Publishing Siomi
Siomi is a Bande Dessinnee and Manga fusion format, that combines the techniques of comics album format, and manga style narrative in a way distinct from Nouvelle Japanais and Manfra.
One of the reasons I decided to change the name from Ameranfra to Siomi, is the entire point is to develop a graphic novel format that is somewhat of its own thing. While it may have some similarities to Bande Dessinnee and Manga, it can be appreciated in its own right without ever having read a work of manga. I also feel like, similar to the Comics industry in the US, the manga industry is becoming increasingly less relevant to myself as a creator. After all, the point is not to change the manga industry, so much as become accepted as part of the Manga industry, but at its logical extension:
Become a separate thing with its own form and conventions that makes it not conform to the pamphlet format of the US, or be forced to be serialized like in Japan in giant magazines where one is forced to compete with other creator of generally dissimilar genre. In fact, my goal as I finish this graphic novel is to be its own bound format: “Album Digest” format, generally sold in digest sized albums in wide page format.
I also feel that much of my hopes about the Manga industry were largely an illusion created by the need to have a Google translator that often misses important details in translation. This isn’t to see that I wont keep trying to learn Japanese, however I will be learning it not to become part of the Manga industry, but evolve in a way where I no longer need it to disassociate from the American sequential art tradition, that is largely dying anyway.
Future videos will be about creating a four panel grid, how to pick your paper type, and what grade of Charcoal you need in order to create the proper textural consistency, and when to apply digital enhancement to your traditional art, such as how to create traditional looking digital brushes to enhance analog art: ex. Digitally enhanced traditional charcoal.
Leaning toward not scheduling interviews, at least until I get most of my graphic novel finished. Note that I wont be using Kickstarter to crowdfund my project, mostly because I don’t really need it. I can use Pixiv Pay and Fandom to do my bidding. Until then, will mostly be publishing finished pages over RSS on my personal website, and will find time to create a digital archive of my pages.
Note that sense most likely I will be drawing this myself, I’m going to be evolving my art style over the course of the book. Join my peertube channel while I discuss my process:
I will also be doing some Libertarian Transhumanist videos on a separate channel.
