Sweatdrop Studios

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Sweatdrop Studios are a collective of UK Original English-language manga creators who publish British small press comics. The UK's first home-based independent Original English-language manga publisher and distributor, Sweatdrop Studios publish and distribute manga produced solely by creators living within the UK. Their comics are available for purchase at many UK anime conventions (in the past these have included Tomo-Dachi,^[1] Amecon,^[2] and Ayacon,^[3]) and through their own website where payment can be made via PayPal or credit card.

The majority of works published by Sweatdrop are amateur ventures; the artists/authors do not make a living through profits, and produce and sell their works in their own time. A notable exception to this is 'Draw Manga',^[4] a professional book published under the Sweatdrop Studios name. Though not registered with Companies house, Sweatdrop Studios is unique in the UK manga industry as an art collaborative.

Sweatdrop is frequently mentioned in the UK's only anime, manga and asian cinema magazine, Neo, in which members regularly produce tutorials. Members have also featured in other magazines, an example being Dock who was featured in Advanced Photoshop magazine.

The group is known for running workshops and panels at numerous events^[5] (see also workshops listed below).

Contents 1 History 2 Notable achievements of individual Sweatdrop members 3 Notable achievements of Sweatdrop Studios as a group 4 List of current Sweatdrop members 5 List of books published by Sweatdrop Studios 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

The Studio was originally founded in 2001, ^[6] by a co-operative of four independent UK manga artists, who, until then, had been self-publishing at a small-press level individually. These artists were Hayden Scott-Baron aka Dock, Laura Watton, Sam Brown aka Subi and Foxy, who had met via their attendance at UK manga conventions. Fehed Said, Selina Dean and Aleister Kelman have also been members since the Studio formed, although they were not present at the conventions. Thanks to their success as a group, by 2006 Sweatdrop Studios had grown to 21 members.

Members of the Studio participate in its activities to varying degrees, depending on their personal circumstances. These activities include: publishing comics, participating in writing manga drawing tutorials in magazines, attending conventions and events, running workshops and panels and administration of their website ( http://www.sweatdrop.com/ ) and its forum.

[edit] Notable achievements of individual Sweatdrop members

• Dock has published 'Digital Manga Techniques'(2005)^[7], and 'Manga Clip Art' (2006) ^[8] and has been involved in the production of a book about making anime. ^[9]

• Sonia Leong achieved 2nd place in TOKYOPOP's inaugural Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition. ^[10] She is currently in the process of publishing a manga adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' with the publisher Self Made Hero ^[11]. As well as her involvement in a recent Wacom campaign (together with 'Copyright Sweatdrop Studios') has appeared in major german magazines such as Animania which used her official art to promote the wildly successful 'Pimp My Character' contest. ^[12]

• Emma Vieceli achieved a runner-up position in the 1st Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition.^[10] She is currently in the process of publishing a manga adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' with the publisher Self Made Hero ^[11]. She also won the Neo magazine manga competition 2006 with her 5-page comic 'Consideration'.^[13]

• Laura Watton was one of the winners of the Neo magazine manga competition in 2006, with her short comic 'Sea Bream Dream'.^[14]

• Selina Dean achieved 2nd place in the 2nd Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition^[15]. She has also published a graphic novel volume of her ongoing manga style comic, 'Fantastic Cat' ^[16], and is also the author of 'Drawing Manga' ^[17], published by Collins in 2006.

• Morag Lewis (aka. Sun Kitten) has published two graphic novel volumes of her ongoing manga style comic, 'Looking for the Sun' ^[18][19], issue 15 of which was reviewed in SFX magazine ^[20] She won first prize in the Character Brief Category at The International Manga and Anime Festival in 2006 ^[21]. She also achieved a runner-up position in the 2nd Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition^[15].

