Meet MK Castaneda

We were lucky to catch up with MK Castaneda recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi MK, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I’m an artist and concept artist who loves setting small, achievable goals. I find that short-term goals help me stay motivated and make steady progress without feeling overwhelmed.
I’m always trying to learn something new. Right now, I’m learning how to paint, I’ve taken a character design course, and I’m even learning how to swim. For me, learning is a great way to find new purpose and keep life interesting.
I also like giving myself small creative projects to work on, like the art YouTube channel I’m working on. I keep my projects simple and manageable, taking one step at a time so the process stays fun rather than stressful.
I try to appreciate the little things every day, like enjoying a good cup of coffee. Maybe I’ll experiment with trying a new kind of milk or coffee bean or visit a new coffee shop in town. I love Japanese pancakes, so I like to try them whenever I find a new Japanese café.
Learning and trying new things gives me purpose. Keeps things less monotonous, whether it’s discovering a hidden library, exploring a new part of the city, or simply finding joy in everyday moments like trying pancakes.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’ve been passionate about art since childhood. I started drawing comics and anime when I was eight, and my father, who is an architect and painter, encouraged me to explore other disciplines such as sculpture and architecture to strengthen my foundation. Although I didn’t appreciate it at the time ( I just wanted to draw anime, like many young artists started haha), those teachings gave me valuable skills and a broader understanding of art that continue to influence my work today. Also, my mom put me in painting, music, and martial arts lessons and bought me lots of books to read so I could broaden my knowledge. So my growth as an artist comes from lots of support from my family.
Coming from Honduras, a country with little presence in the games industry, I never imagined I would one day make a living as an artist. Over the years, I’ve worked with international clients, participated in art exhibitions, and connected with talented peers who constantly inspire me to grow. The journey hasn’t been easy, like many artists, I’ve faced challenges with unfair pay and difficult working conditions.
Early in my career, I experienced situations where clients didn’t pay fairly or disappeared when it was time to deliver payment.
One of the hardest moments was when I worked on an animation project for months, only to be paid so little that I had to search for coins under my bed and in drawers just to afford the bus, subway, and train to get to the studio. My commute took four hours each day. I’d wake up at 5 a.m. and arrive at 10 a.m., and did the same trajectory on the way back. The producer kept delaying payments, and no one at the studio was being paid properly. It was frustrating, but I was very young, passionate, and believed in the dream, especially since the project was for a major U.S. broadcast channel. Eventually, after months, I was finally paid in full, but the experience taught me some tough lessons about the industry and life.
Now, years later, I don’t tolerate unfair treatment or empty promises. I’ve learned to recognize red flags and value my work. Things aren’t always easy, but they’re much better now. I have a stable job in games and still make time for personal projects like my art YouTube channel, streaming, and painting. I also continue taking online art classes because learning new things keeps me inspired and growing as an artist.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I don’t give up easily.I learned that through hardships and from watching my mom work incredibly hard. I was also put in martial arts classes, where I took many blows to the face and stomach in the ring. That experience taught me that a punch in the face during a Karate championship hurts less than being rejected 30 times in a row from game job applications.
With martial arts, you learn discipline, perseverance, and how to face pain head-on. But rejection in life, especially as an artist, can break your soul into little pieces, and sometimes you never fully recover. That comparison taught me to be strong from within, not just physically. It may sound cheesy, but I truly believe that yes it’s important to stay active but nurturing your soul so you stay resilient and strong in the inside is more important.
My advice to young artists is to keep going if you’re truly passionate about your dream or aspirations. If you don’t have the drive for it, it’s not going to work because this journey will test you. It takes many blows and leaves blisters on the soul. If my soul were personified as a human, it would have visible wounds all over, wounds from experiences I still haven’t fully healed from. But if you’re truly passionate, you’ll be willing to go through that pain. It takes a lot, and I’m speaking from experience, however.
Maybe some artists haven’t suffered much, while others have suffered even more, I don’t truly know. It’s a personal journey. I come from a family of artists, and for us, it’s been a combination of suffering, pain, passion and accomplishments. Think of Black Swan, the movie. I think my experience was kind of like that.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

I am very open about mental health struggles, so I always talk about my number one challenge, which is my bipolar disorder. For those who have it, you know the struggle, for those who don’t, it’s difficult to understand because it’s an illness that has no cure, though treatment helps. We often underestimate the mind, but it’s very powerful and can be very scary. I try to take my medication and do things that make me happy so I don’t suffer too much from the illness.
It can be difficult because sometimes I can’t control what happens to me because of it. The mood swings, impulsiveness, and detachment from reality are very hard to deal with.
I try to have long sleep sessions whenever I can, like on specific weekends, so I can recover from all the mental exhaustion. But I’ve gotten used to it. It’s all good. I have art, and that helps me manage the symptoms.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mkchainsaw.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chainsawroll/
• Twitter: https://x.com/chainsawroll
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@chainsawrollart?si=MocRFggJos0vpF40