This week’s SMA MASTER CLASS, the future manga stars from SILENT MANGA AUDITION®, member is the duo from Ukraine, Rerekina & Jeyre ☆ They have different talents from each other, but they’ve combined them to become two angels soaring in the sky. They showed us how we, too, can soar to new heights. Good Morning Rerekina & Jeyre!

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INTERVIEW WITH Rerekina & Jeyre.   “We built up the courage to start to working together.”   1. Tell us about where you live? Rerekina Hi! My name is Rerekina. I was born in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and still live there. Jeyre I am Jeyre.  I was born in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and I still live there with my parents. Kyiv is big and crowded megacity. Honestly, I would like to live somewhere closer to nature.     2. How did you first meet? Why did you decide to work as a duo? Rerekina We met in primary school. Once I asked Jeyre to create a plot of the manga for me. But we started to work as duo only when we graduated. We have been working together ever since. Jeyre We’ve known each other from the third grade of primary school. But, the real friendship was born after graduating from school. The creative partnership came even later. At first we just admired each others work. Nataliya adored my poems and prose, and I loved her pictures and first comics. The first timid steps to becoming a duo were when Nataliya asked me to write poems for her comics. I did and she liked it. We built up the courage to start to working together and we co-authored a few comics in school. I wrote the story and Nataliya drew. We work together to this day.   3. What kind of fun adventures have you had with each other? Rerekina One night we walked in the street and sang the duet “Belle” from the musical “Notre-Dame de Paris.” It was wonderful. Jeyre We’ve had lots of adventures together. I especially remember one New Year Eve when we went to a snowy park. It was dark, deserted, and solemn. We sat under the huge fir-tree and took photos in light dresses. It was so romantic and fabulously! We didn’t even catch a cold.   4. What kind of tools do you use and which is your favorite? Let us see it! Rerekina I work on tablet PC motion computing le1700. It’s old but still a hardy tablet. My favourite programs are Manga Studio 4 and CLIP STUDIO PAINT. I use a little Photoshop for illustrations. I have to have everything at hand: internet, my favorite doll, and a cup of coffee. Also I have a second place for drawing on paper.     5. How do you keep in contact with each other and how do you divide the manga creation process? Rerekina We are always in touch. Plus we do not live far away from each other. The manga creation process is divided in two equal parts – Jeyre writes the plot and I do the NAME and drawings. Jeyre I create the characters and stories, then write the script of the manga. After that, I give Nataliya the scenario with a description of the heroes. She does the first drafts, we coordinate the final image of the heroes and then Nataliya starts to draw my script. We keep in touch with the help of phones and Internet. We are always in touch, even at night. And when it’s time to discuss the heroes and story there is nothing better than a private meetings and tea party! It’s good we live almost next door to each other.   “If we work as a team we will become better and help each other by discussing our mistakes.”     6. What are the advantages and difficulties of creating manga as a team? Rerekina The advantages are that if we work as a team we will become better and help each other by discussing our mistakes. The difficulties are in human individualism – we are different people with different world outlooks. Sometimes we can argue about little things. Jeyre Sometimes I have to prove to Nataliya why the hero should look like a certain way. For example, why even the slightest deviation from my image will distort him. This is the main difficulty in co-authorship. Thank God Nataliya understands my inner world, even though we are very different people and cannot look at the world with the same eyes. Luckily, difficulties rarely happen. And the main advantage of our co-authorship is that we complement each other. We give each other what we are not able to give to ourselves! I present Natasha the beauty of the word and possibility to convey her feelings and thoughts in verbal form. She gives me the beauty of the picture and the possibility to give the heroes form. We are like two angels with one wing each. But, when we are together we soar high above the ground! I call that state “a lightness of the butterfly.”   “I call that state ‘a lightness of the butterfly.’”   7. Tell us how you schedule your creations! How long does it take for each step in the process? Which step is your favorite and least favorite? Jeyre My creative process consist of 3 stages. They are: idea stage, the creation process (writing), and reading. When I am lucky, all of 3 stages give me equal amount of pleasure! I don’t have to force myself. Everything happens naturally. This is the real joy for a creative person. I usually carry ideas for a long time. It can continue for several months, years, and even longer. The hardest part is to start; to write the first words. But, what is harder is finishing what I started. It’s difficult for me to say goodbye to my heroes and I try to delay the creation process of the screenplay or novel on purpose. It’s good SMA exists! It’s a powerful incentive to bring a work to an end. I also like contests for giving me the possibility to show myself to the world! It’s very important for a writer; to be heard and understood.   8. Tell us about your preferences for creating manga and what advice do you have for manga creation?  Rerekina I draw manga in Manga Studio 4. I mostly do sketches on paper. For each story I have a separate notebook. Later I scan the pages and finish them in programs.  Often the images of characters are taken from my surroundings.  