Shirahama was born on May 7. She graduated from the design program at the
Tokyo University of the Arts. She works using analog tools such as pencils, pen and ink, and colored pencils rather than digital tools. Influences on her work include
The Lord of the Rings and
Harry Potter novels, which she read in junior high school, as well as the
Art Nouveau and
Art Deco styles. Her art style has multiple influences, including
Alphonse Mucha,
Mœbius,
Hayao Miyazaki, and
Moto Hagio. Her debut story was , published by
Enterbrain in
Fellows! in 2011. She made her multi-part story publishing debut with
Eniale & Dewiela in
Fellows! in 2012. The series ran for two years, ending in July 2015, and was collected in three volumes released in June 2013, June 2014, and July 2015. The series was translated into French and released by
Pika Édition in 2019. She began doing variant covers and other illustration and concept work for
Marvel Comics,
DC Comics, and
Star Wars comics in 2015 after her art was noticed at
New York Comic Con, working on titles such as
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra,
Deadpool, and
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey.
Witch Hat Atelier began serialization in Kodansha's
Monthly Morning Two manga magazine in July 2016. When the first
collected volume was released in January 2017, the manga was so popular it became hard to find copies in stores. In June 2022, her
Star Wars manga short work,
The Elder, was published in
Big Gangan. She also did the
character designs for the animated version of the story. ==Bibliography==