SMA MASTER CLASS, the future manga stars from SILENT MANGA AUDITION®. In this series of interviews we’ll uncover the secrets to their manga creations! This week’s Indonesian star is Olvyanda Ariesta! He’s entered SMA every year since Round 1, and, amazingly, won 4 awards in a row! His heartwarming stories always mesmerize us. How does he create his stories? Let’s find out by getting to know him!

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INTERVIEW WITH OLVYANDA ALIESTA 1. What’s your work space like? Well, a small table, papers, pens, pencils, my laptop, and my pen tablet. 2. What kind of tools do you use and which is your favorite? Let us see it! I prefer drawing traditionally first and continue inking in Photoshop app. My tools are randomly pens and pencils. My pen tablet is Wacom intuos4. I usually use traditional drawing for line art and digital painting for coloring. 3. Do you usually play music when drawing? I don’t really listen to music when I focus on drawing, but sometimes I do. My music playlist are dominated by retro rock music like Led Zeppelin, Scorpions, Dream Theater, Firehouse, Mr. Big, and more! 4. Tell us about how you schedule your creations! How long does it take for each step in the process? Which process is your favorite and least favorite? Before drawing I determine the purpose and messages of the story. Then I make the premise, plot, and characters. And then I make the storyboard. I try to finish one page in a day, but it depends on the project. Usually I can finish 1 illustration in a night. My favorite process is translating the textual narration to the visual narration. 5. Tell us about your preferences when creating manga! My preference when drawing is shading in. This part is very important because it makes my drawings have depth illusion and look better. It takes much time but worth it. I feel really satisfied to see the finished work. 6. Tell us about your preferences for manga storytelling! I always close my eyes when I think about storytelling. I imagine that my story is a movie, so I think how the opening should be, how the camera angle moves, and how to express the emotion. My goal is to make a cinematic storytellng to make my readers feel like they live in my manga. So I study these techniques by watching films or games. 7. Where do you get ideas from? Ideas come from everywhere! It is about what you see and hear and how your feel about it. Reading books/manga, watching movies, playing games, walking around. Those experiences help me to create manga. Never ending practice! 8. Congratulations on the birth of your first child! Do you feel you changed after your child was born? Obviously changed! I became wiser and more responsible. But, my manga doesn’t change at all. I always put my message about goodness in my work and hope to spread it all around the world. 9. Do you have a favorite manga creator who influenced your creative style? My favorite manga is 20th Century Boys by Urasawa Naoki sensei. I like its characters, especially Kenji and Otcho. They are a portrait of Hero! And my art style is influnced by Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue sensei, especially when I draw the background. Of course Indonesian creators too! Sweta Kartika, Is Yuniarto, and one of Master Class member Alex Irzaqi. I often have contact with him online.   10. Have you received any useful help or advice from the editor? Yes, SMAC! editors help me a lot. Techniques of effective panels, characters ideas…and more! And they show me a different perspective and ask me some questions that guide me to create a better manga. 11. Are you planning any future projects?  I’m creating a manga based on Indonesian folklore. The protagonist is a brave Chicken. Isn’t it surprising? I’ve had this idea since 2 years ago. Please look forward my next work! And this is my first comedy touch manga. Since the characters are animals, and to avoid boredom, I try to draw comically. 12. Why did you decide to use a chicken as the protagonist? Not only chicken, animals always inspire me. They are tough and have ability to survive in nature. So I think animals are beautiful and unique existence. 12. What are the specific areas you focus on when creating a manga for SMA? I did my best on building emotion through scenery. I want readers feel the world that I created and let them in, like how they feel cold and wet when they see the rain scene, or how they feel melancholy when they see scene of a dandelion flies by wind. 13. Are there any moments you felt, “I’m glad to have entered this contest!”? I feel so happy to meet great persons in SMAC!. Now, if I’m confused about create a manga, I know where to ask. It is like I have a friend that I can really rely on. Becoming a member of Master Class is a bless for me. <Master Class Profile> Olvyanda Ariesta From Indonesia  

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Thanks so much, Olvyanda senpai! His love of animals is unparalleled! He’s creating his next manga, starring the chicken, with the SMAC! editorial team. Don’t miss the latest information about it! Will you become a member of the Master Class? We won’t know unless you enter SILENT MANGA AUDITION®! Your talent inspires us all!