» Interview: SaiRong

S: I've been drawing comics since about 6th grade, but I only started doing this whole web comic thing last March with Random Play. The first page of Dreams and Dragons went online May 13th, so, we're still relatively new ^_^

S: Mitsuru Adachi had a big influence on me as his collection of short stories, Short Program vol.1, was one of the first manga I ever read. I was amazed that even with subtle, simple art he could create stories with such emotional impact. It's one reason I tend to write short stories more than longer narrative. Satsuki Igarashi (the member of CLAMP who did the art for Chobits and Angelic Layer) also left an impression on me, because her art can be sparse but still very beautiful.

S: Dreams and Dragons is not drawn by me. Chapter one is drawn by the talented Pockymonster and chapter two is currently being drawn by the also talented SakuraFairy. I was really attracted to Pockymonster's art because it's very cute, but in a cool, iconic way rather than in a tooth decaying way. SakuraFairy really has a flair for fantasy, and she does a great job of drawing the world of DnD. The plan is to have a different artist doing each chapter. One of my favourite comics is Sandman, and I really enjoyed how the artists would change with almost every issue. It was neat to see different artist's takes on Dream and the rest of the Endless, and I was curious to see how different people would draw Edward and co. My own style is very rough and minimalist (which is a nice way of saying 'messy and boring' ).

S: I write the script for the whole chapter and send to the artist. She might e-mail me with a question, or we'll talk about the page she's working on through MSN. She does whatever those artist types do and when it's complete, e-mails me a copy and posts the page on Smack Jeeves.

S: A friend of mine asked me to write a comic which she would draw, and I did. But my friend decided she didn't want to draw it, and it seemed like it would never be anything other than a script. So it kicked around on my hard drive for awhile, until one day I saw Pockymonster's post on the Smack Jeeves forums looking for a writer to work with. She was looking for a short story, so I sent her a 'Dreams and Dragons' short story I had written. And the rest is web comic history .

S: When Edward's girlfriend gets kidnapped, he must go on an epic quest to find her. Unfortunately, epic quests don't pay for themselves, and to pay for supplies he ends up working as a monster hunter with his best friend Ushi and suspicious character Hammal.

S: Edward is a young university student who often mixes up his priorities. For example, he dumps his girlfriend Cosima (another student, but studying witchcraft) because he knows it would looks bad for a science student like him to be dating a magic user. Luckily, he's smart enough to realize when he's made a mistake, but when Cosima gets kidnapped but some mysterious forces, will he be able to set things right? Ushi is a short, cute girl who's' also Edward's best friend (actually, his only friend since most people find him stuck up). She's outgoing and cheerful, and doesn't let monster hunting interfere with her stylish wardrobe (though her clothes sometimes interfere with monster hunting). She's incredibly loyal to Edward, but isn't afraid to call him on some of the stupid things he does. There's also Hammal, a odd young man who joins Edward and Ushi on their search for Cosima. Not much is known about him, except that he is a reprobate, a popinjay, a ne'er-do-well, scoundrel, cad, thief and a good fighter. Then there's Cosima, who doesn't appear in the story very much but has a big influence on it. Cosima's kind and gentle and has a almost ghost-like appearance, but she's a lot stronger than she appears to be.

S: I usually don't start out with ideas for stories so much as themes, and then I think of a story to get that message across. For example, I wanted to do a story about someone who had made a mistake and was now trying to set things right. I then thought of what a good situation for that would be, and I thought of a guy dumping his GF because he's afraid of what other people would think of their relationship. When he realizes that he cares more about her than other people's opinion, he has to fix his mistake and get her back. But that's too straight forward, so I add things like setting and side characters. Now, instead of just giving her flowers and saying he's sorry, Edward has to fight dragons, uncover secret societies and go for months without the internet in order to get Cosima back.

S: There are few webcomics that I actively follow, but I am a big fan of How Unfortunate (http://howunfortunate.smackjeeves.com/), Earthsong, and the different series over at Gomanga (http://www.gomanga.com). If you want to read something funny, you want to read How Unfortunate.

S: Please check out Dreams and Dragons if you haven't yet. And if you have, thanks! Chapter one, drawn by PockyMonster, is up and there's a new artist working on Dreams and Dragons. SakuraFairy is busy drawing chapter two, and chapter three is already in the works and being drawn by another talented web comic artist. So keep on reading!