Meet Joey Kao

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joey Kao a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joey, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

Engage with other people’s art! The artists who transfixed me as a teenager continue to influence and teach me so much. Returning again and again to my old favorites is a sure-fire way to remember what I love so much about art, and why I wanted to create my own in the first place. I often find myself revisiting the works of Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro, Denis Villeneuve, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Junji Ito, Henry Selick, and Hayao Miyazaki. Finding a new book, artist, movie, or video game to obsess over is also a great fuel source. Recently, I’ve been enamored by the artistry in FromSoftware’s games, Masahiro Ito’s work on the Silent Hill franchise, and the gowns of Charles Frederick Worth. Inspiration can come from random and unexpected places, so look everywhere.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m Joey Kao, an Asian-American artist and writer based in Los Angeles, California. You may have seen my art floating around on social media where I’m known as queen_joey on Instagram. No thought or foresight went into that username by the way, I swore when I made my account in middle school that I’d never change it, then when I started going viral I was fortuitously stuck with it. I primarily illustrate for adult and YA fantasy books and work digitally in a gothic/storybook style inspired by artists like Abigail Larson, Arthur Rackham, Tim Burton, and John William Waterhouse. I’ve worked with authors like Roshani Chokshi, Briar Boleyn, Melissa Wright and been featured by OwlCrate, Albatros Media, and HarperCollins. On the writing side, I work as a screenwriter focused on genre features, usually horror and thrillers, but most recently I’ve forayed into the YA stories I spend so much time with as an illustrator. It’s been really awesome to see that literary genre bleed from one half of my life into the other in a very serendipitous way, and I should hopefully be able to share more about the project soon. It’s currently going into pre-production as we speak.

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?

First, I’ll definitely say – do what you’re passionate about, not what you think will get the most views. I got my start doing fanart in my free time for some of my favorite books, mostly YA series with gothic elements or things based on classic gothic literature. Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse, Holly Black’s Folk of the Air novels, and Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, to name a few. I drew those fanarts for my own enjoyment, not planning to monetize them in any way, and luckily they made their way to people who equally enjoyed the same things I did. Throughout my life, I’ve always found that it’s the random personal project that later gets me work, never the resume-filler I manufactured to appeal. Genuine passion speaks to people, and it’ll lead to jobs that are much more up your alley.
Patience goes hand-in-hand with that. It takes time and random luck for things to come together. Timing is a huge part of it, and it’s something you can’t predict, but have faith. When it does work out, you’ll look back and see those invisible threads that all came together over time.
Finally, portfolio. What I really mean by this is – make your ideas come to fruition. I think a lot of people have great ideas, but feel an anxiety to execute them perfectly that prevents them from starting to work on them. It seems great in your head, and someday you’ll do it, but right now you doubt you have the skill level to achieve it. But I’ve realized – who cares? You can’t do much with a bunch of ideas and unfinished projects. Just make it exist! You may feel disappointed with it at first, but we are our own harshest critics, and just having a tangible body of work is an amazing door-opener. You can always go back and change, add to, and revisit old projects. You’ll never be perfect, but you’ll be practicing, and I promise having a finished iteration of that idea you’ve been harboring for so long will feel so rewarding.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I’ve illustrated for a lot of adult and YA romantasy over the past two years and have had a great time, definitely no plans to quit that genre any time soon, but I’d love to branch out! I love horror and already spend a lot of time with it on the writing side, but would love to try illustrating for some horror books. I think my style would suit a YA or middle-grade book that’s a little spooky, perhaps with some Tim Burton or Coraline vibes. I’d also love to be able to express more of my cultural background as a Korean-Chinese person in my art more. It’d be incredibly fun to work with any authors looking for an Asian-American illustrator who’s familiar with things like traditional Asian fashion, symbolism, art history, and literary tropes.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queen_joey/
• Other: Print shop: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/queen_joey/
  Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/queen_joey
  Webtoon: https://www.webtoons.com/p/community/en/u/0780u