscellaneous illustrations

Trivia

 * Several of her illustrations have been complied into artbooks or adapted for figurine collections.


 * Kinu has stated that she is most proud of the work she has done for Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara.