Today we’d like to introduce you to Koichi Uga.
Hi Koichi, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have been interested in drawing since I was a child, and from elementary school to high school, I would go to drawing classes every weekend to satisfy my desire to draw. When I applied to college, I chose the product design department at Art Center College of Design as my final direction. After taking a class with Peter Han a year after I enrolled, I realized that although making products was fun, what I actually liked the most was entertainment design.
Looking back at my childhood drawings, monsters and warriors existed on almost every page of my scribbles. Those characters from games and movies grew up with me, and I hope that my work can create fond childhood memories for kids today. Now as a concept designer, I focus on character design, costume design, and creature design for games and movies.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The most impressive challenge, and by far the biggest challenge I’ve ever experienced, actually came from myself. In life, I am a person who likes to plan and think about logical rationalization, and yes, it is very subjective. While this habit has helped me a lot in the product design process, I had a very difficult time during my first two years in the entertainment design industry.
My obsession with reality and rationality tied my hands and feet, and for a while, I was unable to achieve highly imaginative shapes and stories, and my excessive pursuit of rationality and feasibility closed off the diverse possibilities of my designs. At that time, I could only draw content close to reality, and my imaginative games and movies were getting farther and farther away from me as if I was just sketching the world I existed in. It was the most helpless time for me, and the shackles I created for myself were extraordinarily heavy.
After a year of practice and self-analysis, I found that this psychological threshold was not as exaggerated as I thought. When I put myself in the illusion of my work, imagining the uniqueness of different worlds and stories, I realized that I can actually use my logic of things to make my content rich and elaborate. For example, like the Avatar story, the visual design and the integrity, credibility, and unity of the story are immersive, even though it is on a different fabricated planet. Nowadays, I am a designer who can combine fantasy and credibility at the same time.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a concept designer, I specialize in character design, costume design, and creature design. The pursuit of story integrity makes my work fuller and more convincing. My characters have their own lives and habits, and their costumes are designed to illustrate important moments in their lives and cultural backgrounds. Sometimes my friends and I will discuss the stories behind the characters to reinforce the visual integrity.
How do you define success?
I think success is a very diverse thing and also requires multiple perspectives. As an artist, accomplishing the challenges and goals you set for yourself can be considered a success; as a commercial artist, your content meets the requirements and needs of your superiors can also be considered a success.
Contact Info:
- Website: noahuga.art
- Instagram: noahuart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koichi-uga-5b782379/
Image Credits
Koichi Noah Uga
