a story written with so much love

when did you start creating for animanga? what got you into it?

I first started making gifs in 2022, so i haven’t been doing it for that long. It started out when I got into Daiya no Ace, somewhat late. The fandom wasn’t very active and I missed seeing new content like I saw with many other animanga. So I decided that if I wanted new content, I might as well make it myself. And so I taught myself to make gifs through YouTube videos, just to have more Daiya content. Soon expanded to other animanga, but Daiya no Ace are my roots.

what type of creations do you make? what tools or programs do you use to create them?

A like to dabble a bit in different kinds of creations, but gifs are definitely my main visual media. I do like to play around with gfx and edits too, and for a short while I did try my hand at coloring too. I actually started out using Canva for my gifs, which honestly wasn’t ideal for me personally, since I couldn’t scale my gifs in there. So I migrated to Photoshop and haven’t looked back since. For the few colorings I’ve done, I used ibisPaint X on mobile, thanks to @hansooyung who showed me the app.

describe your creative process from inspiration to posting. what's your favorite part? what part's the most challenging?

Its funny, because my creative process is generally a lot of trial and error. I hear a lot of people talk about how they have a vision for what they want to create, but I don’t have that. For me it’s more often than not a question of watching a show and thinking “this scene would be fun to gif” or having a character I love and wanting to make SOMETHING of them. I go through a lot of episodes sometimes and just cut out whichever clips I think may work. I don’t even have a clear idea of how I want to edit them if I’m being honest, so I really just play around with it until I think it looks good. Which is a bit chaotic, but it’s fun and lets me let the creativity just flow free. The hardest part for me is often is actually piecing it all together in a post for tumblr.

what's your favorite animanga creation you've made so far? why?

I think I would have to point to something like this one. It might be simple, nothing too fancy. But I’m really proud of how the colors turned out on it. I’ve made plenty of edits and gifs since this one and some of them might be better too. But I like how this one turned out a lot.

what's your favorite amc challenge so far? why?

I actually really loved the Greek Pantheon Challenge. It was part of what drew me out of a slump in creating and I loved planning and getting to make all the creations for the prompts. I really liked that it was bigger than “just” one creation, and the prompts were challenging without being too hard. Also I do love me some mythology so that was a fun spin on that too! I do also really love the duo challenge, that I’m currently working on the last edit for with my challenge partner.

what's something that you've learned or improved since joining amc? are there any particular creators in amc that inspire you?

I like to think that we all improve as we go. It’s very inspiring to be part of amc and seeing how other people express themselves and their creativity. How others do the challenges. And I think that in itself inspires me a lot to keep growing and learning new things as a creator. There are a lot of people in amc that inspire me, absolutely. Some that really inspire me are @the-mother-of-lions and @taohs and I’m not just saying that because Isabella and Aki are my friends as well. They’re both insanely talented in each their own way and being able to spar and see the things they create just makes them even more inspiring to me.

what's your favorite animanga? why?

My favorite animanga is Daiya no Ace. It all comes back to my baseball boys. There’s just something about it that resonates with me more than any other animanga has done. The characters are fun, the show is making me feel both good and bad, and there’s just something about an animanga that teaches us things. Not just with lessons in the animanga, but for me personally how it was what taught me to create.

what's an animanga that you wish was more popular or you wish more people created for?

I already said it; it all comes back to my baseball boys. Daiya no Ace. But I can only hope that it will increase when we finally get another new season in April. Fingers crossed.

what advice would you give to other creators or people who want to create but have not tried it yet?

This is especially for people who might have a bit of a scatter brain like I: it is okay if you don’t have a vision. It’s okay if you don’t know where you’re going with your creations from the get go. The most important thing is to just do. Because if something doesn’t look right to you, you can change it. But you can’t edit or change something you didn’t start. Do it scared. Do it bad. You can always learn and grown and edit. Just take that first step. Let YouTube help you. Or ask another creator for tips. All of the ones I know are super sweet and love to help.

anything else you'd like to share?

Just watch or read Daiya no Ace. I know it’s a little long and overwhelming, but it’s worth it.

bonus question: why did you choose the character on your banner?

when did you start creating for animanga? what got you into it?

