LET’S TALK KOMIKS: Komik Magic with Meel Banania
Welcome to Let’s Talk Komiks, a regular series where we interview local comic book creators about their works and upcoming projects, among other things.
Komikon 2017 last November saw the debut of Mahou No Uso #1, a story about a girl’s journey to becoming a magical girl. FlipGeeks got a chance to talk to the creator herself, Meel Banania, on the magic that brought her comic alive.
FlipGeeks: What’s Mahou No Uso about?
Meel Banania: Mahou No Uso is about this teenage girl who’s a fan of anything magical girl, to the point that she dreams on becoming one someday.
What was your inspiration for making this comic?
Those stories that seemed fine during the start but then takes an unexpected turn which is quite different from when the story started. Also magical girls and some anime plots!
Why did you go for this type of story?
At first I just wanted to make a magical girl comic, probably something comedic since I dabble more on comedy. But I wanted to try to stray away from my usual route. I felt challenged with this genre because I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right or not. I had inspirations while I was creating this story but I was a bit worried that it won’t have the right impact or feel to the readers as I wanted.
How was your experience when you first released Mahou No Uso?
In terms of finishing Mahou No Uso, I was happy because it was my first time publishing something I made. I was really excited but at the same time I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if people would actually buy my comics. But I was glad that people took time to browse and buy it!
What was your process in creating your characters? Were they based on anybody you know?
At first I wanted to make Mimori’s personality from scratch but I was inspired by anime, so I tried creating a protagonist similar to happy-go-lucky anime leads. I wanted to project some innocence from Mimori, I had a bit of a hard time trying to make her not too naive in this first issue. I also did some character expressions to see which personality would fit the most with my design for Mimori. Sadly (for me haha!) most of my characters aren’t based from anyone I know, for the time being. I’ll save those for anything comedic hehe.
How did you develop your art style?
I really wanted an art style that I would be comfortable with and also have a comedic essence to it, so I experimented with different styles. I first started with anime but then it didn’t really click that much on me. Then I tried to do a more western cartoony style, I really had fun drawing in that style and so I stuck to practicing that. Like doing funny expressions, silly poses and mostly making fun drawings. Until eventually I had (somewhat) done the art style that I’m loving right now!
What’s your next step as a creator going into 2018?
Hopefully to meet my comic deadlines! Especially issue #2 of Mahou No Uso and maybe start a new comic afterwards! I’m really excited to put out new content in the future and experiment on genres I haven’t fully explored yet!
