Who is KatoKid?

I saw I had somewhat of a talent and decided to open up an account on Instagram to share some of my work. Unlike today, it wasn’t with the intention to become the next big content creator but with the hope to connect with other artists and build a small community. Never would I have expected it to go down the way it did. The more time passed the more I was growing artstically as well as developing somewhat of a sense what works on social media and what doesn’t. The numbers were rising, I have made friends that I still talk to till this day and have met more people than ever in my life before. To speak the truth, I loved every second of it. Now that’s all good and well but I was nowhere close to even thinking of making a career out of this. It was only until a platform launched that has changed the lives of millions, both in a good and bad way.

Tiktok. A friend of mine introduced me to it and I didn't think much of it but I just couldn't resist the urge to try myself on making some of those wild transitions in combination with my art. That day “Katoyami” was born. One thing happened after the other and all of a sudden I was getting millions of views a month both on tiktok and Instagram.

At 18 years of age, I went from being a nobody to having a platform in what seemed to be the blink of an eye. People were tattooing my drawings, my requests were overflowing and I saw a clear opportunity to make a living out of this. Long story short I have had two shops, made my first money, but eventually realized that in the span of 2 years my art hasn’t changed a bit. I was making one trendy anime character after the other for the sake of traction. I went from being a passionate artist to a content machine. So I stood in front of the decision, to either continue, double down and become bigger than ever or, which would ultimately end up being the death sentence to my online persona, start from scratch.

I let it all go, bought myself a 24 inch digital tablet and started my journey anew. Except this time with the clear goal of being an artist and not a “Content Creator”. I wanted to think long term, build something sophisticated, something I care about. Be somebody, people appreciate for the work, rather than a punchy, 15 second video that would feed their content addiction. So I decided to go away from short form and make a youtube channel.

This time as “KatoKid”.

I went from millions of views a month to a flopping 0. But I didn’t let that discourage me and continued to walk my path. My art was terrible. I had no idea where to start nor what exactly I want to do. So I did something that was long overdue. I left the world of stylization and entered the world of realism.

I finally learned about values, composition and most importantly out of all color. All which are now a conscious decision rather than a wild guess. So once I established the fundamentals I was finally able to do whatever I wanted… And I hated every second of it. I felt more lost than ever in my life before. No more trendy characters I could simply pick out and make in what seemed to be almost an automated process. Now I had to make my own art. One thing was clear though, the passion I had for anime and manga never vanished. I experimented over and over, failed again and again until I bought an artbook that to this day I hold very dear to my heart. I considered it somewhat of a guidance, stylistically speaking. It was “Tokyo Ghoul:re Illustrations” by Sui Ishida, somebody I’d consider my biggest inspiration, especially when it comes to color. Whenever I felt stuck, I always found the answer to my problem in one of those pages. Going away from style and process though, there is one more thing that helped me get through this phase of “The Unknown”. It is the sole reason why I am an artist today, the sole reason why I never stopped creating.

My expression through art.

Today it is the very definition of who I am as an artist. It has helped me maneuver through the darkest of times and it will always play a big part in my artistic journey. Now I’m still not quite where I want to be yet and I don’t know if I ever will but at least I have found something that I would consider my own. It truly feels like I found home again in what I do, just like it used to be with pen and paper.