Sweatdrop Studios are a collective of UK Original English-language manga creators who publish British small press comics.

Overview

The UK's first home-based independent Original English-language manga publisher and distributor, Sweatdrop Studios publish and distribute manga produced solely by creators living within the UK. Their comics are available for from their own website or at UK anime conventions that they attend.

The majority of works published by Sweatdrop are amateur ventures; the artists/authors do not make a living through profits, and produce and sell their works in their own time. There are, however, a few exceptions to this, such as Draw Manga (ISBN 1845374169), a professional book published under the Sweatdrop Studios name and also 'Manga Life', a series of self-help books for Infinite Ideas.[1]

Sweatdrop is frequently mentioned in the UK's only anime, manga and Asian cinema magazine, Neo, in which members regularly produce tutorials. Members have also featured in other magazines, Hayden Scott-Baron was featured in Advanced Photoshop magazine.[2] Joanna Zhou & Emma Vieceli have been featured artists in ImagineFX.[3]

The group is known for running workshops and panels at numerous events[4] (see also workshops listed below).

History

The Studio was founded in 2001,[5] by a co-operative of four independent UK manga artists, who, until then, had been self-publishing at a small-press level individually. These artists were Hayden Scott-Baron, Laura Watton, Sam Brown and Foxy, who had met via their attendance at UK manga conventions. Fehed Said, Selina Dean and Aleister Kelman had also been members when the Studio formed, although they were not present at the conventions.

Members of the Studio participate in its activities to varying degrees, depending on their personal circumstances. These activities include: publishing comics, participating in writing manga drawing tutorials in magazines, attending conventions and events, running workshops and panels and administration of their website ( http://www.sweatdrop.com/ ) and its forum.

Notable achievements of individual Sweatdrop members

  • Emma Vieceli achieved a runner-up position in the 1st Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition.[6] She recently worked on a manga adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet for Self Made Hero.[7] Amongst other projects, she has worked on the art and design of the collectible card game Herocard Cyberspace from Tablestar Games,[8] was also one of the Head Contributors to Draw Manga Sweatdrop Studios from New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd,[9] and has published the first graphic novel volume of her manga style comic, Dragon Heir (ISBN 1905038143). She won the Neo magazine manga competition 2006 with her 5-page comic 'Consideration'.[10] Between June & November 2007 alongside T4's Stuart Claw she hosted Anime Network, a two-hour daily segment licensed to Propeller TV.[11] She has also worked on the cover to 'eV' and a short story in 'Princess Ai: Rumors From The Other Side', both published by Tokyopop. Illustrated 'Precious Things' for 'Tori Amos' Comic Book Tattoo a 480-page anthology published by Image Comics. She has also created Violet for The DFC which was previewed in The Guardian Comic on 31 May 2008.[12]
  • Sonia Leong achieved 2nd place in TOKYOPOP's inaugural Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition.[6] Her involvement in a Wacom campaign has appeared in major German magazines such as Animania which used her official art to promote the wildly successful Pimp My Character contest.[13] She is also one of the Head Contributors to Draw Manga Sweatdrop Studios from New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd,[9] has participated in the conceptual art and design of the collectible card game Herocard Cyberspace from Tablestar Games[8] worked on an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet for Self Made Hero,[14] is currently the Art Director for the 'Aya. Takeo' webcomic[15] has illustrated a series of children's books for Franklin Watts Ltd. as well as 'Manga Life', a series of self-help books for Infinite Ideas. Leong also illustrated 'Siren' for 'Tori Amos' Comic Book Tattoo and recently contributed a chapter to Tokyopop's Domo: The Manga.
  • Joanna Zhou has been a contributor to ImagineFX magazine, covering manga related topics in the Artist Q&A section since the magazine began. Her step-by-step workshops from issues 001 & 004 were also included on the ImagineFX tutorial DVD that is available with each issue.[16] She is a featured artist for Tokyotoys,[17] her short comic Cybercrush won the Children's Storyboard Competition at The International Manga and Anime Festival in 2005,[18] she also created the mascot for Japan EX London.[19] Her 5-page comic Karma[20] won the Neo magazine manga competition 2006, she achieved a runner-up position in the 2nd Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition,[21] her satirical strip Carlos & Sakura featured in the Mammoth Book of Best New Manga. She has also worked with Momiji designing a set of six friendship Dolls[22] as well as a designing a set of Momiji Zakka, a collection of little gifts based on her friendship Dolls. In November 2011 she launched 'Maqaroon' a lifestyle brand based on street fashion, cute animals and manga art.
  • Morag Lewis has published four graphic novel volumes of her completed manga style comic, Looking for the Sun (ISBN 1905038038, ISBN 1-905038-04-6, ISBN 1-905038-11-9, ISBN 1-905038-13-5), issue 15 of which was reviewed in SFX magazine[23] She won first prize in the Character Brief Category at The International Manga and Anime Festival in 2006.[24] She also achieved a runner-up position in the 2nd Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition.[21] Her story 'Reya' which originated in the 'Stardust' Anthology, has been picked up for publication by Markosia Enterprises.
  • Hayden Scott-Baron has published Digital Manga Techniques (ISBN 071367475X, 2005), and Manga Clip Art (ISBN 1904705839, 2006) and has been involved in the production of Making Anime: Create mesmerising manga-style animation with pencils, paint and pixels (ISBN 0240520459). In 2007, he achieved 2nd Place position in the 3rd Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition.[25]

