Once,
aspiring comic artists who dreamed of getting their work into print
would tote their portfolios to conventions and hope to get the eye of a
major company. Now those artists just set up a web site to get the same
attention. Several of those artists appeared at Anime USA to discuss
their work and their motivation in the Internet era, where fan artists
want to emulate Fred Gallagher as much as John Byrne.
One of those artists goes by the Onezumi, the same name as her web comic.
"It's perverted and insane. Most people think a a guy does it - a man
does the mecha," she said. Onezumi studied art in college but got a
degree in an unrelated field. Still, she ended up with an art career
when she did some animation work, which showed her the value of a
college education. "None of this was taught in any of the art major
classes," she said about her animation work. "I realized that I had to
move my ass if I wanted to accomplish anything in life, so I started
this web comic The best way I could do that is to put things out there
so people could see it and laugh at me if I wasn't doing it
right. Wanting to contribute something to help other people is a very
big deal - I know it's kind of utopian."
Two
men are responsible for the Chisuji web comic. Leo is the artist, who
freely admitted he was led down the slippery slope to the anime and
manga drawing style when he saw "Project: A-Ko." "I immediately fell in
love with that movie," Leo confessed. What followed was years of
practicing how to draw in the Japanese style, with gradual; improvement.
Now Leo has to produce material on a regular basis to keep Chisuji's
fans satisfied. "I'm trying my best to keep on some kind of schedule,"
he said. "It was an experience for myself. I wanted to see exactly what
I can do to keep going and trying to be surprised. People ask me for
advice and I try to give whatever advice I can."
The
other half of the Chisuji team is Eric, a high school dropout (with a
GED) and an ex-soldier who is a life-long fan of comics. "When I was in
the army I got comic books, always American comic books. Then the
American comic industry spent so much time concentrating on the art
that they forgot the story - I got upset and was depressed." As with
Leo, Eric's anime epiphany was "Project: A-Ko," which showed him the
vivid anime storytelling style. At the time, Eric was an avid RPG
player and added anime characters to his games. Then he considered
those anime-style characters and figured, "I can make a comic book out
of this." Eric met Leo at Nekocon when Leo was splitting his time
between the artists' alley and the costume contest, and they joined a
third acquaintance to make Chisuji. The web site's stories have
been so effective at Antarctic Press, the Texas independent comic
publisher, has offered to put them into print, Eric said.
Matt
Boyd (left) is one of the creators of the MacHall web comic about a
bunch of slightly atypical college kids. He'd like to be a journalist,
but he also likes daily newspaper comic strips such as "The Far Side."
As online comics rose to prominence, Boyd started enjoying them and
thought he could write them - but what about the art? The solution was
in Ian, a friend from his college days who "...started doing a comic
partially so he's have something to post on his door in college, then
he put it on his home page. I started giving him scripts because I
wanted to see someone drawing this, and it grew from there." Dyer
(right) represents the hopeful generation of web comics creators, "a 19
year old community college student with no degree or job. I always
liked drawing, even when I was little, I started getting into comics
and paper. My opinion was that math and science were utter bull." Now,
Dyer looks at the online and print success of Megatokyo and sees
something she can match and exceed with some luck and opportunity.
Once,
aspiring comic artists who dreamed of getting their work into print
would tote their portfolios to conventions and hope to get the eye of a
major company. Now those artists just set up a web site to get the same
attention. Several of those artists appeared at Anime USA to discuss
their work and their motivation in the Internet era, where fan artists
want to emulate Fred Gallagher as much as John Byrne.
One of those artists goes by the Onezumi, the same name as her web comic.
"It's perverted and insane. Most people think a a guy does it - a man
does the mecha," she said. Onezumi studied art in college but got a
degree in an unrelated field. Still, she ended up with an art career
when she did some animation work, which showed her the value of a
college education. "None of this was taught in any of the art major
classes," she said about her animation work. "I realized that I had to
move my ass if I wanted to accomplish anything in life, so I started
this web comic The best way I could do that is to put things out there
so people could see it and laugh at me if I wasn't doing it
right. Wanting to contribute something to help other people is a very
big deal - I know it's kind of utopian."
Two
men are responsible for the Chisuji web comic. Leo is the artist, who
freely admitted he was led down the slippery slope to the anime and
manga drawing style when he saw "Project: A-Ko." "I immediately fell in
love with that movie," Leo confessed. What followed was years of
practicing how to draw in the Japanese style, with gradual; improvement.
Now Leo has to produce material on a regular basis to keep Chisuji's
fans satisfied. "I'm trying my best to keep on some kind of schedule,"
he said. "It was an experience for myself. I wanted to see exactly what
I can do to keep going and trying to be surprised. People ask me for
advice and I try to give whatever advice I can."
The
other half of the Chisuji team is Eric, a high school dropout (with a
GED) and an ex-soldier who is a life-long fan of comics. "When I was in
the army I got comic books, always American comic books. Then the
American comic industry spent so much time concentrating on the art
that they forgot the story - I got upset and was depressed." As with
Leo, Eric's anime epiphany was "Project: A-Ko," which showed him the
vivid anime storytelling style. At the time, Eric was an avid RPG
player and added anime characters to his games. Then he considered
those anime-style characters and figured, "I can make a comic book out
of this." Eric met Leo at Nekocon when Leo was splitting his time
between the artists' alley and the costume contest, and they joined a
third acquaintance to make Chisuji. The web site's stories have
been so effective at Antarctic Press, the Texas independent comic
publisher, has offered to put them into print, Eric said.
Matt
Boyd (left) is one of the creators of the MacHall web comic about a
bunch of slightly atypical college kids. He'd like to be a journalist,
but he also likes daily newspaper comic strips such as "The Far Side."
As online comics rose to prominence, Boyd started enjoying them and
thought he could write them - but what about the art? The solution was
in Ian, a friend from his college days who "...started doing a comic
partially so he's have something to post on his door in college, then
he put it on his home page. I started giving him scripts because I
wanted to see someone drawing this, and it grew from there." Dyer
(right) represents the hopeful generation of web comics creators, "a 19
year old community college student with no degree or job. I always
liked drawing, even when I was little, I started getting into comics
and paper. My opinion was that math and science were utter bull." Now,
Dyer looks at the online and print success of Megatokyo and sees
something she can match and exceed with some luck and opportunity.
