How To Be A Manga Superstar
ImagineFX|August 2018

Fame game Pro artists at the top of their game tell Tom May how they’ve been able to attract global acclaim for their manga artwork

How To Be A Manga Superstar

Manga is in rude health, and if you paint it you’re in good company. It’s now possible for manga artists to amass hundreds of thousands of social media followers, get crowdfunded via sites like Patreon, sell their art commercially, and even go and live and work in Japan itself.

But how do you go about it? Here, four artists who have found success share their advice on how to follow in their footsteps.

The first, and perhaps most obvious, point is that you need to get your art in front of people. “If you create a lot of illustrations but don’t post them anywhere, nothing’s going to happen,” says Ilya Kuvshinov, a Russian artist based in Tokyo with 1.3 million Instagram followers (@kuvshinov_ilya). “It can be scary to expose your work publicly, but there’ll be people who love it – trust me!”

Just posting in one place, though, may not be enough, says Larienne Chan. Better known as Lärienne or Princess Lärienne, the Polish illustrator has made a huge impact on the DeviantArt community, which honoured her with its ‘Deviousness’ award in 2016. But she’s also built strong bases on Instagram (@ lariennechan), Tumblr and the online Japanese art community, Pixiv.

Fierce competition

“Some people think just being good is enough, but unfortunately that’s no longer true,” Larienne says. “In these times of constantly changing algorithms and fierce competition, you never know where clients or fans are coming from, so you need to be in as many places as possible.”

This story is from the August 2018 edition of ImagineFX.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the August 2018 edition of ImagineFX.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM IMAGINEFXView All
Jan Wessbecher
ImagineFX

Jan Wessbecher

Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments

time-read
9 mins  |
Christmas 2024
Kyounghwan Kim
ImagineFX

Kyounghwan Kim

The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly

time-read
5 mins  |
Christmas 2024
Slawek Fedorczuk
ImagineFX

Slawek Fedorczuk

Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.

time-read
10 mins  |
Christmas 2024
Raquel M. Varela
ImagineFX

Raquel M. Varela

Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Estrela Lourenço
ImagineFX

Estrela Lourenço

Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Daria Widermanska
ImagineFX

Daria Widermanska

Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Allen Douglas
ImagineFX

Allen Douglas

Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Thaddeus Robeck
ImagineFX

Thaddeus Robeck

Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
ImagineFX

DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK

Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow

time-read
5 mins  |
November 2024
First Impressions
ImagineFX

First Impressions

The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024