Notable achievements of Sweatdrop Studios as a group

  • Sweatdrop had a noticeable presence in the Anime/Comic Village of the London MCM Expo - London's Comic Con, a Bi-annual event held at the ExCeL Centre, Royal Victoria Dock, London, where they ran the art competition that has been sponsored by Future Publishings ImagineFX magazine Wacom, e-frontier, Letraset, Momiji and Ambient Design Ltd.[26]
  • The group has published a handful of manga style comic anthologies: 'Sugardrops' (2004),[27] 'Stardust' (2006),[28] which has been reviewed in Neo magazine[29] as well as 'Pink is for Girls' (2006), 'Blue is for Boys' (2006) 'Cold Sweat & Tears' (2007), 'Drop Dead Monstrous' (2008), 'Talking to Strangers' (2009) and 'Telling Tales' (2010).
  • The group also attends UK manga/anime conventions such as Amecon and Ayacon on a regular basis. They run the Artist's Alley, take panel discussions on how to produce manga styled comics, and hold a table in the Dealer's Room. They have also been to numerous smaller events to take part in workshops and panels.[30][31]
  • Sweatdrop members have attended promotional events run by publisher Tokyopop, in UK bookstores, to give advice on manga styled drawing.[32]
  • Some members of the group have participated in the art and design of the collectible card game Herocard Cyberspace.[33]
  • The group ran a monthly manga tutorial section in Neo magazine, featuring several of their members.
  • The group ran numerous workshops and seminars at the huge Artists and Illustrators Exhibition[34] in London in 2005,[35] and have also had a tutorial published in Artists and Illustrators Magazine.[36]

List of current Sweatdrop members

Pen nameReal nameProfile
BexRebecca Burgess
DockHayden Scott-Baron
Emma Vieceli
Irina Richards
Joanna Zhou
Morag Lewis
Ruth Keattch
Shazleen Khan
Sonia Leong

As a collaboration, members of Sweatdrop participate in active discussion on their forum ( http://www.sweatdrop.com/forum/ ). Emoticons are unique on this forum, instead of yellow smileys, blue sweatdrops are used in keeping with the namesake.

References

  1. ↑ Infinite Ideas and Sweatdrop Studios Pioneer Self-help Manga! | ComiPress
  2. ↑ Advanced Photoshop – For Adobe Photoshop Professionals
  3. ↑ ImagineFX. Future Publishing. February 2008. pp. 4, p36, p38.
  4. ↑ "Anime Invasion in UK". UniOrb. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  5. ↑ "Sweatdrop Studios forum". Sweatdrop Studios. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  6. 1 2 "Past Winners Rising Stars of Manga UK & Ireland". Tokyopop. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  7. ↑ ".: Selfmadehero". Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  8. 1 2 "TableStar Games - Artists". Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  9. 1 2 New Holland Publishers: Draw Manga Archived 2006-12-25 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Neo Manga Competition 2006 (issue 23 ed.). Uncooked Media. September 2006. p. 62.
  11. ↑ Anime Network Expands into UK with Two Weekly Hours – Anime News Network
  12. ↑ Violet, The Guardian Comic, May 31, 2008
  13. ↑ (in German) Animania Archived 2007-01-17 at the Wayback Machine which featured Sonia Leong
  14. ↑ "Shakespeare manga". Self Made Hero. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  15. ↑ About Aya.Takeo Archived 2012-07-28 at archive.today
  16. ↑ ImagineFX (issue 001 ed.). Future Publishing. January 2006.
  17. ↑ "Tokyotoys Featured Artists". Tokyotoys. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  18. ↑ "IMAF Winners 2005". IMAF. Archived from the original on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  19. ↑ Japan EX London site
  20. ↑ Neo Manga Competition 2006 (issue 27 ed.). Uncooked Media. January 2007. p. 63.
  21. 1 2 "Rising Stars of Manga UK & Ireland". Tokyopop. Retrieved 18 December 2006.
  22. ↑ "News in Pictures". Design Week. Retrieved 8 September 2007.
  23. ↑ Fanzine of the month (issue 144 ed.). June 2006. p. 10.
  24. ↑ "IMAF Winners 2006". IMAF. Archived from the original on 11 January 2007. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
  25. ↑ "Rising Stars of Manga UK & Ireland". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
  26. ↑ "Manga Alley". London MCM Expo. Archived from the original on 19 June 2006. Retrieved 14 October 2006.
  27. ↑ Sugardrops. ASIN 1905038003.
  28. ↑ Stardust. ASIN 1905038062.
  29. ↑ Neo magazine (issue 22 ed.). Uncooked Media. August 2006. p. 73. Retrieved 14 October 2006.
  30. ↑ "LGC Manga Day". London Graphics Centre. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  31. ↑ "Manga not made in Japan". Institute of Contemporary Arts. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  32. ↑ "Talks and Workshops" (PDF). Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  33. ↑ "Tablestar Games - artists". Tablestar Games. Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  34. ↑ "Artists and Illustrators Exhibition". Exploring.co.uk. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  35. ↑ "The Show". Quarto Magazines. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  36. ↑ Artists and Illustrators Magazine (issue 242 ed.). Quarto Publishing. November 2006.

Events external links

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