Sometimes actors can inspire me or absolute strangers. I often study the appearance of people in public transport. But, it’s better to do so secretly because people become embarrassed 😉 Jeyre I like manga because it looks like frozen cinema. The black and white manga can be deep and dramatic, like a classical film or photo. When I create manga, I want to convey to the readers that this medium is not only entertainment but rich, serious, and full-grown in the best sense of the words. Personally, I see it that way and I like it. For those who want to write a good story, I can give two pieces of advice. Write about what you know or what you are really in love with! It cannot be any other way. Personal experiences and passionate love for topics will help you make a good story. I think the main thing in a story is not the intricate plot, but the living and deep human feelings.   “The black and white manga can be deep and dramatic, like a classical film or photo.”       9. Which manga or manga creator influenced your creative style? What impressed you about those works? Rerekina I was influenced by manga creators like Chiho Saito, Naoko Takeuchi, and YUMEKA Sumomo. They struck me with their elegance and ease of their drawings. There is a lot of emotional depth in their work. Also, Kentarō Miura and his manga “Berserk.” The truth is that I don’t really know what influenced me but I definitely want something like that – mystical and dramatical.     10. Where do you get your ideas from? Jeyre I can think about characters or plots anywhere: on walk, in the shop, at the hospital, inside vehicles, and on the go. But, bringing my ideas to life, I mean writing, I need to do it at home! Alone, and definitely in silence because I think much better at home! My home is my personal creative kitchen, my private secret. Silence and solitude are important parts of for creative kitchen. In addition, a cup of tea, sweets, the beauty of the nature, contact with the animals, and prayer help me to keep a creative mood. I am a lyricist and a home-bird inside. That means I do not need to communicate with people to create restless characters and dashing plot twists too often. What I have inside is enough. Everything that happens in my life I pass through my soul. That’s how my experiences and emotions come out on paper. All my writing is personal life stories. I only write about the things that I have gone through or dreamt about. The life of person, especially the life of the creative person, is a rather hard thing. Life can advise ideas for a story by itself. You just need to sense them, see them with your heart. It can be painful, but it is a state of mind. Anything can inspire me! By nature I am humble, sensitive, and a very vulnerable girl. To live with such soul in this pragmatic and cruel world is very problematic. But, I think these traits help me create. I am thankful God gave me such a soul. I did not want to have another soul.   “My home is my personal creative kitchen, my private secret.”   11. How do you practice drawing? Rerekina I draw constantly and even earn a living with it.   12. What other skills or experiences help you create manga? Rerekina I can sing and dance but it doesn’t really help in drawing. Though creative people are talented in everything. Jeyre I am a professional screenwriter and I graduated from Kyiv National I.K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television and the cinematic profile influence in my works. So, I want to find the points of contacts between these two types of art: manga and cinematography. And I do this. I’ve written poems since childhood, too. This is also reflected in my prose. That’s why my words are always poetic.  And also I draw. It’s drawing in monochrome and watercolor, but I don’t do it too often. When I do, I prefer to draw my own heroes; what I see with my inner vision and convey that image. The biggest amount of my time I devote to the writing. And it’s divinely beautiful!   13. What are the specific areas you focus on when creating manga for SMA? Rerekina I try to convey the idea of the story though the emotions of the characters. Jeyre I always remember that this is a silent manga. So, I try to write each action of the hero and each detail of the story to work with the idea.   “I try to convey the idea of the story though the emotions of the characters.”     14. Where there any moments you felt, “I’m glad to have enteredSMA!”? Rerekina From the beginning I was just happy to take part in it. But I was the happiest when our work achieved the Grand-Prix Runner-up. Jeyre For me, the main thing is to participate in the contest. That’s always my joy. Even when my work doesn’t get an award. The contest helps me to believe in myself, in my talent, and helps get rid of my anxiety! And when I manage to win I feel inexpressibly happy because then I can please my parents! And for me that’s the highest prize.   15. What kind of advice have you received from the SMAC! editorial team? Rerekina Draw what you know and understand!   16. Are you planning any future projects? What genre would you like to attempt in the future? Rerekina We have tons of projects. But little time for working on those plans. I would like to draw a more mystical story in the future. Jeyre I have lots of creative plans for the future. All of my ideas are very deep, serious, and important for me. The only problem is that my stories are very large-scale; they want my full attention. So I physically cannot write those stories at the same time. My stories are mainly romance and fantasy. Now I am busy writing a sci-fi story where pure love finds its place!        

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Thank you for your time Rerekina & Jeyre senpai’s! We can’t wait to read your sci-fi or mystical manga series! Ukraine is a crossroad of culture, filled with creators like Rerekina & Jeyre senpai’s!  How many more will Master Class member will come from this beautiful land.  We can’t wait to find out! Please show your worth, by joining & start creating for SILENT MANGA AUDITION® today!