October 9, 2008 08:40 PM | by 
At NYAF 2008, I had the pleasure of meeting many artists in the artist alley. I myself am an artist so it was definitely exciting to see all the different works of art on sale and on display. I must say, I was very impressed. If I wasn’t so strapped for cash, I would’ve bought some prints (if the T.M.Revolution booth wasn’t there)! Some of these artists appear at more anime conventions than NYAF, of course. At AnimeNext 2008, I remember seeing quite a few of these artists in the artist alley. It’s amazing to see the talent in action as many artists tend to take commissions right on the spot and draw right in front of you. There were people who made pins, prints, hats, plushies and more. The amount of different mediums used (such as digital, colored pencils, markers) was amazing. Each artist put their own twist onto their favorite anime/manga characters and sold away!
Although each of these artists may be different, all of them gather at anime conventions yearly to draw for a common interest. I personally had the pleasure to briefly interview a few of the artists. As I interviewed these artists, I realized I can relate in so many ways! Even though the artists were asked such similar questions, their own personality shows. In a way, it clears who the person is “behind the mask” so to speak.
Q. How did you begin to draw anime/manga based art?
A. I started when I was around 6 years old, there was a small asian bookstore beside my parents’ workplace that had a section for manga and Hong Kong comics. When I flipped through the pages I thought the artists had lots of fun drawing all the pictures and thought it’d be fun for me too.
Q. What mangaka/artists inspire you?
A. Oh man, It’s a bit of a long list! There’s a lot of artists I like who’ve already worked in animation and videogames, off the top of my head there’s Naoyuki Onda, Koji Morimoto, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, Akiman, Tadahiro Uesugi, Yoji Shinkawa, Murata Range, Kozaki Yusuke, Kazuya Nuri, Kazuma Kaneko, Shigenori Soejima, Toshihiro Kawamoto, Kenichi Yoshida, Hiroaki Samura, Oh Great!, Eiichiro Oda, Inoue Takehiko, Miwa Shirow , Juno Jeong, Ma Wing Shing, Andy Szeto, Craig Mullens, Alphonse Mucha, Rembrandt and John Singer-Sargent.
Q. How did you begin to draw anime/manga based art?
A. I’ve been drawing since I was first able to pick up a pencil. I know it sounds kind of lame but it’s true. I can’t remember a point in time where I wasn’t drawing or didn’t want to draw. I began drawing anime-based art when I first watched Sailor Moon. Yes, yes.. laugh at me. I admit it. I thought the artwork was pretty and amazing and pretty amazing. Thus, I decided that I wanted to try and draw that way. Another inspiration was Chrono Trigger. It’s one of my all-time favorite games and I really loved the character design. Pretty much, I can say that I’ve been into anime style for at least 13 years now and I started out doing only fanart. Shortly after, I began to come up with my own stories and my own characters and now I hardly do fanart anymore unless something REALLY inspires me.
Q. What are your future plans as an artist?
A. Hmmm… my future plans, eh? Well I would like to take over the world at some point in time, preferably in the near future. Wait… you’re talking about artistically? Oh, well… I would like to start publishing comics. I’m in the process of putting one together but I’m still working the kinks out of the script at the moment. I hope to be organized enough to release the first issue by Fall of 2009. I can’t go into any details though, as it is top secret. Other than comics, I really enjoy designing t-shirts and I hope to start my own silly t-shirt line. It’s art, it’s wearable and it makes people laugh. Doesn’t get any better than that!
Q. How did you begin to draw anime/manga based art?
A. It started when I was in the 6th grade and was fortunate enough to come across “Dragon Ball Z” on TV! I… was stunned by that show! I grew up watching things like Looney Toons and the Rugrats; shows that didn’t have a plot/character development and had episodes that can be watched in any order. DBZ was like a soap opera! The animation, characters and their abilities entranced me… I was hooked to anime and manga ever since, and it shows in my artwork.
Q. How do you feel when fans react so passionately towards your work?
A.It’s seriously… the most amazing feeling in the world! I can’t even describe in words how much their loving support means to me. I mean… humans have YET to come up with a word that can describe the feeling! It’s so encouraging and it just makes me want to work harder. I love what I do and knowing others can appreciate my work… It’s wonderful!