Artist Feature: Jinn / tanteitime

Jinn is a California based artist with a love for many fandoms from tokusatsu to KPOP. Their work can be found on Twitter @kamenkorean and on Tumblr. Folks can also purchase some of Jinn’s work online through their Etsy shop. 

Where are you from and what inspired you to become an artist?
I’m from California, and I’ve had an interest in art since I started reading manga and watching anime around the time I entered middle school. A couple of “how to draw manga” books later, and I started drawing regularly as a hobby.

What influences your specific art style?
Mostly older manga artists, like Koge Donbo and Rumiko Takahashi. Old cartoons like the Powerpuff Girls and Teen Titans inspired me as a kid, and I had a huge Adventure Time phase during college too, which influenced me a lot.

What got you into tokusatsu?
A close friend introduced me to Kamen Rider (the first thing I ever saw was the music video for the Imagin Version of Den-O’s theme song “Climax Jump”). She showed me the first episodes of a bunch of different series, and I started with Kamen Rider W because I’m obsessed with anything related to detectives. I fell in deep on my own after that. I have to say my favorite series overall is Ressha Sentai ToQger though!

Can you please walk through the process when creating a piece?
I mostly just draw things I’d like to see out of characters. It starts with a lot of lines and circles, then a blobby sketch, and then I finalize lines and colors.

Whenever I get into something new, I can’t seem to get it out of my mind for months at a time, and will only draw that one thing. This is generally what pushes me to draw.

What’s the biggest challenge for you as an independent artist?
As an adult, I know I’m doing art as a hobby and not as a career, since that was never my intention and I never studied it. This blocks me from trying to learn new things since I don’t think I should be spending my time and effort to do so, compared to looking for work that has to do with my career choice. I find this the most challenging thing as an artist.

What’s the most positive experience you’ve had being active in various fandoms?
Being deep into a fandom always urges me to draw more, and I always meet a handful of good friends through fandoms. Being in a fandom has literally pulled me out of depression before, since I was drawing every day and talking with friends every day. I owe a lot to fandoms and the people I meet through them.

Do you have any projects you’re currently working on that you’d like to share?
I mostly just draw for fun, so nothing big is being planned, haha. I’m currently just making a lot of merch for various conventions in the future!

Once again, Jinn is a California based artist whose work can be purchased online through their Etsy store. Jinn will also be tabling at the upcoming Anime California convention taking place Labor Day weekend from September 2nd to the 4th.