Are you familiar with the named Based Kawaii?
If you have been around the anime art and clothing world, you may have come across this name. The first time I saw Based Kawaii’s work was when I saw the collaborations she had with iiii Clothing, a Los Angeles anime clothing brand.
Before you know it, her artwork would make appearances within the anime clothing industry, such as Get Lost Perv and more. Her artwork stands out within the community with it’s lewdy kawaii-ness and definitely has made an impact in this type of culture.
I was able to get an interview with the lovely Based Kawaii for a better understanding about her and her personal brand. Here was how the interview went.
INTERVIEW WITH BASED KAWAII
It’s funny cause I went with this name as a joke. You know who BASED GOD is? I’m actually from the Bay Area and when I was in high school he was poppin off. So I jokingly took that namesake and put a weeb twist on it. It’s been my league, twitch, and instagram name since 2012 maybe even earlier. As for milkysyrup… hmmm I think I came across an old hentai tumblr blog with a similar name back in hs as well. Kinda stuck with me, it was cute and subtly lewd so I branded as that. Thank whoever came with that!!!
As for personal brand (basedkawaii) it’s been my streaming/internet persona and handle for a long time. It’s wild that people still drop by my stream with memories of watching me get wasted and passing out on stream LOL.
I’m gonna be quite candid here. I started drawing cause I wanted to make gold (fake currency) on GaiaOnline. LOL. I can’t believe my whole career started from that decision I made in 5th grade. My art was so terrible, but I kept at it. It took me like 6 months to learn how to use a wacom tablet. I USED PEN TOOL FOR SO LONG AND COLOUR DODGED MY WHOLE DRAWING. God it was so bad. Here’s my FIRST digital drawing. God this is so embarrassing.
I started hardcore getting into art out of spite. Like no joke, someone in university gave me some harsh criticism when I didn’t ask for it and it just TRIGGERED ME. LIKE I’M GONNA SHOW YOU!!! kinda fire. You know what I mean? LIKE YOU JUST REALLY WANT TO SHOW THEM THAT THEY ARE WRONG AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY DO IT??? Believe it or not, I was a computer science/fine arts double major before I dropped out in 2015. I remember getting so worked up I would stay late at the studio and just paint by myself until they kicked me out. It’s so bizarre cause when you look at my work now, it’s like ALL anime and clean lines. It’s completely different from how I used to draw/paint. Here’s an example of some old work I’ve done. I have a nasty habit of drawing on one layer like how people paint irl. lol.
In the end, I dropped out of uni and went to some shady game art program. Got a degree and found a job as a concept artist and lived a very dull life. It wasn’t til I met Brian that I decided to draw anime again…
To be honest, not really. I like putting on a playlist or some B99 and just chip away. Sometimes I stream my entire process from sketch to finish all in one sitting. I love talking to people as I go and it’s really refreshing to get them to help me make decisions. Sometimes if I don’t draw for a few days, I’ll get “creatively constipated” and feel the NEED to draw or make something. other than that, just do it whenever I want to. It’s like pooping, you can’t really rush these things or force it out. lol.
The crowd favourites are of course Bad Habits collab and the line of maids.
I also pull a lot of inspo from cosplayers and sex workers. God bless their souls, their confidence INSPIRES me.
I also loved working with Lewd Complex and Animebae. They gave me a lot of creative freedoms as well and really helped me grow as an artist. I remember doing edits for Animebae at like 3 in the morning, just cleaning up my linework. It really helped me be more mindful of my linework and line weighting.
As for brands I’d like to work with? hmmm Probably IronYokai (we do have some secret stuff in the works, but no set release date yet…) and Floating Nimbus!
I love wholesome hentai
I grew up watching a lot of anime. My parents would buy me VHS of Chinese subbed animes and I would watch it. I didn’t really understand much at the time, but as I got older I got to rewatch a lot of shows that I grew up watching and it meant a lot to me. NGE was definitely a great example. I remember watching it as a kid and getting super hyped over giant robots fighting monsters, but I never really got into it… It didn’t really help that I was super into anime/art forums like GaiaOnline. I’m just weeb trash. Peep my MAL. https://myanimelist.net/animelist/basedkawaii&show=0&order=4
BASED KAWAII | MILKY SYRUP GALLERY
If you guys loved the interview and would want to know more about her and the brand, give her a follow on her social media down below, and check out her online shop.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Art Instagram: @basedkawaii
Store Instagram: @milkysyrup.us
Twitter: @Himederp
Website: milkysyrup.com
