We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Koki Miura a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Koki, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
I can’t thank my family enough for supporting my journey as an artist. My parents have been open-minded and let me do anything I find curious. Though not everything I tried was necessary, it formed my unique experience as an individual. It is all thanks to my family for being supportive of me. My sister always checked on my work, my father gave me advice, and my mother comforted me for all the failures. I couldn’t have come this far as an artist without them.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi, I’m Koki Miura, a freelance visual development artist and graphic novelist in the animation industry. Throughout my childhood to late teenage years, I could not stop doodling, embarrassingly, even in class. Ultimately, the moment that triggered me to follow a professional artistic career was an encounter with films. The film’s substantial visual storytelling and the creative mindset behind the curtain grabbed my attention. All of those interests could have been classified as hobbies. However, at this point, I was sure that I wanted to be.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
From school, I learned the technicality of art which I’m happy that I did. However, creating my taste or style is a different story. I’m still in the process of finding my voice through my creation. For example, I used to think it was necessary to have fully finished imagery and express all the stories in one canvas. Later, when I experimented with comic format, it opened my mind to new possibilities. I can’t wait to grow with everyone I deeply love and appreciate.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Since I’m a new freelancer, I do not have abundant experience or knowledge in the field. Yet, what I learned is that creativity comes from sharing. In general, the public believes that artists are lone wolves who have explosive creativity. From my perspective, I’ve learned the most from my girlfriend, family, and friends. Everyone had an impact on each other and communicated their perspective. One of my professors said, “Help each other out. No one is better than anyone. You always educate and learn from each other”. To this day, I still cherish the words as a person.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kokiartmiura.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/potassium_kookie/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/potassiumkookie
- Other: https://www.webtoons.com/en/creator/_wbsua