• Subi (aka. Sam Brown) has published a graphic novel volume of his ongoing manga style comic, 'Revolution Baby'^[22]

• Joanna Zhou (aka. Scorpio) has been a contributor to ImagineFX magazine, covering manga related topics in the Artist Q&A section since the magazine began. Her step-by-step workshops from issues 001 & 004 were also included on the ImagineFX tutorial DVD that is available with each issue. ^[23] She is a featured artist for Tokyotoys ^[24], her short comic 'Cybercrush' won the Children's Storyboard Competition at The International Manga and Anime Festival in 2005 ^[25], she also created the mascot for Japan EX London^[26]. Her 5-page comic 'Karma'^[27] won the Neo magazine manga competition 2006, and she achieved a runner-up position in the 2nd Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition^[15].

• Hannah Saunders (aka. Wandering Muse) achieved 3rd place in the 2nd Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland competition^[15].

[edit] Notable achievements of Sweatdrop Studios as a group

• The group run a monthly manga tutorial section in Neo magazine, featuring several of their members.

• The group has published 2 anthologies of manga style comics: 'Sugardrops' (2004)^[28] and 'Stardust' (2006) ^[29], which has been reviewed in Neo magazine ^[30].

• Sweatdrop has a noticeable presence in the Artists Alley at the London MCM Expo, a Bi-annual event held at the ExCeL Centre, Royal Victoria Dock, where they run the art competition sponsored by Future Publishings ImagineFX magazine, as well as Wacom, Letraset & e-frontier. ^[31].

• The group also attends UK manga/anime conventions such as Amecon ^[1] and Ayacon ^[2] on a regular basis. They run the Artist's Alley, take panel discussions on how to produce manga styled comics, and hold a table in the Dealer's Room. They have also been to numerous smaller events to take part in workshops and panels ^{[32] [33]}.

• Sweatdrop members have recently been attending promotional events run by publisher Tokyopop, in UK bookstores, to give advice on manga styled drawing ^[34].

• Some members of the group have participated in the art and design of the Collectable card game Herocard Cyberspace ^[35].

• The group ran numerous workshops and seminars at the huge Artists and Illustrators Exhibition ^[36] in London in 2005 ^[37], and have also had a tutorial published in Artists and Illustrators Magazine ^[38].

[edit] List of current Sweatdrop members

Pen name	Real name	Profile
Dock	Hayden Scott-Baron	[1]
Laura Watton		[2]
Subi	Sam Brown	[3]
Foxy	K. Charlesworth	[4]
Emma Vieceli		[5]
Sonia Leong		[6]
Keds	Aleister Kelman	[7]
Selina Dean		[8]
Carrie Dean		[9]
Fehed Said		[10]
Bex	Rebecca Burgess	[11]
Sun Kitten	Morag Lewis	[12]
Mary Beaird		[13]
Stephanie Drewett		[14]
Marbles	Jacqueline Kwong	[15]
Wandering Muse	Hannah Saunders	[16]
Scorpio	Joanna Zhou	[17]
Yuriko Kihara		[18]
Cin	Ken Hoang	[19]
Wyldflowa	Chloe Citrine
Ben Palmer

As a collaboration, members of Sweatdrop participate in active discussion on their forum ( http://www.sweatdrop.com/forum/ ). Emoticons are unique on this forum, instead of yellow smileys, blue sweatdrops are used in keeping with the namesake.

[edit] List of books published by Sweatdrop Studios

• Sugardrops (multiple artists; ISBN 1-905038-00-3)
• Fantastic Cat (Selina Dean; Volume 1: ISBN 1-905038-01-1)
• Looking for the Sun (Morag Lewis; Volume 1: ISBN 1-905038-03-8; Volume 2: ISBN 1-905038-04-6)
• Revolution Baby (Sam Brown; Volume 1: ISBN 1-905038-05-4)
• Stardust (multiple artists; ISBN 1-905038-06-2)
• Pink is for Girls (multiple artists; ISBN 978-1-905038-07-7)
• Blue is for Boys (multiple artists; ISBN 978-1-905038-08-4)
• Draw Manga (multiple artists; ISBN 1-84537-416-9)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sweatdrop Studios Homepage

Events external links

• Auchinawa
• Bristol International Comic Expo
• London MCM Expo
• Tomo-Dachi