Naoto Kuroshima[1], better known by his pen name as Bengus (べんがす), is a Japanese freelance illustrator, character designer, and game creator. He is known for being one of Capcom's most famous main designers from the company's early days as well as one of the most influential artists in the art, comic and gaming communities. He has had several different pen names before his current one, some of which include "Mido Shiito" (水戸椎土), "CRMK", "Holy Homerun" and others. Since 2009, he has often gone by the pen name "Gouda Cheese".
History[]
Bengus grew up copying Leiji Matsumoto and Akira Toriyama's illustrations as a hobby and found that he had a passion for art. He joined Capcom in 1992 and used paints and markers early on. He describes his style as somewhat counterproductive as he usually conceives, sketches, and colors an illustration in one shot. Back when he used paper media, he would occasionally touch up artwork with a few polishing details. He now uses Photoshop and mainly draws with a tablet. He left the company in 2006 and mainly works as a freelancer, though he has done a promotional images for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
After several years, Bengus returned to work on a Capcom fighting game, being one of the key artwork artists for Street Fighter V.
Works for Capcom[]
- Street Fighter - character art.
- Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom - backgrounds.
- Alien vs. Predator - backgrounds, in-game artwork.
- Super Street Fighter II - promotional + main illustrator.
- Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors - main illustrator, in-game demo artwork.
- Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge - main illustrator, in-game demo artwork.
- Street Fighter Alpha - main illustrator, in-game demo artwork.
- Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact - Akuma's portrait art.
- Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara - in-game demo artwork.
- Street Fighter Alpha 3 - character art, promotional illustrator, in-game demo artwork.
- Final Fight 3 - promotional illustrator.
- X-Men vs. Street Fighter - promotional illustrator, in-game demo artwork.
- Star Gladiator - promotional illustrator.
- Red Earth - in-game demo artwork.
- Street Fighter EX - character select screen and portrait art.
- Darkstalkers 3 - promotional illustrator, in-game demo artwork.
- Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter - promotional illustrator, in-game demo artwork.
- Plasma Sword - promotional illustrator.
- Power Stone - promotional illustrator.
- Cannon Spike - promotional illustrator.
- Power Stone 2 - promotional illustrator.
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - character art, promotional artwork.
- Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - character designer, promotional artwork.
- E.X. Troopers - character and promotional art.
- Street Fighter V - In-Game story/tutorial artwork
- Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers - promotional art.
- Street Fighter 6 - arcade mode art for Ryu, Zangief, Dhalsim
Gallery[]
Street Fighter II series[]
Character art (Super Street Fighter II)[]
Promotional art (Super Street Fighter II)[]
Promotional art (Hyper Street Fighter II)[]
Street Fighter Alpha series[]
Concept art (Street Fighter Alpha)[]
Character art (Street Fighter Alpha)[]
Opening art (Street Fighter Alpha)[]
Ending art (Street Fighter Alpha)[]
Promotional art (Street Fighter Alpha)[]
Character art (Street Fighter Alpha 2)[]
Opening art (Street Fighter Alpha 2)[]
Ending art (Street Fighter Alpha 2)[]
Promotional art (Street Fighter Alpha 2)[]
Character art (Street Fighter Alpha 3)[]
Concept art (Street Fighter Alpha 3)[]
Ending art (Street Fighter Alpha 3)[]
Promotional art (Street Fighter Alpha 3)[]
Street Fighter EX series[]
Character art (Street Fighter EX)=[]
Character art (Street Fighter EX2)[]
Street Fighter III series[]
Character art (Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact)[]
Ending art (Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact)[]
Street Fighter V series[]
Concept art[]
Ending art[]
Promotional art (Street Fighter V)[]
Promotional art (Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition)[]
Promotional art (Street Fighter V: Champion Edition)[]
Marvel vs Capcom series[]
Character art (X-Men vs. Street Fighter)[]
Promotional art (X-Men vs. Street Fighter)[]
Character art (Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter)[]
Promotional art (Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter)[]
Character art (Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes)[]
Promotional art (Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes)[]
Character art (Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes)[]
Ending art (Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes)[]
Promotional art (Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes)[]
Promotional art (Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds)[]
Promotional art (Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3)[]
Capcom vs. SNK series[]
Character art (Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000)[]
Promotional art (Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000)[]
Trivia[]
- For some reason, "Naoto Kuroshima" is written as, and generally believed to be, his real name on some online sites, but this has never been officialy confirmed by Bengus himself, who only uses a pseudonym on his social media profiles.
- His favorite Street Fighter character is Sakura. He comments on how he's able to express himself freely in his art compared to the high expectations that come with drawing Ryu or Chun-Li.[2]
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ Also, at that time some new designers joined Capcom, and they were recruited for [Akira Yasuda's] new design group. That design team had Kinu Nishimura and [Naoto] Kuroshima, whose pen name was Bengus. from Street Fighter Alpha: An oral history.
- ↑ "Sakura comes naturally to me. I feel able to draw her freely, and to express myself, compared with the expectations that come with drawing Ryu or Chun-Li" from Undisputed Street Fighter page 041.