While in his twenties, artist Shiro Kotobuki was in a traffic accident, leaving him paralysed from the neck down. He didn’t let that stop him and went on to become a successful character designer and artist. Sadly, Kotobuki, whose real name was Hiroshi Kobayashi, passed away yesterday.
[Image: Konami via The Rumble Roses Wikia]
Kotobuki began painting as a part of his rehabilitation process and designed characters for Rumble Roses and Rumble Roses XX. He continued to remain active and working well on into 2016.
[Image: Facebook]
According to Yahoo! News Japan, a relative posted a message on his Facebook page stating that he suddenly died yesterday morning. Details regarding his funeral service will be made public as soon as those arrangements are made.
Kotobuki held his digital art brush between his teeth while creating. You can see him at work in the clip below:
Here is a sample of some of his work.
[Image: Facebook]
[Image: Facebook]
[Image: Facebook]
[Image: Facebook]
May he rest in peace.
Comments
One response to “Rumble Roses Character Designer Shiro Kotobuki Has Died”
Rest in peace.
He could paint circles around me with his teeth.
I hope we recorded plenty of interviews and biographies about this amazing artist before he passed. It’s our loss if we didn’t.
I like the Rumble Roses characters, and thought it would have been cool to see them again. I wish I had known more about the artist behind the characters. From what I just read, he was an amazing artist and human being.May he rest in peace.