ReYa

BroCon Interview: Selene

I had a quick sit down with Selene, a budding talent, at Limericks BroCon. Selene has been drawing since she was 13 but changed drawing style to manga when she was 14. Today Selene is trying to develop her own style but still keeping true to shoujo, as she finds manga characters too generic.

Why did you start with manga?

Selene: Well, I started with anime first at an early age but I didn’t realise it was a special type of cartoon until much later when I met Sophie (one of the organizers of the con and featured in another interview from BroCon) . She told me more about it and I got more and more hooked on it. Since there was little-to-no manga stock here I relied mostly on my friend and the one or two we had at home.

What is it with the comic medium you like best?

Selene: I love the way you can show feelings with good character’s expressions. With comics there are a lot more different drawing styles and a lot of the times the style is unique to a certain artist. I feel that most of the time just having a character captured right can go a long way, even without the aid of a background. The little details count.

What do you think is the biggest difference between drawing in Ireland and somewhere else?

Selene: I think drawing manga in Ireland is still developing and is a bit harder than drawing in other countries who have had manga in bigger stock and for more years than us. I mostly have to rely on the Internet to stay updated with the rest of the world. Just drawing itself, isn’t hard because as long as s/he is passionate enough, they can draw anywhere.

How many cons have you been to?

I’ve been to Eirtakon for the last few years. BroCon is new to me and it’s also my first year holding a table in the artist alley. I hope to be able to travel to cons outside this country to see what the their cons are like.

I know a lot of the Swedes that draw manga who are of asian decent, where often in the beginning regarded to have a cutting edge towards the rest of us, because of their asian roots. Do you feel you have an upper hand due to this, yourself?

Selene: Not particularly. My mom’s always been into anime and cartoons, so I’ve been in touch with anime at an early age. With manga, not so much because books were expensive to post. Since I’ve grown up, the Internet has been a bigger help because I know what to look out for and a lot of my friends have introduced me to new sites where I can keep up to date. I think if I was taught to read Chinese characters I would have gotten into manga more since I’m a giant book nerd. Other than my mom helping I don’t think I had much of an upper hand being asian.

You can check out Selene’s art at: http://halloween-ai.deviantart.com/