Behind the Scenes at Dramacon
by Johanna Draper Carlson, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 12/12/2006
With the second volume of her bestselling Dramacon OEL recently released, Svetlana Chmakova has found herself among the best known non-Japanese manga-ka. Following the romantic twists and turns of a group of anime convention attendees, Dramacon takes a familiar setting and adds both comedy and real emotional investment in the characters to make a charming story. In addition to Dramacon, Chmakova, 28, has drawn comics for CosmoGirl! magazine and Girlamatic, and she's certainly at the forefront of the North American original manga movement.
PW Comics Week: Your series Dramacon is generally acclaimed as one of the best of Tokyopop's OEL/global manga line. Its premise is the most traditionally fannish, capturing a new con-goer's experience and romantic awakening. Do you think these two things are related?
Svetlana Chmakova: I hope not. I suspect the fan content and romance do add extra appeal to it, but I like to think that Dramacon's acclaim is also due to the fact that it's competently written and drawn. I guess we'll find out when I start on a different series.
PWCW: How much of Dramacon comes from real life, either yours or someone else's?
SC: Dramacon is influenced quite a lot by the things I've seen at cons and in fandom, the stories I've heard from other con-goers and personal life experiences. But there is nothing in the books that is a straight re-enactment of a real situation or a portrait of a real person. A lot of people seem to think that Lida is me—she is not. I do have traits in common with her, but that could also be said of Christie, Matt and Bethany.
There are plenty more con-going stories that could've been in the books. The con scene is seriously a treasure trove of drama, comedy, horror—you name it, cons have it in spades. But they wouldn't all fit, unfortunately, as I did have to leave room for some story-related events, too.
PWCW: How did you wind up creating a modern manga series that so creatively evokes the classic screwball romantic comedies? Are you a fan of those films or other types of romances?
SC: I love romantic dramedies and screwball comedies. I can watch/read them any day of the week! It was only natural that I'd write something like that. Some of my favorites are Paradise Kiss and Nana by Ai Yazawa, Girl Got Game by Shizuru Seino, Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi. My favorite romantic comedy movie at the moment is probably You've Got Mail, but there are a bunch of others that come in verrrrry close second.
PWCW: Many of Tokyopop's OEL/global manga creators came to them through the Rising Stars of Manga contest, but you didn't. How did you connect with them? What led you to work in manga?
SC: Manga and anime were love at first sight for me. I watched Robotech and Candy Candy back in Russia, and really succumbed to drawing in manga style after being thoroughly exposed to Sailor Moon, the TV series, when we first came to Canada [at age 16]. I discovered Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi and You're Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima around the same time, and I scoured the web for anime pictures to learn from.
Tokyopop found me through my Web comic Chasing Rainbows on www.girlamatic.com. (Big thanks to Lea Hernandez for inviting me there!!). They just e-mailed me out of the blue one day.
PWCW: You seem more professionally experienced than many of those creators, having Web comics, how-to-draw books, animation, toy design and RPG manuals on your résumé. Has that affected your experience with Tokyopop?
SC: My credentials actually sound much more impressive than they really are; they were just random freelance jobs here and there. I was still very much a newbie when Tokyopop found me. The fact that I was slightly more experienced than some of my fellow new creators probably made it easier for me to learn on the job, but it was still quite challenging to learn how to write and draw a full-length graphic novel in several months.
PWCW: How much marketing/promotion work have you done for your series? Are you happy with the work that Tokyopop's done?
SC: Yes, I am! I don't really do any promotion or marketing, just public appearances when I am invited somewhere. I'm fairly typical for a creative person—I recognize publicity as a necessary thing and do what I can, but I always feel like I should be writing, instead. I am very lucky that I have Tokyopop to market the book and that people enjoy it enough to recommend it to others. Word of mouth has truly been astounding for this—for every person that says they found it through a Tokyopop ad, another five say they saw a good review for it on a blog or that a friend tied them to a chair and forced them to read it.
PWCW: You draw the Adventures of CG! for CosmoGirl magazine. How does that audience compare with Dramacon's, and do you plan to continue?
SC: The Adventures of CG! has a much larger audience. I imagine there is quite a bit of potential overlap between the audiences, though—both works are in the romantic dramedy genre. I hope to work on this for a while still—I like the project a lot and the CosmoGirl! editors seem to like me, so we make a good team.
PWCW: What's next after Dramacon concludes with volume 3?
SC: I have another series in the works that my agent is preparing to pitch at the moment, and there is a possibility of more Dramacon volumes. In case you're wondering—no, I don't plan to sleep very much in the coming couple of years.
