Now reading...
Artist Spotlight: Kianamai


From Team Rocket to Animal Crossing, this artist’s got it all!

Team Rocket has been, and will always been, probably the most popular characters aside from Pikachu in the Pokémon franchise. Anime fans of all ages have grown up to adore these characters and their antics from various disguises, wild schemes to catch Pokémon for the boss, to even sometimes supporting the heroes because they still want to see them succeed. In particular, an artist that goes by the username Kianamai has a particular fondness for the trio and draws them so much, it’s likely you’ve already seen her art if you use Instagram or Twitter.

Kianamai, also known as Kiana Khansmith, is a storyboard artist at Disney Television Animation where she currently works on the show, Big City Greens. She’s originally from Hawaii and is biracial, with Jamaican and Japanese heritage. She is active on a variety of sites, including Twitter, Instagram, Deviantart, and Tumblr. Here she posts artwork for a variety of fandoms including Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Steven Universe, Super Smash, Bros, and much much more.

Team Rocket

This is likely what Kianamai is best known for on the Internet. Kianamai is a huge fan of Team Rocket and has drawn a variety of art for the iconic trio. This ranges from drawing them as children to interacting with other members of the Pokémon franchise like Delia Ketchum, Butch and Cassidy, and even the Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee protagonist. A few of the notable comics Team Rocket drawings she made that have circulated the Internet as of late include Jessie getting a Dreepy, the gang with James’ hair (aka the thumbnail for the article), and Team Rocket with Ash dressed like punks. She also did the Sailor Moon redraw trend but in the Original Pokémon style.

https://kianamaiart.tumblr.com/post/618045761338441728/yamujiburo-team-rocket-twitters-hopefully-team


Personally this is one of my favorite of her Team Rocket pieces due to just how littered with references it is. From Jessie’s general inability to use technology to James’ infamous Moltres episode, everything in this post has meaning, even the follower and post interaction counts! It’s a really creative piece that obviously had a lot of thought put into it with how many references and details you can see in the breakdown Kianamai gives on the Tumblr post.


I also quite like this drawing, if only because I was never aware that the voice behind Meowth, Maddie Blaustein, was transgender. Upon looking into her, I found she voiced Meowth starting in episode 31 of the original series up until the end of season 8. In addition, she’d later voice Chatot in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Time and Darkness animated specials. She also voiced several other major and minor roles throughout the series such as Ash’s Corphish, Lt. Surge, and various other characters. All in all, it’s really cool of Kianamai to put a spotlight on that to spread awareness and educate fans.


This is a really cute piece for a variety of reasons. First off, Kianamai emulates the Animal Crossing style perfectly here. Secondly, Jessie looks great in this style. Thirdly, this comes as the result of Jessie’s voice actor, Michele Knotz, visiting Kianamai’s island in Animal Crossing. The videos themselves are absolutely adorable, of which Kianamai posted two clips on their Twitter, which you can view here: Part 1 and Part 2. Michele visited Kianamai’s house which featured iconic Team Rocket themed locations such as Mewtwo’s lab and Bewear’s den. Best of all, Kianamai designed a bunch of Team Rocket style outfits, including the Rainbow Rocket design featured in this drawing, which Kianamai created to celebrate Pride Month.

Other Fandom Content

Kianamai does a lot more than just Pokémon and Team Rocket content though. As previously mentioned, they also post content for a lot of other fandoms like Animal Crossing, Sailor Moon, and many more. She’s also a frequent participant in many art trends like #Toonme, 6 Fanarts, Five Minute Artist Meme, Rymesona, and Art v Artist. Overall, between their frequent posts and diverse fandom appeal, there’s a lot to choose from but here’s a few of my favorites

 

View this post on Instagram

 

gemanimate!

