January 20, 2017

Meet North Hollywood Storyboard Artist: Kai Akira

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kai Akira.

Kai, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, and have wanted to be a cartoonist since I was a little kid. I started learning how to oil paint when I was 11 and sold my first painting a couple months after starting for $320. I continued painting for a couple years and moved on to charcoal portraiture, continuing all the way to studying Illustration and Painting as an Art major at Pepperdine University, focusing mainly on realism. I had a bit of an “A-ha!” moment at the end of Junior year when I rediscovered my passion for children’s cartoons. I decided then that I wanted a career in animation, although I had no knowledge in the field, nor any professors or classes that could teach me. I stuck to it anyway and made some small animated clips for my senior exhibition. After graduation, I moved back to Arizona for a year, working on some digital paintings and creating an animated character and sticker set for the Global LINE social media app contest–becoming a Top-Ten Finalist. Then, I saw an email for a two-day storyboarding workshop at a studio called Six Point Harness in L.A. I applied, made it in, and immediately fell in love with storyboarding. The studio contacted me not soon after and brought me on as an intern. About three weeks into my internship, they hired me as a full-time storyboard artist. Fast-forward by a year and a half, and I’m still at the same studio, happily boarding and helping to develop/pitch on projects.

Has it been a smooth road?
Well, I’d be crazy to not see that I have been very fortunate and blessed to have already achieved so much more than I ever imagined I would in such a relatively short time. If I had to mention any struggle, though, it would have to be the passing of my oldest sister Ashanti in 2013 (I am the youngest of five, with two brothers and two sisters). After she died, my family’s world changed, and we all became different people in many ways, including myself. I temporarily withdrew from music (singing was a twin passion all of my life up to that point) and I immersed myself in drawing. I could lose myself in the characters and people I drew, I could live their emotions, their joys, and sorrows. It was then that I really got back into watching cartoons as well, and I was amazed to find my spirit buoyed by the positivity and imagination within children’s shows. I think that was when I became certain that I wanted to help brighten other spirits through cartoons, the same way mine was.

Have you ever felt like giving up?
Well, I can’t say that I’ve ever considered quitting, but there have certainly been moments where I felt like I had bitten off more than I could chew. Particularly recently, I’ve found myself having to juggle more responsibilities in shorter time-frames, and sometimes I find myself doubting my abilities, asking questions like “Why can’t I draw this faster?” or “Why couldn’t I have been more prepared to rewrite the dialogue or fix this logistical issue without affecting so many storyboards?” When it gets to that point, I’m fortunate enough to have a family to pray with, friends to vent with, and even the leadership of my own studio to help me reground myself when I feel as if I am overwhelmed. I just have to step back and realize that a lot of these issues aren’t necessarily a testament to my perceived inability, but also symptoms of a crunched schedule and increasing demands from the clients. If I just keep at it, the deadline will come, the project will finish (sometimes with a certain bitter-sweetness) and before I know it I’ll be moving on to the next. Every new project gives me that much more experience and gumption to handle further projects. Honestly, I wouldn’t have improved or done as much as I have if I hadn’t been facing a ticking clock the whole while!

Let’s change gears – is there any advice you’d like to give?
LA is the best place for a young artist to be if they want to break into the animation industry. This city is the hub of most forms of entertainment, and you will never be too far from someone who has had experience working in the industry and is willing to lend a hand or some advice. Go to events held by groups like WIA (Women in Animation) or One Plus Hub, meet people and forge relationships. Be interested in not just your career but the people you will be sharing it with. The best things artists can do is help fellow artists to be the best they can be because that’s what makes animation the best it can be!

On another note, find your unspoken mentors and learn all that you can from them. The more you learn, the better you are, and the more you can eventually help other artists to grow as well, whether through inspiration or being a good mentor to them in turn.

One thing I’ve picked up from my own mentor is that the secret to creating something really noteworthy is to give yourself to it, pour your heart into it. Get your brain into that playful space where anything can happen, and once you have that inspiration, carve away at it with your logical mind until you end up with something that realizes all of your preceding passion and efforts. It’s easy to see when someone is in love with what they do because It shines through in their work.

What are you most excited about these days?
Personally, I’m always excited about the types of projects I’ve gotten to work on, but I can’t necessarily share my excitement with others until that project is officially aired or announced, which is sometimes a year down the line. The ability to finally speak up and share things that I’ve been working on for the past year alone is something that I very much look forward to!

On the professional side, I still marvel at the opportunities I’ve been given and roles that I’ve filled. So far I’ve worked as a storyboard artist, a designer, an animator, a scratch vocal artist, and now perhaps a bit of a supervisor and a writer, and that just blows my mind when I think about it.

A lot of faith has been put to me from very early on, which had, in turn, makes me want fiercely to grow and improve so I can live up to that faith, along with my own growing self-expectations. I’ve been able to collaborate closely with people who I’ve grown to care for and deeply respect, and it only becomes more evident to me day by day that those relationships and the projects on which they’re flourishing are only rounding me out more as a person. I look forward to more of that, every day of my life. Maybe I’ll end up directing for projects, or perhaps I’ll end up creating my own series, but what I really look forward to is continuing to do what I love for as long as I’m able!

Contact Info: