I’m a professional Japanese manga author. “Manga” are Japanese comics, and a professional manga author is called a “Mangaka” in Japanese.　Ｎow I’m using Rena Saiya as my brand-new pen name. In Japanese, it’s written as “ 祭矢麗名”.

After several years of career as a manga author in Japan, I'm expanding abroad as a freelance manga author. Thanks to the development of Information technology, it's possible to do so with staying in Japan.( As for my ability, please take a look at "My Skills" section below.)

I was drawing manga with a few editorial departments at one of the major publishing companies in Japan. During that time I published 12 manga books. Generally I like manga for boys,  fantasy manga, and gag manga.

Since my style is fairly flexible, it’s possible  that I create manga in some different genres, though I’m not good at creating dirty or cruel ones. I prefer comical, actional, moving or enlightening ones. You can see some of my manga samples on these pages though they are only a part of my flexibility.

Samples of my manga

Gallery

Many of Japanese professional manga creators create both  stories and pictures.

So, they should be called manga authors rather than manga artists. It's because manga artists are supposed to draw pictures based on stories by writers.

Manga authors are professional story creators as well as professional manga-picture drawers. The ability of storytelling is valued in Japanese manga industry especially at  big publishers because manga which contain attractive stories sell well even when the manga pictures are not so good.

In addition, I have an experience of teaching manga-making at vocational schools.  I'm thinking of writing a manga-creation book which explains how to create manga in Japanese style. I'd like to publish it someday though the publisher has not  been decided  yet.

Before introducing my skills, I’d like you to keep in mind that "manga authors" does both of storytelling and drawing pictures.

So, the point is  manga authors have a parallel side as a story teller.
When an artist is called "manga artist", it means the artist draw manga pictures based on stories written by other writers.

If needed, manga authors can be manga artists, though.

1: teaching manga-drawing online

2: Drawing Japanese-style manga including storytelling

3: Designing characters for games

4: Drawing manga or anime like illustrations

5: Writing instructional manga-drawing books

Below I get into my skills in more detail.

1: teaching manga-drawing online
Please click PRIVATE MANGA-CREATION LESSONS for the detailed information.

2: Drawing Japanese-style manga including storytelling

With regards to the manga genre, I'm interested in fantasy most, but  I think I have a rather wide range of manga style. I can draw manga for kids, girls, boys, adults, or gag-type comics, etc., although I'm not good at extremely sexual or cruel ones.

I can change my drawing style to some extent as well to the atmosphere of the stories or according to the genre. In Japan, manga is used for various serious purposes besides entertainment or diversion, such as for education, product advertising or even within companies for training purposes. I can also draw these types.

3: Designing characters for games

I’m an experienced character designer because every time  I create my own manga, I have to create characters for it. I can design both character appearance and personalities, should it be required, and my experience as a fashion designer is very useful for designing a character's look and style.  

4: Drawing manga or anime as illustrations

I mentioned earlier, manga authors and illustrators are not the same occupation. However, I sometimes draw illustrations for  cover illustrations, posters, and etc., when needed. 

In Japan, sometimes manga authors or manga artists draw colored and monochrome illustrations for some young adult fiction. I’ve done such kind a job before. 

5: Writing instructional manga-drawing books

I have published the following book with a co-writer.
Click
Manga Art for Intermediates

I was born and raised in Japan, so my native language is Japanese. Since I can speak and write English to some extent, I have written all the English content on this site by myself and there is not a Japanese version of this site.

In general, acquiring good English skills in Japan is not so easy because English is vastly different from Japanese. In addition, there is almost no chance to use it in our daily life.

Of cause there would be other reasons, but anyway, it's big task for us to acquire it.

English speaking manga author is especially rare.

A Japanese professional manga author usually starts developing their craft in their childhood and spent a lot of time and energy on it. This intense focus means they couldn’t afford to do other things which require much energy or focus.

I was lucky enough to be able to pass the pre-1 level of English proficiency test before I started drawing manga as an amateur. I’m glad I laid this foundation early on, making it easier to improve my English more from here forward.  

As you may know, the family name comes first in the Japanese language, so 祭矢 is read as “Saiya”. Usually each kanji character has its own meaning, and in this case 祭 means “festival”, and 矢 means “arrow”. And Rena is written as 麗名. 麗 means graceful or beautiful and 名 means "name".