A post shared by Kiana K. (@kianamai) on


Kianamai used to do a lot of Steven Universe fanart, especially around the time of the release of the episode, “A Single Pale Rose”, which was a really big turning point in the series. While we haven’t seen as much of it lately, that doesn’t mean Kianamai isn’t still a fan of the show. In fact, she made a full blown animation for it of one of the scenes from the episode “Reunited”, where Steven and Amethyst are singing “Let’s Only Think About Love”. It’s a super cute style that captures the emotions and energy of that particular moment in the song. All in all, a cute animation that is a great tribute to the series.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

a family can be a witch, a goddess, two angels, a thief and orb

A post shared by Kiana K. (@kianamai) on


In the Super Smash Bros fandom, it’s a pretty popular headcanon that Bayonetta is a mother for Kirby and Joker, and Palutena is a mother for Pit and Dark Pit. But what if they were wives? Kianamai has plenty of artwork featuring these two together in a really cute ship. Whether it be pictures of the whole family, like above, to carrying one another around, to relaxing after some training, she’s got the gals, and their pals, doing it all.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

lovebirds

A post shared by Kiana K. (@kianamai) on


She’s also done a lot of cute Animal Crossing artwork, including a few gijinka designs of various villagers. She seems to be a pretty big fan of her bird villagers, with Amelia being her favorite villager. She’s also particularly fond of Keaton, especially after he started hanging out with Amelia. These birds aren’t the only gijinka designs she’s made though, with Daisy Mae getting one too!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

another! but casual ☀️ ?

A post shared by Kiana K. (@kianamai) on


Animal Crossing isn’t the only fandom she’s done gijinkas for, she’s also done them for My Little Pony! Kianamai used to do a lot more My Little Pony artwork as well, with several folders dedicated to it on her Deviantart page. She even created a couple AUs for stories that centered around the kids of the Mane Seven. The designs are actually really cool and creative looking, so I’d recommend checking them out if you’re into that kind of thing. She doesn’t actively update them anymore, but that hasn’t stopped her from making some recent MLP artwork to show her continued love and support for the series even after its end.

Original Works

Kianamai does more than just fan works though. On top of all of that, she also has her own OCs, drawings of herself, her friends, and her girlfriend, and her work with Big City Greens. While the number of fanworks she does outnumbers these, they’re still sprinkled throughout her gallery and do well to show off her skills as a character designer and storyboard artist.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

oc tings

A post shared by Kiana K. (@kianamai) on


This is an OC that Kianamai developed back in late March. She’s done a few more drawings of this OC since, and despite the OC remaining unnamed, this is still a great design for a character for a number of reasons. First off, due to the character having a darker complexion, the brighter triadic colors of the jacket and the orange hair grab your attention initially, but then the darker colors of the outfit and skintone help to prevent her from being too overwhelmingly bright. Plus the variety of expressions and poses we see in this post and the other subsequent ones give a great characterization of the OC. It’s very easy to see her personality and overall demeanor in them. It’s just overall a great and creative design that hits a lot of the right boxes in terms of proper character design.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Big Deal airs tomorrow at 8am on Disney Channel! This is the first episode I’ve ever worked on!! #BigCityGreens

A post shared by Kiana K. (@kianamai) on


This picture symbolizes a really big moment for Kianamai. “Big Deal” was the first episode Kianamai she had worked on, which is a huge step for an artist like Kianamai. As a Disney show, Big City Greens provides Kianamai the opportunity to make many connections in the industry. It’s a huge deal for her to get to work on a show like this and is the start of a no doubt impressive career down the road.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

One month with this cutie!

A post shared by Kiana K. (@kianamai) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

me and jaymin pokemon style!

A post shared by Kiana K. (@kianamai) on


Kianamai also loves to draw pictures of her girlfriend and her friends. I personally love seeing these pictures because not only do they have some really cute and creative compositions, but in general it’s nice to get of the artist themself and the people in their lives. It humanizes them in a way and serves to remind us that Kianamai isn’t some out of reach deity, but someone on this earth with friends and family as well as trials and tribulations.

And along with this, Kianamai has recognized this through her recent support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. She has taken to retweeting a variety of #DrawingWhileBlack tweets on Twitter as well as petitions and donation drives on Twitter to help show her support. While this is not the main focus of the article, as the protests and calls to action continue, we do feel it’s important to encourage people to do their part. Please be sure to check out the artists and resources that Kianamai shares on her Twitter. In addition, if you’re looking for other ways to support, you can check out our previous article on #BlackLivesMatter with petiion and donation links.


Ongoing Conversation