Hiya! We're back with another interview. Today, we introduce you
nerendaia, winner of the Summer Advanced Coloring Contest. She still doesn't have a gallery here, but is as a cleaner for
Maximum7 scanlation group.
Her winning piece, "Starrk, ready for battle".
Let's see what she has to say, then!
- Please introduce yourself!
Hello! My (nick)name is nereidaia, I’m from Germany and I’m a cleaner/tl checker/sometimes typesetter for Maximum7’s Bleach & Darker than Black scanlations. I’ve been with M7 for about 2 years now. Cleaning really got me into all things Photoshop, as in colourations and 2D art.
- Have you participated in any Arts Contests before?
I haven’t really participated in any Arts Contests before, mainly because I’m still trying to find my own style when it comes to digital art. Colouration is somewhat ‘easy’ because the frame is already given with the line art and I’ve just got to fill it with colours and shapes.
- Tell us something about your winning piece. What has inspired you to draw it? Tell us about the process!
“Starrk, ready for battle” was a spur of the moment colouration. Every Bleach page featuring a single panel is interesting for me to colour, but it was during the chat with my fellow Bleach cleaners in our IRC channel that I really felt like doing it. They gave me a lot of feedback during the process, too, which definitely helped improve the overall look.
Most challenging was probably to get the fur to look right. I was aiming for a natural light grey/crème wolf fur look.
- Any tips for our aspiring artists?
Tips for aspiring artists: Really look at other people’s works, how and why they did things a certain way. There’s tons of really great colourations and original art out there on the web. Lots of helpful tutorials, too. But of course, the best way to learn and get better is by practicing and trying things out.
- Which is the mangaka that inspires you most? Why?
Eh, there is no specific mangaka that inspires me the most. Since I’m mainly cleaning Bleach every week, it’s the biggest temptation for me to colour. Otherwise, I like how many mangaka draw people and clothes, especially folds.
- Where did you learn and how did you begin to color manga?
I started to seriously colouring about the same time I started cleaning. There’s that one coloured page I did in the very first Bleach chapter I cleaned. Before that I’ve been dabbling in Photoshop, but like I mentioned before, cleaning gave me a focus and a purpose to actually delve more deeply into Photoshop and its many, many tools.
- Are you satisified with your artwork? What are you trying to accomplish/improve?
Sadly, I’m too much a perfectionist to ever be really satisfied with my artwork. Even with ‘Starrk’ there are small things I’d like to improve but I’m forcing myself not to. I’m not that good at sketching, that’s the main area I want to improve in. But there are many other techniques I want to explore, maybe even venture into 3D for original artwork.
- How do you like the MH community so far?
I really like the MH community and everything it has to offer. I’m not getting as involved in forums as I used to be, but whenever I look for some info, raws, scanlations and so on, MH is the first place I go to.
- Leave a message for the fellow users!
Support free scanlations! ^_^ And good quality scans, too! If you are interested in Photoshop, colourations and scanlations, learning how to clean is a good way to start. Maximum7 is always looking for new cleaners, and we’ve got a great academy in our forum to teach you all the basics and then a bit to get you off a good start. If you have questions and want to chat, find me in the MH and M7 channels. I’ll be glad to help if I can!
And what about you? You only have until december 10th to submit something for our Autumn Art Contest! ;D
EV o/
anyway I really liked this colorize, no wonder it won^^