Artist Kim Jung Gi dies at age 47, on way to his planned convention appearance

During his travels from Europe to New York City for New York Comic Con, artist Kim Jung Gi experienced chest pains and the airport, was hospitalized, and passed away at age 47 on October 3.

This news was announced early October 5, through a statement written by Kim Jung Gi's collaborator Hyun Jin Kim and published on Kim Jung Gi's American twitter account (a similar statement was released on his Korean twitter account).

In the statement, Hyun Jin Kim wrote "After having done so much for us, you can now put down your brushes. Thank you, Jung Gi." He also included an email address where fans can send in a note or a drawing to Kim Jung Gi's family.

Read the full statement below:

Kim Jung Gi is best known for his large and detailed work, both as an illustrator and also as a comics artist, having worked on Tiger the Long Tail and Paradis. Jung Gi also held the Guinness World Record for "longest drawing by an individual." According to his website, "Kim’s most notable creative asset is his memory, something he has developed over a number of years. His ability to render extremely complicated scenes near-perfectly from memory, without the aid of references, has stretched the boundaries of what many artists believed was possible." To this trait, he was well known for drawing his hyper-detailed work live, and he was scheduled to do so at this year's New York Comic Con during a panel titled, 'How to Draw Your Imagination with Kim Jung Gi.'

The email address provided to send notes and drawings to the family is 1975-2022@kimjunggi.net.