I
nspired by anime powerhouses (like Studio Ghibli) from a young age, Sage Mirei Asakawa incorporates her Japanese background with the fantasy world in highly detailed pen and ink manga drawings. Asian Avenue (A.A.) - What medium do you prefer to work in? Sage Mirei Asakawa (S.M.A.) - I like using pen best because I can work on a piece or draw anywhere. Pen has no boundaries until you run out. As a child, it was what I’d use most because it was always there and I could get the fine details I wanted.
“Butterfly Maiden” by Sage Mirei Asakawa
A.A. - How does your cultural background influence your work? S.M.A. - My cultural background serves as a wonderland for my work. A great number of my pieces have a Japanese element to them. Additionally, from a young age I started watching Studio Ghibli films and was blown away by the dreamy elements and beautiful animation. In middle school I discovered anime and manga and those really served to inspire me, especially the latter. Manga has such fine details and is almost always hand drawn. The illustrations serving to tell a story was right up my alley.
“
My cultural background serves as a wonderland for my work. Sage Mirei Asakawa Age: 18 City: Boulder, CO Medium: Pen and ink
14
June 2015 | Cover Story
”
A.A. - How do you see your art developing in the future? S.M.A. - The great thing about art is that it’s always developing. I think every time I draw my style develops and I gain more skill. It’s going to be a journey and there are definitely things I need to improve on but I’m confident that my work will grow in the best way. I also know I need to start teaching myself the ins and outs of digital art thoroughly. A.A. - Do you have any advice for aspiring artists? S.M.A. - Keep making art! Anyone could tell you that, but from my personal experience, the more you make art, the better you’ll get. When I start slacking and not drawing as much my work takes a nose dive and even my creativity suffers. You learn something from everything you make, even if you don’t consider it a success. Just keep creating. Also, something that I find helpful is to look at other art. There are great sites like deviantArt, Pixiv, tumblr, etc, that people will put their work on and it can be really motivating to create your own. It’s important to find your own style and by looking at other artists work you can realize how you want to proceed with your own. Art is most of all a personal journey.