DREAM MANGA - The Monthly Online Manga Magazine

PRINTED ISSUE!!

The Special Dream Printed issue 2 is out!! It is a 160-page thick manga volume with a collection of one-shot manga by various Dream mangaka and members. Currently selling through the Dream Store! Grab your copy before they run out!!

WELCOME!

Do you love manga? Do you make your own manga? Dream Manga is the place for you! We are a group of non-professional manga artists around the world with a common passion for manga-making. All the manga on this site are original work by their respective artists! Start by reading our awesome issues from the right content bar!

CHATBOX

AFFILIATES

Please e-mail me at Ki.Hiwatari@gmail.com for affiliations. Links can be found here.

RANDOM

Read our Special Manga - Magical Ninja Butterfly Ki by our guest artist BUSTER!! [MORE INFO]

Arcadia

Manga

About

FORUM NAME: gurlrocker20
LOCATION: Somewhere on the planet Earth. I think...
CONTACT: arcadiapage@aol.com
Smackjeeves: gurlrocker20
DeviantArt: gurlrocker20
Tokyopop: gurlrocker20

Favourites

MANGA: Boys over Flowers, Special A, Maid-Sama, High School Debut, W Juliet, Paradise Kiss, Faster Than A Kiss, Beauty Pop
ANIME: High School Rumble
MANGAKA: Aya Kanno and Minami Maki
BOOK: The Count of Monte Cristo, Pride and Prejudice, Princess Diaries, Whuthering Heights, Uglies Series, Teen Idol, Stargirl, Nancy Drew, Flowers for Algernon
WRITER: Jane Austen, Meg Cabot, Jerry Spinelli, Robert Louis Stevenson
SONG: So What? (Pink), Rainbows (Alice Nine), Chasing Pavements (Adele), Morningside (Sara Bareilles), Rinse (Vanessa Carlton), Unwell (Matchbox20), Whoa (Paramore) and those are all that come to my mind at this moment... My favorite songs change every week.

Interview

1. What are some great tips you can share about drawing?
-Draw every day and don't be afraid to try new techniques and styles.
-Be fearless and take artistic risks.
-Learn how to draw realistically. It's not easy, but it helps a lot in the long run.

2. When did you first start to draw manga?
I started drawing manga when I was around 13 or 14.

3. Name the greatest influence on your manga.
The greatest influence for me is classic literature. The classics are timeless because they have great characters and story-lines, so I try to get inspiration from them. Also people I meet in everyday life are strong influences as well.

4. Has DREAM been helpful to you in any way?
I'm new here, so I really don't know yet. But I do think it will help me meet other artists and improve in my work.

5. What was the first manga you ever bought for yourself?
Blue Inferior by Kyoko Shitou.

6. Name the pens you use for drawing manga and how you use them. If you ink digitally, name the sizes and types of brushes you use and how you use them.
I've gone through a lot of pens, but right now I'm using Prismacolor Premier. I use these pens to ink pages before I scan them. I also use a brush style artist pen from Faber Castell for areas with a lot of black and sweeping lines that a regular pen just can't do justice to.

7. How long does it take you to do one page from planning to toning and lettering?
Probably about a month or more. I typically write scripts and plan pages weeks before I actually start drawing them. While I'm writing, I'm also drawing pages from a script I've written about a month earlier. Depending on how much I have to draw, it takes about three to five hours to sketch a page, 45 minutes to ink it, and two hours or less to tone and add letters.

8. What is the average length of your mangas?
This is my first manga series, so I really don't know. But before now I was doing these really short, totally out of the ghetto, eight page long stories for my friends. I've never drawn anything longer than 8 pages before now.

9. After this manga, what type of manga would you like to draw next?
I would like to do another romantic comedy.

10. What inspired you to draw manga?
The first time I saw a manga, I was like, "I would love to draw like that." So I started drawing. At the same time, I was just finishing up a novel I was writing for fun. For years I've been writing and doing artwork at the same time, and I've always had this conflict over what I wanted to do: writing or art. So one day I decided to end the conflict and do both, and I started drawing manga.

11. When did you first start to draw manga?
See number two. ^_^ I was around 13 or 14.

12. Who do you say gave you the most support while drawing manga?
In the past, the really talented girls in my art class. Today, people who say that they enjoy my work. Every encouraging word keeps me going.

13. Do you want to draw manga as a living?
Yes. I really wish I could.

14. Do you prefer traditional or computerized when it comes to coloring?
Each one has advantages and disadvantages. I like using both.

15. Have you ever tried to promote your manga in any way? Name some please.
I've done so many things, just to see what happens. I've used Project Wonderful, and that works very well. I've also done artist trading cards (aceos) of my characters, and swapping and selling them to people has been interesting too. And I also like trying sites that aren't geared toward those who are manga fans, but have forum sections or groups for creative people. One of the weirdest ones I've tried is Gather.com, which is geared towards moms although they take anyone. The response to my work has been kind of surprising. I wasn't expecting anyone to care. :P

16. Was there ever a period of time where you completely stopped drawing manga for any reason?
Yes. I stopped drawing manga for about four years. I didn't have any stories or characters I wanted to draw, so I didn't think it was that important anymore. Really, I wanted to revert to just being a writer. I had no intention of drawing anymore mangas. It's just crazy how since I didn't draw for so long, I had to start from the beginning when I got back to it. I had to learn how to draw all over again.

17. Do you usually know the ending of your manga before you begin? Do you enjoy knowing/not knowing the ending?
I know exactly how my manga is going to end before I start.

18. Out of all your series, which one do you feel closest to? Please describe it in a few sentences.
Mascara is my first series, so right now, it's the one I feel the closest to. On the surface it's about a boy who wants to be a makeup artist, but at it's core, it's a story about the power of first impressions.

19. Have you ever done a doujinshi? Which series was it based on?
No, I've never done a doujinshi.

20. Which of your characters do you like the most?
For me it is a tie between Ian and Addison. They're like my adoptive kids. Or maybe I should say cousins. I'm waaay too young to have kids that old!