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Welcome aboard, fellow adventurers! Prepare to set sail into the captivating world of creativity with today’s Creator Spotlight featuring Crystal Rook creator of “Space Pirate”. Join us as we delve into the artistic universe of an incredible individual who has taken the plunge into the vast realms of storytelling. From drawing inspiration to battling challenges, this creator has charted their own course and emerged victorious. Get ready to embark on an exciting journey as we shine the light on their exceptional work.
Author’s Note
I’m a 30-something year old that writes software for a living. A lot of my free time is spent either playing guitar or writing/illustrating Space Pirate. That was an RPG Maker game I made waaayyy back in 2001/2002. It was literally the worst thing I ever created. I bounced around with the idea of reviving it some8 or 9 years ago with a revamped story that actually made sense. After not being able to settle on a gameplay style I liked, it ended up as a manga series that I started in 2019. And here we are now!
What motivates you to express your creativity and tell stories in your chosen medium?
Probably seeing other people do the same. We’re mostly small-time artists trying to take up space in the larger ring controlled by Marvel, DC, Toei etc. Yet here we are with readers and supporters forming our own communities.
How do you approach the creative process when starting a new project?
I haven’t started a new project since Space Pirate, but I kind of just winged it. Not exactly ideal! If I can call each chapter I work on a new project, then I have a process for that now. I write out an outline first of each episode in the chapter (It use to be one episode per chapter, but I changed to per chapter when I released chapter 3). That contains some description of the scene, the mood and a very loose script. It also has some description of what the characters are doing, and any fight scene choreography. That then turns into very basic panel layout, which fleshes the script out a little more and also gives more context to character location, camera positioning etc. Finally, that gets turned into the final artwork, which then goes through one final pass of the script to flesh out any additional details I want to include.
What inspired you to pursue your artistic passions and make a career out of it?
It’s certainly not my career, but I’ve been drawing since I was a kid (with a 10-year hiatus somewhere in my 20s).
What challenges have you faced along the way, and how have you overcome them?
Finding time is the biggest challenge. You gotta be able to manage a workflow and a routine, and have it be flexible enough that you still have time to go out. You don’t want to become a slave to your project, and you don’t want to fall out of a rhythm. I set aside a couple hours a few days per week to just work on the project. I don’t work on it outside of those hours so it doesn’t bleed into the rest of my life. At the same time, I give enough room that I can move those hours around as needed.
How do you balance your personal expression and vision with creating something that resonates with your audience?
Realistically, I don’t. I don’t necessarily write for the audience, I write because I like my ideas. That, and I just want to improve as an artist. If anyone wants to follow along for the journey, then I welcome them aboard! My writing and art style tend to reflect a lot of Dragonball vibes. So readers who like the shounen genre of manga would resonate strongest with it – even though Space Pirate would be considered more of a seinen manga.
How has your chosen artistic medium evolved over time, and what impact has it had on your work?
It started out completely traditional – on paper, pigma microns, copic markers. Now it’s still hand drawn on paper, but it’s colored digitally. I prefer the look of copic markers, but they’re not exactly cheap. And, they’re ethanol-based. So the fumes they give off aren’t the best to breathing in everyday.
Switching to digital coloring has made it much faster to get a full page done and gives the flexibility to change things if I don’t like something.
What sets your creative work apart from others, and why is that important to you?
I’m going to get a lot of guns pointed at me for this, but probably advertising it as a manga – and more so that it uses a right-to-left reading orientation. Even when manga is created outside of Japan, it tends to be published left-to-right, so that’s usually what first time readers point out first. I usually get asked why I made that decision, and it’s really just to pay homage to the source material. Japanese literature is read from top-to-bottom, right-to-left. It also leaves a much easier path for me to translate the project into Japanese if I decide to do that one day. Most readers say “right on, you do you.” but every now and then someone comes in with the, “it’s not manga if you’re not Japanese” rhetoric. Which is ridiculous, because it’s just the word for comic book. It would be like correcting a Japanese person for calling Superman a manga and telling them it’s a comic book. If that’s what you as the creator decide to advertise it as, then that’s what it is. I guess there’s a subset of people who don’t like that, so that’s probably what’s setting me apart mostly.
How do you collaborate with other artists and creatives to bring your ideas to life?
I don’t, I’m a one-manned army right now!
What message or themes do you hope to convey through your work, and why are they important to you?
Loaded question! Space Pirate is in part sci-fi, and the sci-fi genre tends to be very critical of society, politics, economics etc – in particular, small-time revolution standing up against fascism and totalitarian regimes. Star Wars and Dragonball should come to mind. The entire premise of Star Wars is political manipulation by Palpatine and corruption in the highest positions of the government. While Dragonball’s entire story is driven by Frieza being a genocidal lunatic, and the saiyan revolution against him. Space Pirate is no different. Like the aforementioned, a tyrannical empire is at odds with isolated revolutionaries. These types of stories are important, because we’re still not at a point in our own history where we’re passed this. There are still revolutions happening in the world today, fighting back against regimes that oppress the people under them.
What do you think needs to change in your chosen industry to better support creators and reach wider audiences?
