PROFILE

Name: Virand Age: 24 Country: Italy Favorite manga: Dragonball Favorite movie: The Iron Giant Entry title: The Wall Round: SMA16 “Moments of  FEAR, JOY, or LOVE” Award: Excellence Award

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“Create something new!”

About SMA

• How does it feel to win a SILENT MANGA AUDITION® award? I feel very excited and encouraged. It is a sign that this is the right path! But I know it’s just the beginning.

• What was the inspiration behind your awarded work? I have to thank my friends, in particular Francesca, who told me the story that inspired my manga.

• What challenges did you face while making your manga? How did you overcome them? Actually, I have to confess that my biggest obstacle when creating my stories is dialogue! I have enormous difficulties, but, as you can imagine, in this case it was no problem!

READ VIRAND’S SMA16 ENTRY HERE!

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About your Manga

• How and when did you start making manga? Any advice for beginners? I started making manga after reading ONE PIECE. I realized that I could express myself through my characters.

• Do you draw your manga digitally or by hand? What are your go-to digital or analogue tools? I started drawing by hand. Especially in comics school. Then I started getting to know digital, which I currently love. In particular, I use Manga Studio.

• What was the first manga you picked up? ONE PIECE.

• Which manga changed your life? Many. But if I had to pick two, I’d say Dragonball and ONE PIECE.

• Which manga character do you most identify with? Why? Probably Griffith from Berserk. I have a dream and I am willing to make enormous sacrifices to achieve it.

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About Virand

• What do you do when you’re not making manga? How do you relax? I am currently working on my first manga of 3 volumes titled “Harakiri.” It’s a part of a huge multiverse I’ve had in mind for more than 10 years. It will be like ONE PIECE.

• Where do you see your manga career in 5 years’ time? In my country, there is a superstition which says it is bad to talk about the future. But very, very far!

• What manga making advice would you give to your younger self if you could? I would recommend doing what I feel like. Just how I did it.

• What advice would you give to people entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION®? Don’t imitate the Japanese! Create something new. Merge your culture with theirs to amaze them and to create innovation and progress!

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Thank you, Virand! We can’t wait to see your SMA18 entry and hope that it will move the readers to TEARS!

You have time until August 1st to SURPRISE the judges and potentially get the chance to develop your potential as a manga creator with us in Japan!