PROFILE
Pen Name / Name: Ric Yang
Country: China
Age: 22
Social media: Instagram: @ricyan_art Website: www.ricyan.com
Favorite manga: Ajin: Demi-Human
Favorite movie: Achilles and the Tortoise
Favorite quote: “Work smart, not hard.”
Entry title: “The Weight of Days”
Round: SMA22: “Seized With Rage”
Award: Excellence Award Runner-up

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“Done is better than perfect. Even if you’re not fully happy with your work, just finish it and submit it.”

About SMA

How does it feel to receive a SILENT MANGA AUDITION® award?
It honestly feels like a dream. I entered this round just to give it a try, with zero expectations, so hearing that I had actually won was completely surreal. Even now, it hasn’t fully sunk in.

What was the inspiration behind your awarded work?
For most people, the hardest part of life is simply getting through the day. I wanted to portray that exact struggle – how “just making it through” sounds easy, but often feels overwhelming. Much of the story is drawn from my real experiences during my university life in New York. Waking up hungover on a couch, knowing I had a full day ahead of me; seeing a homeless person relieve himself in a subway car; learning that my favorite Popeyes had been deep-frying rats in the kitchen… These absurd and frustrating moments became the emotional backbone of the story.

What challenges did you face while making your manga? How did you overcome them?
Before this, I had always done traditional hand-drawn illustrations, so I struggled at first with the decision to either stick with what I knew or switch to digital. Since there was less than a month left before the deadline, I chose digital, even though I was far from confident in it. I just knew it was the only way I’d make it on time!

That’s when I started learning how to use Clip Studio Paint. I’m honestly quite clumsy with tech, so I kept accidentally deleting my sketches. Plus, I was using an iPad, and the app kept lagging terribly. Each page could only handle two layers: one for the sketch, and one for the final linework. There wasn’t any room for coloring or cleanup layers. That limitation really drove me crazy. Some of my sketches are lost forever because I had to delete them just to free up space for a single extra layer. I guess that’s one way to “solve” the problem, lol.

READ Ric Yang’s SMA22 ENTRY HERE!

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About Your Manga

How and when did you start making manga? What do you wish you knew as a beginner? What advice would you give to someone who wants to start drawing manga?
I’ve loved reading manga since I was a kid, and I also started formal training in drawing, such as sketching and oil painting, pretty early on. When it came time to choose my college major at 19, I went straight for illustration.

At 20, while studying at the School of Visual Arts in New York, I met my professor Yuko Shimizu. She’s a world-renowned Japanese illustrator and an amazing professor. Through her classes, I realized that many of the techniques she used in her own illustrations were rooted in manga. That really opened a door for me, and I started thinking seriously about making manga myself.

After that, I made a couple of silent manga attempts, but each one ended after just a few pages. This SMA entry is actually my first fully completed manga.

As for advice, I don’t think I’m in a position to preach, since I’m just starting out myself. But if I had to say one thing, it would be this: figure out what you’re good at. Don’t just work hard, work smart. That’s made all the difference for me.

Do you draw your manga digitally or by hand? What are your go-to digital or analogue tools?
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve always felt more comfortable working by hand. If you look at my other pieces, you’ll notice I often use traditional tools like calligraphy brushes and brush pens in my illustrations. For digital work, I mainly use Photoshop and Procreate. I don’t need anything too fancy – just something that lets me color and adjust tones easily is good enough for me.


What was the first manga you picked up? Is it easy to access manga where you live?
The first manga I got into was through a weekly comic magazine in China called Zhi Yin Man Ke. It was super popular when I was in elementary school and featured a mix of different manga stories. Back then, manga was easy to find; it was available at grocery stores, bookshops – basically everywhere. Now I live in Georgia, USA, and it’s a different story. Most local comic shops here mainly carry American comics. It’s really hard to find the Japanese manga I love.


Which manga changed your life?
Definitely Attack on Titan. It was the first time I realized a manga could dive so deep, both thematically and emotionally. The ideas explored in that manga gave me a completely new perspective on life and the world around me.

Which manga character do you most identify with? Why?
Rainer from Attack on Titan. Hajime Isayama portrayed his internal struggle so vividly – the feeling of being mentally broken, of barely holding on, but still being dragged forward by fate. I really connected with that. His pain and survival instincts felt painfully real to me.

What kind of manga do you want to make next?
I want to keep creating silent manga or stories with minimal dialogue, where the visuals do most of the storytelling.

As a manga creator outside of Japan, the hardest thing is finding the right platform or art director who really understands your work. You can have something meaningful to say, but if there’s no one to receive it, it just floats in the void.



About You

What do you do when you’re not making manga? How do you relax?
If the weather’s nice, I’ll go to the beach to swim and soak up some sun. If it’s gloomy, I stay in and play video games.

What industry do you work in (if manga making isn’t your primary job)?
I am currently a full time graduate student majoring in illustration.


Where do you see your manga career in five years time?
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. But if things go well, I hope I’ll be able to support myself through manga. Or, at the very least, not lose money doing it. I’d love to have a book in print someday. Beyond that, I just want to keep drawing and telling weird, yet honest, stories.

What manga making advice would you give to your younger self if you could?
If I could go back five years, I’d tell myself to start making manga earlier. Stop obsessing over tools and style, and focus on the rhythm, panel flow, and storytelling. That’s the real heart of manga. The style will come, but you have to know how to tell a story first.


What advice would you give to people entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION®?
Done is better than perfect. Even if you’re not fully happy with your work, just finish it and submit it. That’s what I did. I honestly didn’t think I’d win anything, but because I completed it, my work was seen.

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Thank you, TAGASAING! We’re eagerly awaiting your next manga masterpiece!

The deadline to join SMA23 is October 1st. Enter for a chance to develop your potential as a manga creator with us in Japan!