Interview With The Artist: Kage

By: Courtney Glover McElwee 5-23-2018

Today I interviewed the artist named Kage also known as HonouNoKage on DeviantArt. Kage is in her early twenties and lives in a suburban area in Texas. She focuses on manga-styled illustration of the “flowery” sort. Flowery meaning big, expressive eyes, and flowing hair, etc. Her art also has a bit of “guro” influence. Guru is a term for genres that deal in more grotesque subject matter.

When asked how long she’s been drawing she said, “Truthfully, I recall it as being something I always just sort of did. The dates in my sketchbooks go back about eleven years, so that’s about how long I’ve been more or less serious about it.” The first thing she remembers drawing, when she was a small child, was a purple butterfly with wings that curved around like swirls. She remembers it being a sort of mindless doodle, but it’s one of the few early memories she has. She was about 12 years old when she actively actually starting drawing and hone her skills. The first drawing she remembers holding onto was a punk-type girl with long, blue hair wearing a black and pink outfit.

Kage was inspired to really start drawing when she took a look at her own stories and decided she wanted to illustrate them as well. “Naturally I had to learn to convey exactly what I imagined. It’s an ongoing process to this day.” Her favorite thing to draw? Well, I’ll let Kage explain, “Ah, this may come across as objectionable, but I really love death scenes. They’re the perfect place to put expressive faces and try to convey a myriad of feelings at the same time. Despair, confusion, agony, an ironic peacefulness within the departing, for instance. Death is one of those things that tend to elicit big responses from people and I love to play with those aspects.” Her favorite means of conveying emotions, and drawing in general, are pencils and markers.

Go check out Kage and her amazing art work @ https://honounokage.deviantart.com/