Meet Miri Kim, Visual Artist

Today we’d like to introduce you to Miri Kim.

Hi miri, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve loved drawing since I was little. When I was five, my mom bought me a puzzle, but instead of putting it together, I started drawing directly on the box.

When I was in elementary school, I moved to China to study at an international school. I had a small group of Korean friends there, and I used to turn each of them into a character, draw comics about us, and share them with my friends. Even back then, I loved creating my own little worlds through drawing.

After returning to Korea, I attended Korea Animation High School, which had been my dream school, and began studying comics more seriously. I also studied video production as a secondary major, where I learned a lot about directing and storytelling.

Around that time, my signature character, ku, gradually began to take shape. ku has distinctive, unfocused eyes and expresses emotions through its eyes and actions rather than its mouth. In many ways, ku is a lot like me. I really enjoyed creating stories, expressing emotions, and exploring the world through this character.

For college, I decided to explore a completely different field and enrolled in a Living Design program focused on furniture design. I became interested in art furniture after watching an interview about artists who express themselves through furniture.

Even while studying furniture and other forms of design, I never stopped drawing. In fact, I began combining comics and furniture design to create new kinds of work, and one of my professors even praised me for this approach. I had a wonderful time in college, continued exhibiting my work outside of school, and kept documenting my journey with ku along the way.

After graduating, I explored several different paths. I lived in Australia for a while, worked as a designer in a music label, and also worked at an art museum. But throughout all these experiences, whenever I had some free time, I kept thinking about how I could introduce ku to more people and create more fun projects around the character.

Eventually, that passion led me to where I am today: working as an independent artist full-time.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely wasn’t a smooth road. Getting into my dream high school actually made me lose a lot of confidence in myself.

Since I was majoring in comics, I was constantly receiving feedback and grades on my drawings. I found it difficult not to compare myself with my classmates, and over time, the whole experience became quite discouraging.

One experience that really stuck with me was an illustration class where our teacher asked us to create a children’s book and present it to the class. Most of my classmates drew their illustrations on tablets, transferred them to design software, and presented their books in a format similar to a PowerPoint presentation.

Since it was a children’s book, I wanted to make something more hands-on. I drew every character, prop, and background by hand with colored pencils, cut them out of paper, and attached clips and magnets behind the characters so I could move them around as I told the story. I then filmed the whole thing and edited it together with music.

But the result wasn’t what I had hoped for. The students who followed the teacher’s instructions and used the recommended software received higher grades. I had a hard time understanding why, and I remember feeling really disappointed. I had genuinely enjoyed every step of making that book, from the very beginning to the end. In my eyes, the project was an A+! Haha.

That experience even made me consider studying something completely unrelated to drawing in college. I had loved art classes since elementary school and was happy to spend entire days drawing, but I no longer wanted my artwork to be graded and judged.

Thankfully, creating ku helped me let go of some of that pressure. Through ku, I rediscovered the joy of drawing without constantly worrying about whether my work was good enough.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a full-time artist, and my work goes beyond drawing. I create illustrations, document my creative process through videos, collaborate with brands and musicians, and occasionally take on design projects.

This year, I’ve also started creating merchandise featuring my artwork, especially fashion items. I’ve always been interested in fashion. I love how clothing can express who you are, and I enjoy discovering pieces that feel uniquely personal to me. So when I started thinking about turning my art into products, clothing was the first thing that came to mind.

In May, I released a T-shirt series called “Doggy T-shirts.” I wanted to make something I would genuinely love to wear myself. I often see artist merchandise T-shirts with relatively small graphics or logos, but I wanted to create something different. But I wanted my illustrations to cover the entire shirt, with the story continuing onto the back.

At first, I spent a lot of time searching for a factory that could produce what I had in mind. Eventually, I couldn’t find one that could achieve the result I wanted, so I decided to learn screen printing and make the shirts myself.

I initially produced only a small batch to test at an art fair in China. To my surprise, many people wanted to buy them. As magazines and customers began sharing the shirts and posting their reviews, the collection gained momentum, and far more people purchased them than I had ever imagined.

At the time, I was also working as a designer, so I was juggling both jobs. Honestly, I would screen-print T-shirts until the early morning, sleep for barely two hours, and then head to work. It was physically exhausting, but I felt incredibly happy and proud to see something I had imagined become real and resonate with so many people.

I’ve also had opportunities I’m very proud of, such as creating a video for Instagram at Meta’s request and collaborating with well-known artists. But when I look back, what I’m most proud of is my own persistence. When there’s something I really want to create or achieve, I keep looking for a way to make it happen, even when the path isn’t straightforward.

I think that determination is an important part of who I am as an artist. I don’t just want to draw something and leave it on paper. I enjoy finding ways to bring my ideas into the world, whether through clothing, videos, collaborations, or other forms of creative expression.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I believe in fate to some extent, and I think good luck and bad luck are interconnected. Even when something bad happens, I tend to think, “Maybe this was meant to happen. Something better will come out of it.”

When I was a child, I moved to China to study abroad, but I really didn’t want to go. I had a very close friend, and I couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from them. However, my parents made the decision for me, and I had to go. I remember crying almost every day for a while because I was so unhappy.

Looking back now, my time in China had a huge influence on who I am today. Through the friendships I made there, I became curious about other countries and cultures and wanted to explore more of the world. I think that curiosity is one of the reasons I love traveling and drawing in the places I visit today.

What initially felt like a painful experience eventually opened up a whole new world for me and shaped the way I see things today. It taught me that sometimes, what feels like bad luck in the moment can lead us somewhere meaningful. I try to keep that perspective whenever I face difficulties in my life or work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://en.mmiriku.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mmiriku/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mmiriku