Nakanoart from “sunny California” shares that her art is like “bubble gum ice cream, with a hot candy hidden somewhere inside.” Her unique manga-style designs perfectly capture a hint of a passionate secret beneath the surface — like a character dreaming up a stormy nightmare or a monster reflected back in a selfie.

She admits that although it can be a struggle to find inspiration for art, it can be more difficult to make art match the vision in her head. She will “doodle a thumbnail so I can shape the work before I execute it” to avoid frustration or wasted time on a project that she will choose not to pursue. She has learned to pay attention to her feelings and “stop when I get sick of working on the same idea.”

She finds inspiration from the creative people in her personal life and she believes that her creative life “crosses over seamlessly” with her personal one. Similarly, she finds motivation from events like #inktober because it encourages her to experiment with different styles or subjects.

nightmares - woman sleeping with monsters

Nakanoart’s greatest achievement is being able to pursue art as her full-time job. She admits that it can be stressful but that “I’ll gladly take freedom and passion over a typical office job any day.” In fact, she believes that everyone has the potential for creativity in them. When asked who she believes is a visionary, she simply answers “anyone, honestly.”

Nakanoart sees that everyone around her has “amazingly unique ideas” that make them visionaries. In fact, her unique appreciation for people and their experiences lends itself to her perspective on her own life and her art. She even jokes that if we ever traded places with her that, “I hope you didn't enjoy your old life too much, cause it's not going to be the same when you get it back.”