Shinohara was born on January 9, 1974, in Chiba Prefecture. Starting his career as a salaryman, Shinohara decided to drop out of his white-collar job for two years while preparing for his debut as a manga artist. Shinohara worked as an assistant under Hideaki Sorachi on Gintama for a short time using the alias Shintaroh Nakae, an anagram of "Kenta Shinohara". During his stint with Sorachi, Shinohara called him a "teacher" who taught him necessary skills. In June and September 2003, Shinohara was one of the final candidates for the monthly JUMP 12 Outstanding Rookie Manga Award both months, though he failed to win either award. Shinohara wrote two one-shots for Sket Dance in the winter and summer of 2006, submitting them to Akamaru Jump and Weekly Shōnen Jump respectively. The second one-shot was a pilot arranged in a book volume format, similar to the eventual first chapter of the main series. Serialization of Sket Dance began on July 14, 2007, in Weekly Shōnen Jump. In the fifteenth volume of Sket Dance, released on September 1, 2010, Shinohara announced that he would be getting married.
Career
2005 - Debuted in Akamaru Jump Winter Issue with the article "Red Panda Puppet Show".
2006 - Wrote the Sket Dance one-shot for Akamaru Jump Winter Issue. Shinohara rewrote the one-shot in August as a pilot chapter for a potential series in Weekly Shōnen Jump Issue No. 39.
2007 - Began serializing Sket Dance in Weekly Shōnen Jump Issue No. 33 as a weekly series.
2010 - Won the 55th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shōnen category for Sket Dance.
2012 - Wrote the lyrics for Water Color, a track within The Sketchbook's first original album, Sketchbook. Shinohara stated that this was the first time he had ever written song lyrics, and that he had based them on his feelings about the "coolness" of the music.
2013 - Completed serialization of Sket Dance, with 288 chapters.
2014 - Worked on the original character designs for the anime Battle Spirits: Burning Soul.
2016 - Began new sci-fi manga, Astra Lost in Space in the website/smartphone app Shonen Jump+, currently published online in the U.S. edition of Weekly Shonen Jump.
