Life & Work with Kyo Tagawa of Federal Way, WA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyo Tagawa

Hi Kyo, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was first inspired by games, and movies in the late 90s and early 2000s. My mother enjoyed the classics like Centipede, Asteroids, and Pac Man, while my dad liked gaming on our Dell M.E desktop with Starcraft and Diablo II. He saw how much I liked drawing the monsters from the books that came with the games and told me I could get a job doing that one day, pointing to the credits in the game. I thought that was really cool but didn’t think much of it until he bought an Xbox and the game Halo: Combat Evolved a few years later. I became obsessed with the game and that was the first time I boldly declared that I wanted to make art for video games– specifically, Bungie the original creator of the Halo franchise.

I’m thankful that I had parents who encouraged my creativity. Throughout my childhood I was always making something, comics, monsters, cardboard props, and make shift LEGO replicas of space ships. Halo was an ever present influence because I loved the epic sci-fi universe it took place in, I even began reading some of the novels early on which fed my imagination even more.

But I didn’t seriously consider a career in the game industry till I was two years into college. My dad passed of a sudden illness in August of 2015, and my will to create was all but gone. Video games were too painful to play since my dad and I always played together. A month later, at the recommendation of a friend, I tried a game called Destiny. It was the first game I played on my own and unbeknownst to me at the time–Bungie was the developer behind it.

Destiny rekindled my love for art, and drawing and I set my sights on working for Bungie. It was a goal that kept me anchored for years, but after I graduated college I learned I critically misjudged how much work and dedication it would take. I struggled for a few years, exploring different career paths, but in 2020 I began to find my footing. By this time I’d rearmed myself with knowledge, and built up the mentality to try again.

I saw my art improve, I saw growth, and that helped encourage me to keep pushing. In 2021, I traveled outside of Colorado for the first time and attended PAX West in Seattle to find work.
While I didn’t find a job, the experience was life changing. I met game developers face to face, talked with them about their work, their experiences, and gained insights into the field — once I got back home to Colorado, I knew without a doubt in my mind that being a concept artist–and by extension a game developer, is what I wanted.

The year that followed, I became a regular at the local CIGDA (Colorado Indie Game Developer’s Association) meet ups in Denver, in thanks to a local artist who reached out and encouraged me to attend. However , it was still rough going.

As 2023 came around, I was still running into dead ends and rejection letters from potential employers. So, I sought other avenues within art. Encouraged by a fellow artist, I applied to a novice artists program hosted by a local convention called ayA Con that May. I was accepted and found myself vending my first table at a comic convention. I was nervous to say the least.

My North Star began to shift, from wanting to work for my favorite game studio, to growing confidence in myself and my work to be employable. I found a new joy in vending, talking to people about my work helped me reinforce my own values and solidify the direction I wanted to take my career. Not to mention the encouragement and support were added fuel to my tank. What’s more, I landed my first major art gig with a local comic artist! He liked my creature work and wanted me to help him create a bestiary for his comic– needless to say I was ecstatic and said yes. We collaborated for about a year before another project pulled him from the bestiary so we paused work on it for a bit. But, I found conventions to be an unexpected source of inspiration, and I got to meet many different artists who had worked in comics and games and everyone has been nothing but encouraging. In 2024 I had the honor of having my work published in Vision Comics and Oddities Issue #0 which focuses on local Colorado artists, and then my work was featured for their Halloween issue in October.

Comic conventions helped me find my own voice, and I developed a new found confidence in myself–but– as much as I enjoyed conventions, I still yearned to make artwork for video games. I wanted to work on a team, brainstorming, and coming up with stuff to inspire people; and by this time, I wasn’t focused on one singular studio anymore. Towards the end of 2023 I made the decision to move from Colorado, up to Washington state, which has a bustling game development community.

It wasn’t an easy choice to leave home and my family. I seriously deliberated it for months–at the time I was working a solid (non-art) job but I ultimately decided that I wanted to keep chasing this dream of mine to be a professional concept artist. Ironically, two weeks before I moved, a local Colorado dev reached out to me asking if I would like to be a part of his team. The initial project didn’t fall into the dark fantasy or sci-fi genres but I really wanted to work with a team, so I said yes!

I worked remotely for the Colorado based group from my new home in WA, and our four person team did something amazing. Last September we set out to create a small game, Doomsday Doorman, and by December, we wrapped up the finishing touches and completed it. It was a very emotional moment to finally be a part of a successful project, as there are a lot of challenges with seeing a game from start to finish, and we’d done it in a fairly short amount of time to boot.

