Story x Story #61: Behind The Story With Celine Choo (Illustrator)

Gina April 1, 2021 No Comments
In this week’s Story x Story episode Nigel and Tazziii talk with concept artist and illustrator, Celine Choo about her journey to become a professional freelance artist. Celine describes the steps she took to develop her career after graduating from university. It’s a journey that saw her take up roles in character design, video games and the toy industry and we also find out how food influences her work and the value of being a good person to collaborate with!

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https://www.twitch.tv/mayamada

 

Find mayamada online:
mayamada.com | gamepad.events | thestoryboard.org

Find Tazziii online:
https://www.twitch.tv/tazziiix | https://twitter.com/tazziii

Find Celine Choo online:

http://www.celinechoo.com/

https://www.instagram.com/celinechoos

 

 

A big thanks to Fisayo Karunwi for our into, outro and transition music:
https://soundcloud.com/fisayokarunwi

A big thanks to Aly Graphix for designing the podcast logo:
https://alygraphix.wixsite.com/designer

Send us questions and feedback on feedback@mayamada.com.

Illustrators: What Does Creativity Mean To You?

mayamada February 13, 2016 No Comments

Last year saw the launch of our #BeCreative campaign and with the help of 24 great artists, manage to create a one of a kind collection of artwork that answered the question: what does creativity mean to you?

We’re keeping our campaign going in 2016, starting with another installment of our creative blog feature. This time around we’re speaking to some of the same illustrators who contributed to our launch and finding out about their creative process.

Take a look at their interviews to find out what creativity means to these illustrators and just what goes into producing their amazing work.

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Samurai Chef Creators: Writers

Nigel February 12, 2015 No Comments

Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking back at the making of the complete edition Samurai Chef manga, talking to the people who played a part is bringing it to life.

We’ve heard the thoughts of the book’s illustrator (both of them), editor and printer. Without every one of these people the book would not have been possible, let alone look as good as it does!

But we couldn’t let them have all the fun, so here are our thoughts on the Samurai Chef book too:

Which part of the book did you work on?

mayamada-founders-nigel-laoLao and I created the Samurai Chef character and story.

This involved developing the plot, creating the characters within the story and writing the script for Pinali to translate into the final comic pages.

We were also responsible for managing various elements of production from writing, to the Kickstarter, all the way up to the printing.

What was your highlight during the process?

Seeing the story slowly come together with each completed comic page.

Even though we already knew how the story would unfold, it was amazing to see the words of the script come to life visually page by page.

Pinali has a talent for bringing the characters to life and seeing the little touches she added along the way meant we could experience the story in a new light.

What was the biggest challenge for you?

The editing process. After we got through enjoying the comic, we had to get to the work of making sure it was printed without any mistakes.

We also wanted to get the book finished in time to send books to our Kickstarter backers before Christmas and for Hyper Japan in November. There was a lot of pressure on to put everything together in a short space of time.

Luckily we had a great editor, Lara-Lee, who caught all spelling a grammar mistakes…turns out there were a lot of them! But she stayed alert throughout the whole process and is the reason the book reads as well as it does.

What do you hope readers will take away from Samurai Chef?

Without giving too much away, there are some lessons in teamwork that hopefully come through over the course of the book.

Aside from that, we hope people will take away the belief that if you have a good idea you can bring it to life. The Samurai Chef is an original story idea that we created from scratch. If you’re working with your own idea, it can be done!

Who is your favourite character in the book and why?

We love all the Samurai Chef characters equally as if there were our own children…but we like Zane more equally.

He doesn’t have a huge part in the book but we liked the way he maintains a cool assuredness and balances out Kamu’s somewhat unstable energy.

Other notable mentions go to Ms Yasahsii, Jimi and of course the Samurai Chef himself.

What’s next for the Samurai Chef and mayamada?

The Samurai Chef story is complete for now, but it’s not the end of the character and another book is definitely a possibility in future.

For now we’ll be working on releasing comics for other mayamada stories. Serious is coming next, but expect to see something from 11th Hour and Hot Lunch stories too.

We’ve got a lot happening in 2015 including new clothing designs and event plans too. Stay tuned…

Samurai Chef Creators: Illustrator

mayamada February 3, 2015 No Comments

We’re continuing our look into the making of the new and complete edition of Samurai Chef by talking with all the the people that had a major role in putting it all together.

It’s been two months since we released the book an you can now find it at Orbital Comics, Petit Miracles Hub and the Prince’s Trust Tomorrow Store. You will also be able to get your hands on Samurai Chef at the London Anime and Gaming Con, February 7th-8th.

For now, here’s the view from another illustrator responsible for the book’s introduction page, Nikki:

Nikki ChibiWhich part of the book did you work on?

The Premise page.

What was your highlight during the process?

Getting to draw something anthropomorphic for a change.

What was the biggest challenge for you?

Fitting all the text on the page!

What do you hope readers will take away from Samurai Chef?

Enjoyment and belief that monkeys can be samurais too. And sometimes your dinner can bite back! 😀

Who is your favourite character in the book and why?

Would have to be Samurai Chef. What is there not to like about a quiet, deadly protagonist?

Who has been your most inspiring illustrator?

Attack on Titan (and impatiently awaiting the new season).

Samurai Chef Creators: Illustrator

mayamada January 13, 2015 No Comments

It’s been two months since we released the complete edition of Samurai Chef out into the wide world. The response has been great since its debut at Hyper Japan and the book has since been picked up by Orbital Comics, Petit Miracles Hub and the Prince’s Trust Tomorrow Store.

You will also be able to get your hands on our new manga book, plus the Collectors edition at the London Anime and Gaming Con, February 7th-8th.

Before our first event of the year comes along, we want to take a moment to look back and give you an insight into the making of the book by talking with the people responsible for putting it all together.

This week we’re talking to the illustrators on the book starting with the person responsible for bringing the characters and the book to life, Pinali:

sc-illustrator-pinaliWhich part of the book did you work on?

I was responsible for the majority of the artwork in the book, which means character design sheets for every speaking character, translating the provided script into a comic layout, sketching, inking, shading and lettering/sound effects for each individual page.

I also did the cover artwork and illustrations for most of the promotional materials, like the Kickstarter rewards!

What was your highlight during the process?

Probably reading the script for the second half for the first time and getting to see how it ends and begin visualising in my head how I’m going to get it across in image form.

What was the biggest challenge for you?

I’m a huge perfectionist, so if a drawing isn’t coming out just right I have the bad habit of redrawing it over and over until it does, which can end up cutting into time I should be spending, say, eating, for example. This happens quite a lot, so I’d say that was the biggest challenge; overcoming those perfectionist moments and realizing that what I think is imperfect probably looks fine to just about everyone who isn’t me.

What do you hope readers will take away from Samurai Chef?

I hope it gives them some laughs, mainly, and that the characters will stick in readers’ minds for a while. I really think the characters are one of the strongest points of the book. I love them all.

Who is your favourite character in the book and why?

Probably Jimi; I love how passionate he is about what he does. Kamu is a close runner-up. He’s just so serious about beating this monkey! It really seems to offend him that the Samurai Chef is a monkey for some reason.

Who has been your most inspiring illustrator?

Bill Watterson; I often find myself using techniques I learned at the age of 8, looking at Calvin & Hobbes strips, and it’s probably my biggest inspiration when it comes to having that life and visceral quality in my drawings.