an Anime Affair

I'm in love with manga.

I'm aware, I'm a total nerdbomber.  But that's not that important.  What sets me apart from all of the glue-skinned, adolescent males out there that share the same passion is that:

30-minute sketch + color

1. I'm a girl.
2. I'm brown.
3. I can draw it.

I don't think I'm cocky about it.  I know who I'm better than and I know there are still tons of kids my age that just blow me out of the water.  Just take a quick look at DeviantArt's homepage and you'll see just how I get put back in my place.  

I believe it all started in the second grade.  My Japanese friend, Sayaka Koga, was doodling in Japanese class.  I, bored out of my skull, looked over.  It was so cool!  She was drawing these cartoons and they looked pretty good (looking back, they really weren't.  But I was a second grader, and they looked better than Spongebob).  Eventually I started to join in on the action.  She taught me how to draw eyes and the fundamentals of second grade anatomy.  Eventually I got good enough to commission drawings for quarters. 

Sayaka moved away the next year, but my fondness for the art continued to grow.  In the 5th grade I somehow stumbled across an online site hosting all the chapters of Mahou Sensei Negima, and I started to get better.  I created a DA account (which I do not use anymore), and I started fervently practicing.  I watched anime and began to read all sort of different manga.  I was hooked.  It wasn't just a hobby anymore; it was a lifestyle.

My ultimate dream is to work for a computer animation firm (which is big money nowadays).  I don't think I'll ever really stop drawing manga.  But I'm still not as good as I can be.  Which leads me to my 4th goal:

4.) Sell my Artwork

I know, it should be something like "Publish my own manga" or "Get hired as an animator".  These are later goals.  I'm 16 for gracious sake, and these goals are like later levels of this goal.  I'm also aware that skiing in Switzerland is a particularly hard goal as well.  Well, level two for that goal involves skiing in the Peruvian Alps.  How's that for hardcore?

To sell my artwork would mean a lot to me.  It would mean that I was good enough to even consider selling, and that someone liked it enough to buy.  Praise is the greatest gift a starting artist can receive.  When they realize they have become good, it turns into the opposite.  They strive for critique, for insults, for negative attention.  They want to be controversial.  Maybe that'll be like level 6.

For now, cash would be nice.