During the development of Doomsday Doorman, I was working a second job. Shortly after I arrived in WA, an old client reached out to me for creature design work for a long term project– suddenly, I found myself doing what I’d set out to do many years ago. It further reinforced to me that moving was the right choice.

Since my move, I’ve become a regular at events hosted by the local nonprofit, Seattle Indies, who host a slew of events to encourage and support local developers. It’s enabled me to mingle and learn about more aspects of game dev, and in turn further push me to improve my craft and keep aiming towards my goals.

It’s a long story but a lot has happened for me to end up where I am today.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My art journey has definitely been wrought with hardships and challenges. The most notable is being my own worst enemy. In 2020 when I refocused on my studies, I lacked the structure of school– I like structure and schedules as I’m someone who can get distracted very easily– but it was very challenging to do on my own. It took me years to learn what my needs were, how to make myself a schedule, and how to stick to it. Most importantly, I learned to forgive myself when I did slip up. It’s important not to be so hard on myself that it’s discouraging, but firm enough to hold myself accountable so I want to try again.

Additionally, the pursuit of an artistic career is really difficult because everyone’s journey is uniquely their own. There’s no one right way on how to be a professional artist. As such, it can be really difficult to know what you’re doing right and wrong, at the end of the day all you can do is your best and keep trying. I follow the signs when I do something right, and pivot when I feel myself stagnate.

Recently, I’ve found myself fighting Imposter Syndrome off and on. Unlike a game, you don’t get that brilliant flash of light that says “LEVEL UP!” When you’re used to struggling and fighting tooth and claw for every inch of ground, it can be jarring when the tide of that fight shifts in your favor. The best way I combat it is by being very honest with myself. If I feel insecure about a skill I ask myself what isn’t working and why and then lean into practicing to improve. You never stop learning as an artist, and it’s critical to understand that. But, like anyone, I still have good and bad days.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a Concept Artist who specializes in Creature Design, though I like to call myself a Thought-weaver, it sounds cool. I’ve always liked dark fantasy, and science fiction. I love astronomy and nature so I always incorporate that into my works when I can. I like to make weird stuff, and sometimes find inspiration from endangered, and lesser known flora, fauna, and fungi. The natural world is amazing and I want to stir up people’s curiosity and bring awareness to the diversity of our natural world.

I like to think of my work as a visual snapshot of something from another world that no one has seen before. What kind of creature is it? What does it eat? How does it hunt? How has it adapted to it’s environment? Do they have a personality? I love diving into the ‘what ifs’ and making up all kinds of neat stories to tell. That’s one of the things that sets my work apart. I have a lot of fun hiding all sorts of references to various mythologies and themes both visually in the design and in the lore that I write because I want my work to have depth and meaning. I’m also a tenacious learner, I always strive to do better and I want to earn my place alongside some of the great names in our industry.

Although my art is cool, I think I’m most known for the white fuzzy hat that I wear in public. I bought it at the Wizard’s Chest off Broadway in 2016, and it’s lived on my head ever since. People ask me what it is, and I don’t really know. I like that unknown though, it means I can think of what it could be. As for why I wear it all the time, I just really like it.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
There’s a few things that make me happy. One, brainstorming with fellow creatives! There’s nothing that gets me more fired up than collaborating on an idea together. I have a wild imagination so whether it’s my idea or not, my brain will take the idea and run with it and it’s such an amazing feeling because I legitimately can’t sit still when I get that excited.

Two, acts of kindness. I’m a very sentimental person so when I do art trades or receive gifts, I never get rid if them because for me, it’s like keeping a warm memory.

Three, the realization that I can make something from nothing. I’ve always loved fantasy realms and places with magic. Weaving a thought (something intangible) into something material that can inspire people– something that people can interact with? I like to think that’s the closest thing to magic in our world and that always makes me smile.

Four the love and support of my family. My mother and my extended family are still in Colorado, they’ve been rooting for me since day 1 and it’s really nice to know that someone you care about had faith in you before you had faith in yourself. That’s a really special feeling and I’m lucky to have them in my life.

And of course, I can’t forget my cat, Vladimir. He’s such a sweet cat and I always feel better when he’s around. He’s named after the Impaler himself since he punches holes in anything he can get his teeth through.

Pricing:

• $180 (per day, design/commission rate)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://80.lv/talent/p/kyo-tagawa
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paladin_maar/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyo-tagawa/
• Other: https://bsky.app/profile/paladinmaar.bsky.social

Image Credits
All artwork shown is my own