2013 Golden Nosey Interview

Article Transcript

Digging for Gold

Congratulations, Kosuke Miyagi, on winning this year’s top award at the 2013 convention. Kosuke is the third artist to win a Golden Nosey who has trained under 2007 Golden Nosey winner, Kage Nakanishi. Their hard work and dedication continues to amaze everyone and it continues to pay off. Let’s dig a little deeper to see if we can find out what makes this artist tick!

Hi, Kosuke! Let’s start with the easy questions. First of all, what is your age?
I am 27 years old.

Do you have a favorite type of food?
Salty food! And I like beer, too.

Beer, huh? Good to know. So what is your favorite color?
Light green

And do you have a nickname?
Ko-chan

What is your favorite hobby?
I like swimming and drawing.

What is your favorite thing to do when you are not drawing?
Drinking and talking with my friends.

Ok, now please give us some insight into your personal background. Where were you born?
I was born in Okinawa and also grew up there.

When did you know you liked to draw?
As a child, I always loved to draw, doodle and sketch.

Not surprising. Usually boys like to draw robots and cars and such when they are young. What did you like to draw as a child?
BEAUTIFUL WOMEN!

I see! Did you go to school for art?
Yes, I went to a design school in Osaka.

How long have you been drawing caricatures?
I have only been drawing caricatures for four years.

Where did you first learn to draw caricatures?
Caricature Japan, Inc. I never drew caricatures until I started working there, four years ago.

Who are some of your caricature influences?
Kage Nakanishi. Some of my other favorite caricature artists are Jan Op de Beeck, Satsu, Joe Bluhm, Eric Goodwin and Jeff Pecina.

Do you have any non-caricature artist influences?
Yes, Rockin’ Jelly Bean and Norman Rockwell.

Where did you work before Caricature Japan?
I worked for a game company doing 2D design .

What made you switch from game design?
l love drawing pictures though I’m not that into video games. So I was not very interested in the video game work.

Do you still work for Caricature Japan?
Yes, I work at one of their retail locations in Kyoto five days a week, from 11 am to 9 pm. Live sketches and studio works. And management work.

Do you work with other ISCA members?
Yes, many of our company’s employees are ISCA members.

What do you do to improve your skills?
Looking at the other good artists’ works.

What is your favorite thing/person to draw?
BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. I love drawing beautiful motifs and models.

Did you have any expectations or goals for this year’s convention?
I wanted to be inspired by the other artists as the ISCA convention always does. And my goal was winning the Golden Nosey.

Did you do anything to prepare yourself?
Working every day as an artist and a manager was the biggest preparation for this con.

Did you get any sleep during the convention competition?
Throughout the con, I slept only 2 hours. I didn’t get sleepy because I was having so much fun drawing.

Really? You didn’t do anything special to stay awake?
No, I actually didn’t get sleepy that much because I was having so much fun drawing. I didn’t do anything special to stay awake.

Wow. That is amazing! What media/technique did you use for your wall at the convention?
I used a sharpened pencil for lines and used Photoshop to color in.

Do you always work with this same technique/media, or are there others you use?
I do use the combination above, other than that, I use Copic marker and Artstix, and colored pencil and colored paper. I used to paint with airbrush.

Were you surprised that you won?
YES I was!

Why do you think you won?
I kept on doing my best for my everyday work. And I think I was the person who had the most fun drawing at the con.

How many ISCA conventions have you attendened?
Four times. 2010 was my first time.

So what does the future hold for Kosuke Miyagi. Is there any new media that you would like to try?
Yes, oil painting. I also want Japanese people to know more about caricature as a culture.

What other artwork do you do besides caricature?
Right now, I only draw caricatures. But I want to challenge anything I haven’t tried yet! I feel that I need to study academic/classic drawing like, oil paint, and charcoal drawing....And I would love to study animation.

Now that you have finally achieved the Golden Nosey, will you continue to go to the conventions? If so, how will your participation change?
' I would love to. If I could attend the next con to come, I want to get inspired and also I want to inspire other artists.

Do you have any projects coming up?
' Preparation to open up our new shops and train the other artists.

What advice can you give to others who want to win a Nosey?
' My advice would be to clarify the image of your wall that you want to make.

If for some reason you could no longer draw, what would you choose to do for work?
I would run a business of a hotel on an island of Okinawa

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