I first began creating for animanga in the fall of 2021. I started watching anime about a year before that, during the pandemic. My partner was already into anime and it was just a natural progression of finally taking an interest in something they were into to. I was also really sick at the time and couldn't really do anything so I binged whatever seasons of Boku No Hero Academia were out at that time.

what type of creations do you make? what tools or programs do you use to create them?

Primarily, I make gifs. I use a bootleg of 2020 Adobe Photoshop now, but previously I used Photopea. But in the last year or so I started doing manga colorings, for which I use IbisPaint. I also make the occasional graphic/static edit with PS.

describe your creative process from inspiration to posting. what's your favorite part? what part's the most challenging?

Typically I get inspired from music or quotes or other creators. From there, depending on the type of set, I'll plan out what scenes I want to use. For the more involved sets I'll write down what I'm picturing with as much detail as possible as well as notes to myself on how to do something if it's a new technique. Then I'll gather all the scenes, make all the base gifs and try to keep them the same length as much as possible. Then I'll start actually editing the gifs. This process can sometimes be the hardest for me. It's really challenging for me to use scenes with different lighting and tones and then try to make them all look like they're not really different. What worked on Gif 1 doesn't always work on Gif 2.

My favorite part of creating is when I've got everything done and I'm looking at it in my drafts before I post it and it just hits every single thing I wanted it to. I am my own target audience, so it's always really satisfying when I'm able to make what I envisioned come to life.

what's your favorite animanga creation you've made so far? why?

This set: https://the-mother-of-lions.tumblr.com/post/758549182336368640/icythot-bakubitch-its-you-and-me

It wasn't a technical set at all and the scenes I really wanted were years away from being animated. I remember it came together pretty quickly though. But in the end it was everything I wanted it to be and was a good way to process my feelings about what was happening in the manga.

what's your favorite amc challenge so far? why?

My favorite challenge was the Duos challenge.

I really like my partner and I want to get to know her better, but we're both so busy with real life and I'm shy lol. But I really love working with her and I appreciate every time she's taken the time to teach me or give me creative advice.

Not a favorite but I'll always have a special place in my heart to the first secret santa exchange from a few years ago. I made a lot of good friends thanks to that challenge.

what's something that you've learned or improved since joining amc? are there any particular creators in amc that inspire you?

My gif coloring has improved a lot, I always feel like its a bit lacking. And I have gained a lot more confidence in my creations.

And I learned how to color manga thanks to itz @queenrojpag and roy @hansooyung

what's your favorite animanga? why?

My favorite is Jujutsu Kaisen. I've been following JJK for a long time, before it got popular, so it's always going to be my pet favorite. It was the third animanga overall that I watched and read and it just clicked. It's a tragedy that no one can change and everyone in the story is a victim of the narrative, including the audience.

My Cool™️answer is Sk8 the Infinity. It's an anime that has something for everyone and I love how genuine it feels and the way it portrays different types of relationships.

what's an animanga that you wish was more popular or you wish more people created for?

I have three.

Katsugeki TOUKEN RANBU (anime only) - Based off a game (that I have not and will probably never play) but the animation is beautiful and the story was really intriguing. If it had a manga i would have read it. And I love the characters and their designs.

Sabikui Bisco - The storyline itself isn't anything outstanding, it's relatively basic. But I love the characters and the way the emotions and relationships between the main characters are depicted. Had me full on sobbing at one point.

Tokyo Aliens (manga only) - A pretty standard gifted student with powers storyline, but the art is beautiful and again I love the way the relationships within the characters are shown. They're complicated and so many of the characters are very gray, I definitely recommend it to anyone who liked JJK or CSM.

what advice would you give to other creators or people who want to create but have not tried it yet?

Just go for it. You never know until you try and its a lot easier than you think it will be. Like with any new creative skill, it's going to be really ugly at first, but you have to keep doing it or it'll always be ugly. There are so many tutorials and stuff out now to help guide you too, you're not totally on your own.

bonus question: why did you choose that character?