Following up from the last answer, people gotta stop treating anime and manga like it isn’t art. If you took a piece of paper and turned into something, it’s art full stop. I’m not sure where this comes from, but it’s gotten worse since I started regularly engaging in art communities back in 2005. It’s gotten to the point where it’s even invading academia. Casual art students like myself are being told by their teachers – who are supposed to encourage them – that their art isn’t real art. I think that’s pretty silly and also shows a bit of a superiority complex. A lot of us aren’t in art as a full blown career, and we’re not really interested in learning all the “fundamentals” of art. We just want to grab our tools and go to work. If it doesn’t fit the mold of “art” (whatever that means), then so be it. If you’re creating art, then you’re an artist, and we really need to support all styles.
What techniques or tools do you use to bring your ideas to life, and how have they evolved over time?
See above about copic markers – I started out Space Pirate purely on traditional media. Now it’s half digital/half traditional. Reasons for that being cost and health.
How do you market and promote your work to gain a wider audience?
Mainly Instagram and the Tapas forums. I also started streaming recently to try and direct potential readers to Tapas. Sunday nights are typically reserved for retro gaming, and Wednesdays I typically work on Space Pirate live.
What are some of your favorite works of art or creative pieces, and how have they influenced your own work?
Dragonball is my favorite thing ever. Case in my point, my art and style is often influenced by it. Star Wars is a close second, and you can definitely see that in some character designs. Space Pirate is interesting because it brings together the action-infleunce of Dragonball with the fantasy and sci-fi aspects of Star Wars. What is a space pirate in my universe if not a saiyan with a lightsaber? Speaking of, Space Pirate’s original influence was neither of those! It was actually originally influenced by Tenchi Muyo, waaayyy back in 2001 when it aired on Toonami. It was originally a game that I made in RPG Maker and shelved it for years until I finally came back to it as a manga in 2019.
How do you incorporate feedback from others into your creative process, and what impact has it had on your work?
Feedback I’ve received is usually about the artistic side. I haven’t received much about the story and character design, but I’ve been given very good tips and pointers on scene composition, speech bubble placement, color theory and lighting. I listen to it all and try to keep mental notes as I’m drawing to remember all that. Though it is also hard to do when I’ve got a whole page to illustrate and it’s 11PM on a Tuesday!
What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue their artistic passions and make a career out of it?
I can’t provide much advice for making career moves. I guess related to that, my biggest advice is don’t quit your day job until you know you can. As for pursuing the passion, you gotta be ready to tank negativity. And I don’t mean criticism, I mean trolls and angry people. People are going to swing at you and your work to try and bring you down, while never having picked up a pen themselves. I’ve been told my art looks like it was drawn by a 7 year old, that I’m a cheap Toriyama wannabe, and that I should stop and reconsider everything I’m doing. You gotta ignore them though, they’re just angry people who have nothing better to do with their time than to try and make you fail.
How do you approach diversity and representation in your work, and why is it important to you?
By having a wide variety of ethnic representation. Kaguyo is of Japanese descent, and Chiara is of African descent. This is not a world that mono-ethnic by any means. Humans have just kind of spread throughout the galaxy and as such, there are no societies that are just one ethnicity. That’s also a fair representation of the world today. Natural barriers don’t separate us any longer like they use to, and so the world has become more diverse. Space Pirate’s world is an important reflection of that.
How do you stay inspired and motivated when working on long-term projects?
Truthfully, no idea. I grab my tools and I just go to it. Probably knowing how my story is going to end, and that it will end is a big help. And also just seeing the progress from month-to-month. Seeing the story progression and fight scenes that I wrote down on scratch paper a year ago now coming to fruition, and seeing people read and give feedback on it is a huge boost to morale. By the time this article is published, I’ll have released my 40th episode.
How has technology impacted your chosen industry, and how have you adapted to those changes?
The entire industry is pretty much moved onto digital art. Just look at any anime produced in the last 10 years. It’s all done digitally. That comes with huge benefits in terms of saving time and money. Though it may also come with a loss of quality. Sometimes you really can’t replicate the look and feel of traditional art with digital means. You can do it, but it takes time and that defeats the purpose of going digital in the first place.
What do you think is the future of your chosen industry, and how do you see it evolving over time?
I have a lot of concerns about AI generated art. Particularly in the field of copyright and stealing artist’s work. There are some reading this that think copyright is stupid, but in the era of needing to make a living, it’s kind of important. AI generated art has the potential to stomp all over that. It’s great for creating a reference, and I think that will help artists a lot but if I can just have my art yanked out from under my nose and used to generate images, that’s kind of ridiculous. Unfortunately, I don’t see a future that DOESN’T involve AI art in some way, so we’re going to have to do some work there to make sure artists are fairly compensated for their work being used.
How do you balance the financial aspects of your creative work with the desire to pursue your artistic vision?
That can be pretty tough. Moving to digital coloring has helped a lot since I’m not buying marker ink every month. The biggest help lately has been Twitch streaming. Even though it doesn’t provide much revenue, it’s still enough to cover paper supplies and etsy fees.
As our Creator Spotlight comes to a close, we hope you’ve enjoyed this voyage through the creative mind of an exceptional artist. From traditional beginnings to embracing the digital age, their artistic evolution is a testament to the ever-changing landscape of the industry. Remember to check out their captivating work and join the community that surrounds their extraordinary creations. Until next time, keep pursuing your passions, unleashing your creativity, and sailing towards new horizons. Farewell, fellow adventurers!
Social
https://tapas.io/series/space-pirate/info
https://spacepiratemanga.com
http://etsy.spacepiratemanga.com
https://www.instagram.com/spacepiratemanga/
https://twitch.tv/mastergohanzero
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