Saturday 4 January 2014

STRAIGHT FROM ITALY! MANGA LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN...




Interview with Dany & Dany

It is wonderful to have this famous Italian manga-ka duo here today to talk about your work, what you have been getting up to recently, and most of all what will be in store for die-hard fans of your work.

1) Japanreviewer: You have worked for such publishers as Cursed Side, Yaoi Press, Tokyopop and Edizioni BD. Which were your favourites, and is there a publisher you're itching to work with?
Dany & Dany: We've had the luck to work with wonderful people so far, so it's hard to pick a favourite one. Maybe the most amazing experience was with Yaoi Press, for giving our comics the chance to cross the ocean and for giving us the opportunity to visit US conventions.

As for the future in general, we'd love to work for the French market, which is huge and very supported since comics have a high consideration there.
2) Japanreviewer: Dark Dreams was the first art book you did. Are you planning another one for us to really get our teeth into?
Dany & Dany: Yes, of course! And a colour one, this time. ;)


3) Japanreviewer: Your work so far has been diverse, from vampires to ballet dancers, priests to an artist and his handsome muse. What is going to be your next project?
Dany & Dany: At the moment we're still working on our vampire comic series "Dàimones", which we guess will keep us busy for the years to come.
We're also working at the illustrations for the fantasy novel saga "Iskìda della Terra di Nurak", written by Andrea Atzori and published by Condaghes. This work too is going to keep us busy for the next years. After that, we still don't know. ;)

4) Japanreviewer: You have both been in the business for more than a decade, is there a manga artist around, whether Japanese, Chinese or Korean you would like to work with?
Dany & Dany: Well, surely it will be inspiring working side by side with Takehiko Inoue, Naoki Urasawa, Masakazu Katsura and Fuyumi Soryo. We would have a lot to learn from such great mangakas!

5) Japanreviewer: Net Comics have had some of their manga turned into anime series, do you see this as a possibility for your work?
Dany & Dany: We like to think that everything is possible. It would be a dream come true!


6) Japanreviewer: It is interesting to see that you started out doing fan art with your Lestat vampires. Have you always been interested in this horror genre?
Dany & Dany: Yes, we've always been intrigued by the vampire myth both in literature and cinema, but we've to say that we've definitely fallen in love with these creatures after reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and seeing the movie based on the first novel of the series: Interview With The Vampire. On the contrary, the new vampire trend started with the Twilight saga it's not our cup of tea. We prefer more Gothic atmospheres, vampires who actually act, think and live as centenary beings (not teenagers), sensual and ambiguous creatures torn between good and evil, who can also be cruel if needed. That's the side we like of the vampire horror genre.
7)  Japanreviewer:A lot of your work is Gothic inspired, but what are your favourite Gothic romance novels?
Dany & Dany: Hehe, we guess we've already answered above. Anne Rice was able to put together all we search in vampires.

8) Japanreviewer: As you have been in the industry a while now, what are the main pitfalls of being a manga artist?
Dany & Dany: The main pitfall is being a manga author or artist without being Japanese. :) In western market everything is more difficult if you don't have Japanese origins, especially here in Italy there are many prejudices about it, since you're doing something that not belong to your natural cultural background.
We're convinced that what matters is not quite the drawing style per se, but what and how you want to tell with that style. We guess that readers can find both Japanese influences and much western taste in our graphic novels.
That said, there are no other specific pitfalls than being a normal western comic artist or author: you need a lot of self-denial and training to improve and be a pro.

9) Japanreviewer: Conventions such as Comicon are places where you can show off your work, what is your best experience of conventions, where and why?
Dany & Dany: Each convention is always a wonderful experience: meeting our readers, knowing other artists and visit new countries. If we have to choose one in particular, it would be the Anime Central 2008 in Chicago, when we were guests of honour of the con, while usually we're industry guests. We cherish that memory very much.

No comments:

Post a Comment